NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Sunday afternoon at the North Charleston Coliseum, the Jacksonville Icemen (22-31-4-3, 51 points) continued their push to qualify for the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs against the South Carolina Stingrays (38-13-6-1, 83 points). At the start of the game, Jacksonville stood eight points behind Atlanta (with two games in hand) in the South Division with twelve games left on the schedule. South Carolina entered the game five points behind Florida for the first place in the South.
The game also marked the start of a seven game road trip for the Icemen.
Austin Lotz (15-12-1-1, 2.95 goals against average) started in goal for Jacksonville while Jeff Jakaitis (15-6-2-0, 2.17 goals against average) started for South Carolina.
Jacksonville took the early lead at the 8:02 mark when Cameron Critchlow on a two-on-one break took a pass across the ice from Jimmy Lodge and beat Jakaitis before he could get over. For Critchlow, it was his 12th goal of the season. Garet Hunt was awarded the second assist on the play.
At the 13:22 mark of the period, South Carolina tied the game on the power play on Kelly Zajac’s 18th goal of the season, off assists from Steven Whitney and Joey Leach.
At 17:23, South Carolina took the lead on Steven Whitney’s 17th of the season. Assists went to Mike Chen and Leo Fitzgerald. There would be no more scoring in the period as the Stingrays held a 2-1 lead. All three penalties called in the first period were minors called on Jacksonville (all three on Tim Daly) and South Carolina outshot the Icemen 12-9.
Moving into the second period, it would be more than halfway through the period before there would be any scoring, and it would be Jacksonville that would score to tie the game on the power play. Matt Ustaski registered his first goal as a pro at the 10:03 mark to tie the game up for the Icemen. Jakaitis stopped the original stop from the point by Daly but Ustaski was there for the rebound and beat Jakaitis before he could respond. The second assist went to Cody Fowlie.
Just 71 seconds later, Jacksonville took the lead on Dajon Mingo’s 6th of the season, when he beat Jakaitis on the glove side. Assists went to Jake Kulevich and Jimmy Lodge.
With 1:18 left in the second period, the Stingrays tied the game on the power play when Joe Devin recorded his 19th of the season, off assists from Taylor Cammarata and Steven Whitney. The second period would end there, the game tied at 3. Jacksonville was assessed four minors in the second period while the Stingrays were hit with two. After two periods, Jacksonville led in penalty minutes 14-4. Jacksonville outshot South Carolina in the second 12-7 and held a 21-19 lead after two.
The two teams would battle back and forth in the third period and over three-quarters of the period would pass before a team would take the lead and that lead would be taken by the Stingrays. At 15:45, Zajac recorded his second goal of the game and his 19th of the season. Assists went to Leo Fitzgerald and Steven Whitney.
South Carolina proceeded to put the game away. First at 17:31, Fitzgerald scored his first goal of the season, off assists from Zajac and Joey Leach. Then, after Jacksonville had pulled Lotz, South Carolina increased the lead to three on Cammarata’s empty net goal, his 12th of the season. Joe Devin and Patrick Gaul recorded the assists. The scoring would end there with South Carolina winning the game 6-3.
Jacksonville outshot the Stingrays 12-9 in the third and 33-28 for the game. South Carolina was assessed two minor penalties in the third, Jacksonville one. For the game, Jacksonville was hit with 16 penalty minutes, South Carolina 8.
Icechips: The three stars of the game all came from South Carolina. 1st—Kelly Zajac, 2nd—Steven Whitney and 3rd—Joe Devin… Announced attendance was 4,032… Atlanta did not play Sunday so Jacksonville remains eight points behind the Gladiators. South Carolina moved within three points of Florida for the top spot in the Eastern Conference… Jacksonville’s next game is Thursday night, when they play Atlanta in a big two game series for both teams… South Carolina’s next game is Thursday when the Western Conference’s Idaho Steelheads visit for the first of a two game series in North Charleston.
Contact the author at kenneth.holdren@prohockeynews.com
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