SAVANNAH, GA – The Jacksonville Icemen used six different goal scorers to defeat the Savannah Ghost Pirates in a convincing fashion by a 6-1 score at Enmarket Arena Friday night.
The Icemen started the scoring halfway through the first when Captain Christopher Brown fired a shot that was initially stopped by Savannah goaltender Jordan Papriny, but the rebound bounced to Ivan Chukarov just below the circle. Chukarov delivered a shot toward the net that was accidentally kicked in by Papirny who attempted to get his skate down to cover the post. The puck deflected in and the Icemen took the 1-0 lead. who delivers a shot that hits off of the Savannah goaltender and in 1-0 JAX>
Nearly two minutes later, the Icemen went on the power play and scored their second goal. Jacksonville entered the zone smoothly and centered a pass to Matheson Iacopelli in the slot who hurled the puck into the net to extend the lead to 2-0.
Halfway through the second period, Riley Fiddler-Schultz extended the Jacksonville lead to 3-0 with smooth a wrist shot cleanly beat Papirny for the tally.
Four minutes later, Garrett Van Wyhe netted his ninth of the year when he knocked in a rebound into the Ghost Pirates net to extend the Icemen lead to 4-0.
Savannah eventually got on the board with a shorthanded goal. Jordan Kaplan stole the puck away and managed to out pace the Icemen defenders skating back. Kaplan wristed a shot high into the net that beat Icemen netminder Matt Vernon to make it a 4-1 count.
However, Jacksonville Craig Marrtin quickly quelled in momentum Savannah was building when he sniped a shot underneath the bar at 5:14 of the third period. Martin’s goal was the 62nd of his Icemen career, and he now moves into first place in Jacksonville Icemen team history in goals scored, passing current teammate Derek Lodermeier (61 goals).
Later in the third, rookie forward Logan Cockerill was assessed a penalty shot. With one smooth deke move, Cockerill slide the puck low under the leg of Papirny to put the score at a commanding 6-1 mark. Cockerill’s goal marked the first time since the 2018-19 season that the Icemen had scored on a penalty shot (Kris Newbury).
The Icemen would go on to win 6-1 over the Ghost Pirates. Jacksonville now moves into second place in the division, and the two teams will meet again Saturday in Downtown JAX at Vystar Arena. Game time is 7 p.m.
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