JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On a night when the city of Jacksonville celebrated the return of professional hockey and the ECHL returned, a kid from Paramus, New Jersey stole some of that thunder.
Rookie J.J. Piccinich scored on his own rebound 4:51 into overtime to give the Orlando Solar Bears (1-0-0-0, 2 points) a 5-4 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen (0-0-1-0, 1 point) in front of a sold out crowd of 8,956 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. Another rookie, Kristian Pospisil, netted his first two professional goals, while newcomer Chris LeBlanc and veteran Mike Vaskivuo added one each for the visitors.
The first ever battle between the ECHL’s Central Florida representative and the newest member of the 30-year old league began with all the pomp and circumstance befitting the launching of a brand new franchise. Hockey fans in the River City welcomed professional hockey back with open arms after a decade of waiting, turning out in droves to see Head Coach Jason Christie tie legendary ECHL coach John Marks for most games coached in the circuit and Christie’s troops gave them plenty to cheer about.
Jacksonville netted the game’s opening score thanks to its first power play just 3:32 into the opening frame. Scott Savage did the honors, driving down the left wing and squeezing a shot between the post and the shoulder of Orlando starting goalie Cal Heeter for the Icemen’s first ever goal in Jacksonville.
The Solar Bears responded just shy of three minutes later when rookie Matias Cleland, one of ten players assigned to Orlando by its AHL affiliate in Toronto, set up Pospisil and the youngster from Zvolen, Slovakia beat Icemen netminder Jamie Phillips high to the stick side.
On a night of firsts, the Icemen had their first ever penalty shot attempt when Orlando’s Max Movak impeded Emerson Clark who was heading in alone on Heeter. Clark’s free chance was turned away by a combination of Heeter’s glove hand and the post, momentarily quieting the large, boisterous audience except for the couple of hundred Solar Bears fans who made the trip.
Late in the first, Pospisil was in the right place at the right time to pick up his second tally of the frame. With twenty seconds left before the intermission, the puck came free through a scramble in front of Phillips to the base of the far circle. Pospisil grabbed it and quickly fired it past the sprawling goalie to give the Solar Bears the lead at the break.
Games between geographical neighbors in the ECHL have had a history of become heated and the second period was all that and more. Five minutes into the frame, Clark and Pospisil dropped the gloves and went at it. As things started to quiet down, Garet Hunt – Jacksonville’s first player signing and noted antagonist – reignited the fuse by getting involved with Solar Bears forward Joe Perry. Hunt was given an instigator penalty and a game misconduct for continuing an altercation but was given a raucous sendoff to the locker room by the appreciative Jacksonville fans.
The visitors extended their lead at the 12:22 mark when Novak set up rookie Chris LeBlanc and the native of Winthrop, Massachusetts found the back of the net for his first professional goal. Jacksonville came right back two and a half minutes later when Everett Clark, Emerson’s brother, cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Christian DiGiacinto for his first of the season to make it a 3-2 game heading to the final twenty minutes.
Orlando’s Heeter, who had been shaken up in a collision in the second period, did not answer the bell to start the third period, forcing Solar Bears Head Coach Drake Berehowsky to insert backup netminder Matt Hackett into the fray. The 27-year old goalie who has NHL experience on his resume, got a present from his teammates when Vaskivuo took a feed from below the goal line from Nolan Valleau and slid it past Phillips for his first ECHL tally since the 2013-14 season in Elmira, putting his team up by two..
Things got heated again a few minutes later when Jacksonville’s Tyler Coulter and Orlando’s Mike Monfredo duked it out as Everett Clark and Hackett had words in front of the net. The simmering animosity and back-to-back power plays seemed to inspire the Icemen to mount a comeback.
Jacksonville pulled within 4-3 at the 13:32 mark when Emerson Clark fed Alexander Goulet who jammed the puck past Hackett for his first tally of the new season. Ninety seconds later, Goulet got the puck to Elgin Pearce who nailed a one-time shot that beat the Orlando goalie to even the score. Neither team could break the tie, sending the game to overtime and giving the fans their first period of free hockey of the year.
In the extra period, the teams raced up and down the ice, creating golden opportunities to score. Both Vaskivuo and Valleau heard the clang of the post while Emerson Clark came close but was turned away by Hackett. With time starting to run out, Piccinich – another of the Toronto-assigned players – got the puck in the corner and raced to the front of the net. Phillips denied the first attempt but the rookie forward stayed with it and potted the rebound to send the visitors and their fans home happy.
Notes: Jacksonville’s Christie now has coached 1,008 ECHL games. He is already the league’s all-time leader with 547 wins… The Icemen and Solar Bears will next meet in a home-and-home, back-to-back set of games on November 21st in Orlando and 22nd in Jacksonville… Jacksonville’s next home game against South Carolina on Saturday, October 21st is already approaching a sellout… Orlando will travel to Allen, Texas to face the Allen Americans in a two-game set next Saturday and Sunday.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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