Written by Jake Wheeler
JACKSONVILLE, FL- Luke Martin scored the overtime winner while Charles Williams stopped 18 of 19 shots as the Jacksonville Icemen defeated the Florida Everblades 2-1 in front of an announced crowd of 8,272 at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena Wednesday evening. With the win, the Icemen set a new club record longest unbeaten/points streak at ten games.
After a scoreless first, the Icemen got out to a good start in the second period as they used the home ice advanthage to gain some momentum. The first half of the frame featured back-and-forth play, but the second half is when the Icemen started to take control and generated most of the offensive zone pressure.
Despite this, it was the Everblades who were able to get on the board first as Kyle Neuber drove to the net and buried a rebound just past Icemen netminder Charles Williams to break up the scoreless tie, and Florida took the 1-0 lead into the second break.
The Icemen continued to have most of the momentum in the third period. Halfway through the period, the game went to a 4-on-4 situation and the Icemen’s Christopher Brown took advantage of the extra space. Brown made several juke moves near the crease before lifting a backhanded shot high into the net past goaltender Cam Johnson to tie up the game with 6:49 remaining in regulation.
This contest needed extra time and the two teams went into overtime. Just 1:33 into the extra session, Jacksonville’s Luke Martin sealed the deal with a wrist shot from the slot to pick up the second point and the Icemen 2-1 victory. The Icemen now head into a tie for first place in the South Division with the South Carolina Stingrays.
The Icemen will travel to Savannah on Saturday for a New Year’s Eve tilt against the Ghost Pirates at 5pm.
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