By Noah Epstein
GREENVILLE, SC -- The Jacksonville Icemen defeated the Greenville Swamp Rabbits for the second time in as many days, as Ivan Chukarov’s three assists led the Icemen to a 5-2 victory on Sunday afternoon.
Chukarov’s first assist tied the game at one early in the second period, with the defensemen setting up Justin McRae for his third goal of the season. He then helped give the Icemen a 2-1 lead by assisting Cooper Jones on his first goal of 2024-25. Chukarov’s second assist came with under two minutes to play in the second period, and the Icemen carried the lead into the third.
After Greenville tied the game on Miles Gendron’s first goal of the year, Chukarov dished a puck beautifully to Davis Koch to give Jacksonville the lead back roughly three minutes later. Chukarov received the puck from Logan Cockerill at the goal line just to the left of Dryden McKay and sent a centering pass with Koch cutting toward the net. Koch shot immediately, firing it to the right of McKay and into the back of the net to make it 3-2 Icemen.
Koch scored his eighth goal of the year, and seven minutes later he recorded an assist on a Cockerill goal that put Jacksonville up a pair.
With exactly two minutes remaining in the contest, and McKay pulled, Christopher Brown sent an outlet pass all the way down to the other end of the ice. Cockerill won the race and got to the puck behind the net, then centered a pass to Liam Coughlin who put the finishing touches on the 5-2 win.
Cockerill finished the game with three points, including one goal, to go along with Chukarov’s three assists.
The Icemen outshot the Swamp Rabbits in all three periods, completing the game with 41 shots on net to Greenville’s 27.
Jacksonville’s fourth straight win helped the club improve to 18-9-2, remaining in second place in the South with 38 points.
The Icemen won’t play until next year – Friday, Jan. 3, that is. The game will be in Estero, Florida against the Everblades at 7:30 p.m. The Icemen will return home the follownig night on Saturday, Janaury 4 against Greenville at 7:00 p.m.
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