Written by Jake Wheeler
JACKSONVILLE, FL – Goaltender Ryan Bednard stopped all 26 shots faced to guide the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to a 1-0 shootout victory over the Jacksonville Icemen on Thursday night at Veterans Memorial Arena.
Greenville got off to a quick start as the Swamp Rabbits thought they scored early in the contest, but after video review it was determined that the goal did not stand, and the game remained scoreless.
Early on, the play was fast paced which led to some heavy hitting and the game remained scoreless after the first period.
The second period showed that both teams looked very evenly matched. This game quickly turned into a battle of the goaltenders, with Icemen keeper Charles Williams and Swamp Rabbits goalie Ryan Bednard making several key saves for their clubs to keep it scoreless heading into the second break.
The Icemen continued to pepper the pads to Bednard, throwing nine shots his direction. However, Bednard managed to turn them all aside to eventually force overtime.
Overtime was a thriller of back and forth play with both teams getting numerous opportunities to score, but the goaltenders once again were the stars. Halfway through the extra session, Greenville’s Karch Bachman took off on a breakaway chance, but Williams made a fantastic save to keep the game going.
The Icemen had another power play opportunity at the end of overtime, but were unable to score. The game then headed to a shootout where the Icemen were unable to capitalize. Garrett Thompson scored the lone goal in the shootout to secure a 1-0 victory for Greenville in what was a sound defensive battle.
The two teams are back in action at home tomorrow, March 12 at 7:00 p.m.
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