Icemen Earn a Point in Front of Record Crowd of 14,072

JACKSONVILLE, FL – The Jacksonville Icemen earn a point in the standings following a 3-2 overtime loss to the South Carolina Stingrays in front of an  record crowd of 14, 076 at Vystar Arena Thursday afternoon. 

The Icemen scored first in the contest when a fortuitous bounce skipped from the boards to the low slot directly to Icemen forward Matheson Iacopelli.  Iacopelli immediately directed the puck past Stingrays goaltender Gibson. 

After a Josh Wilkins goal that evened the score at one, South Carolina claimed the lead on a shot from Connor Moore which is tipped and re-directed in front by Tyson Empey for the go-ahead tally. 

The Icemen tied the game with just 17 seconds remaining in the period when Brendan Harris chased the puck behind the net and fed it in front to a wide-open Anthony Petruzzelli who buried over the shoulder of Mitchell Gibson for the tally. 

The two teams held each other in check for the third period,  and a late Icemen penalty in the closing seconds of regulation would put Jacksonville shorthanded into overtime.  On the ensuing power play, Patrick Harper would flex a shot that would clip off a body in front, change direction and clip past Icemen goaltender Joe Murdaca for the power play marker at 1:39 of the extra session. 

The Icemen surrender their first power play goal of the season, but remain unbeaten in regulation (3-0-1-0). 

The Icemen hit the road for a pair of divisional games at Atlanta ad Greenville this Friday and Saturday respectively.