Jacksonville Icemen Open their Inaugural Season on Saturday, October 14th against Rivals, the Orlando Solar Bears

The Jacksonville Icemen begin their 72 game Inaugural ECHL season on Saturday, October 14th at 7:30pm against the Orlando Solar Bears at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.  This will mark the beginning of a three game home stand with a battle between the South Carolina (N. Charleston) Stingrays on Saturday October 21st and a special Florida vs. Georgia Game On Ice (Jacksonville vs. the Atlanta Gladiators) on Thursday October 26th.

The Icemen schedule is designed perfectly for families with 11 games on Friday and 11 games on Saturday, as well as three Sunday matinees.  In addition, the Icemen play one game on Tuesday, 6 games on Wednesday including the night before Thanksgiving, and 4 games on Thursday.  All games start at 7:30, except Sunday matinees which begin at 3pm.   There will be a special weekday game that will be switched to 10:30am (for a School Field Day), date to be determined.

“We thank the City of Jacksonville and SMG (the Arena manager), in cooperating with us to be able to construct a schedule that caters to our family crowd,” explained Bob Ohrablo, Icemen President.  “I know our entire organization and the thousands who have already become Icemen fans look towards October 14th when together we welcome a new legacy of Jacksonville pro hockey!”

The South Division rivalries will be intense as Jacksonville plays intrastate rivals, the Orlando Solar Bears 9 times (5 games at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena) and the Florida Everblades 13 times (6 games at home).   Jacksonville will also host the South Carolina Stingrays, Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Atlanta Gladiators, Norfolk Admirals, Reading (PA) Royals, Allen (TX) Americans, and the Brampton (Ontario) Beast.

The longest home stand begins on Wednesday, January 24th vs.  South Carolina and concludes on Sunday, Feb 11th against the Allen Americans (9 of 10 games at home).  The longest the Icemen will spend on the road is five games (November 4th at Greenville and ending November 11th at Reading (PA).