JACKSONVILLE, FL – Saturday night at the Veterans Memorial Arena, the Jacksonville Icemen (16-26-3-3, 38 points) continued their season series with the Atlanta Gladiators (25-23-1-2, 53 points). The series had not been kind to the Icemen as in the eight previous meetings between the two clubs, Atlanta had won seven of them.
Jacksonville goalie Austin Lotz had another solid performance, making 15 saves Saturday night (PHN photo by Trina Kirk)
Dan Vladar (14-12-1-0, 2.94 goals against average) got the start in net for Atlanta while Austin Lotz (10-8-1-1, 2.90) got the start for Jacksonville.
Atlanta scored the only goal of the first period with only 36 seconds left when Phil Lane recorded his team leading 25th goal of the season off assists from Lindsay Sparks and Ben Danford.
The penalty minutes of the first period would be inflated by two fights, one between Atlanta’s Stephen Pierog and Jacksonville’s Everett Clark early in the period and the other between the Gladiators’ Luke Sandler and the Icemen’s Dajon Mingo late. Jacksonville would end the period with 12 minutes, Atlanta 10. Shots on goal would go Jacksonville’s way 9-6,
Jacksonville tied the game with the only goal of the second period when Tyler Fawcett recorded his 10th of the season, stuffing it past Vladar from in front of the crease. Assists went to Tanner Eberle and Scott Savage at 14:46. The second period also saw the third and final fight of the game. Both teams would end up with seven penalty minutes for the period, Jacksonville would dominate the shots on goal for the period, outshooting Atlanta 16-4 and would have a 25-10 lead after two.
Jacksonville took the lead in the third period on what basically turned out to be a 4-on-2 break when Garet Hunt recorded his 10th of the season, taking Cameron Critchlow’s pass and one timing it over Vladar for the lead. Elgin Pearce was the awarded the other assist.
Jacksonville players celebrate a goal during Saturday night’s win over Atlanta (PHN photo by Trina Kirk)
Atlanta pulled Vladar to try and tie game but it would do no good as Fawcett registered his second goal of the game and 11th of the season into the empty net. Everett Clark got the only assist on the play and the scoring would end there with Jacksonville winning 3-1.
Atlanta’s Lane was assessed the only minor penalty of the period, each team ending the game with 19 minutes. Jacksonville continued their domination of the shots, outshooting the Gladiators in the third 10-6 and for the game 35-16.
Icechips: The three stars of the game all game from Jacksonville: Tyler Fawcett (1st), Garet Hunt (2nd) and Everett Clark (3rd)… Attendance for the game was 7,037… The win put Jacksonville within two points of escaping the Eastern Conference cellar. Jacksonville currently has 40 points on the season, while both Brampton and Norfolk are directly above them with 42. Norfolk lost Saturday night to Adirondack at home 4-2 and Brampton lost at Worcester 5-3… Jacksonville has a chance to get out of sole possession of the Eastern Conference cellar tSunday afternoon when they face the Allen Americans Sunday at 3 p.m. Atlanta’s next game is Tuesday when they travel to Greenville.
Contact the author at kenneth.holdren@prohockeynews
Contact the photographer at trina.kirk@prohockeynews
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