Harris Scores Twice as Icemen Rally for 4-2 Win

Written by Jake Wheeler

NORFOLK, VA -- Brendan Harris scored twice, while Craig Martin potted his 22nd goal of the season to lead the Jacksonville Icemen to a 4-2 victory over the Norfolk Admirals on Friday night at the Norfolk Scope. 

The Icemen got off to a good start in period one as they came out playing the way that everyone expects of them.  Moments following the conclusion of the Icemen’s first  powerplay, Pavel Vorobei one-timed a shot that was initially stopped by Norfolk goaltender Dylan Wells, but the rebound bounced right to Brendan Harris at the left faceoff dot, and he buried it to take the first lead of the contest.

The physicality picked up in period two as some bad blood between the teams started set in. About halfway through the period, the Admirals started to find their legs and really started to pressure the Icemen. Norfolk would tie up the game as Cody Milan found the back of the net after being left alone by the Icemen defense.  Milan caught the puck in front on the backhand and switched to the forehand to beat Icemen goaltender Francois Brassard. 

Just 1:08 later, the Admirals struck again as Noah Corson tapped in a cross-crease pass from Colton Heffley to take their first lead of the contest 2-1. The rest of the period featured back-and-forth play, and after the buzzer both teams got together in a heated scrum resulting in some even penalties on both sides.

The Icemen regained the momentum in the third period.  Icemen forward James Sanchez took an early minor penalty, but Jacksonville’s stingy penalty kill did not allow them much and they killed off the penalty.

Moments later, Jacksonville answered as forward Brendan Harris scored his second goal of the game as he drove to the net and found the loose puck to tie the game at two goals apiece.

Later in the period, the Icemen would go on the powerplay and while they were unable to capitalize on the man advantage they would strike once again just seconds after the penalty expired.

Jacksonville’s Craig Martin received the puck at the point and fired a quick slap shot that found the back of the net to regain the lead for the Icemen 3-2.

The Icemen would hold the Admirals in-check for the remainder of the period, holding tNorfolk to just five shots in the period    Norfolk pulled their goaltender in favor of the extra attacker and Jacksonville would score again as Ben Hawerchuk into the empty net to seal the 4-2 victory.  The Icemen outshot the Admirals 32-18. 

The two teams play again on Saturday, April 2nd at 7:30pm. Fans can catch the game broadcast on www.mixlr.com/jaxicemen and on FloHockey.TV