ATLANTA, GA- The Jacksonville Icemen defeated the Atlanta Gladiators 4-1 as their first period propelled them to victory. Jacksonville’s Charles Williams made 33 saves to pick up the win while Sam Sternschein, Abbott Girduckis, Craig Martin and Sean Giles pucked up the tallies.
The Icemen got off to a fantastic start in the first period as they had some extra pep in their step to open the game. Jacksonville got the scoring started in this contest as Brandan Harris rushed the puck in and shot the puck at the goaltender’s far pad which rebounded right to Sam Sternschein who buried it for the early lead.
Moments later, the Icemen went to the powerplay, followed by another Gladiators penalty which made it a 5-on-3 powerplay. While on the powerplay, Jacob Panetta passed the puck over to Abbott Girduckis who buried the one-timer to give the Icemen a two-goal lead.
Jacksonville would answer again, this time on the penalty kill, as Craig Martin went in on a shorthanded breakaway on a feed from Victor Hadfield and scored on a quick snapshot from the slot.
The second frame featured fast paced, back and forth play which made for an exciting period. Atlanta got on the board as Eric Neiley stole the puck and rushed down the ice and buried the shot from the right faceoff dot to bring their deficit to two goals. After 40 minutes of play, the Icemen led 3-1.
Each team received several powerplays in the third period, but neither team could cash in on the man advantage. Atlanta would eventually pull their goaltender late in the game in favor of the extra attacker and Jacksonville’s Sean Giles would score on the empty net to regain their three-goal lead. The Icemen would end the game on the penalty kill but it would not matter as they won the game 4-1 with the shots on goal tied at 34.
The Icemen play the Atlanta Gladiators on Saturday, April 9th at 7:30 pm.
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