JACKSONVILLE, FL –  The Jacksonville Icemen continued their season with a road weekend in Greenville and in Savannah this past Weekend. The Icemen rallied to force overtime on Friday night against the Swamp Rabbits (falling in overtime 3-2) before falling frustratingly short to the Savannah Ghost Pirates on Saturday, 2-0. Jacksonville will prepare for a home-and-home weekend to close out October, starting with a road trip to Orlando, Florida, to take on the Solar Bears before returning to VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena for a 3:00 pm home game against the Atlanta Gladiators. Both games will be available to watch and listen to on FloHockey and on Mixlr.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

Jacksonville took on the Greenville Swamp Rabbits for the first time this season on Friday night and, as in the previous two games, got on the scoresheet first thanks to a goal from Drew Kuzma. However, the Swamp Rabbits responded with two goals in the final five minutes of both the first and the second periods to take a 2-1 lead into the third. But the Icemen came out strong in the third period, out-shooting the Swamp Rabbits 12-2 in the period and finding the equalizer courtesy of Timothy Heinke. In overtime, a costly penalty for Jacksonville put Greenville on the power play, and the Swamp Rabbits made no mistake, netting the game-winning goal midway through overtime and forcing the Icemen to settle for a point and a 3-2 overtime loss.

Heading back to Savannah, Georgia, the Icemen hoped to secure their first win of the season and some payback for their shootout loss to the Ghost Pirates the previous week. The contest devolved into a goaltenders' duel, and veteran netminder Michael Bullion battled rookie netminder Christian Cicigoi, playing in his first professional action. Despite Bullion's 30+ save performance, the Ghost Pirates found the go-ahead goal midway through the third period on a point-shot with traffic in front of the net. Savannah netted an empty-net goal late to end the contest with a 2-0 loss for Jacksonville.

NOTHING LIKE YOUR FIRST

Statistical ECHL rookie Timothy Heinke scored his first professional goal this past Friday with a key third-period goal against the Swamp Rabbits. Heinke was perfectly positioned in front of the net early in the third to bury a rebound from a short-angle shot, tying the game and forcing overtime for the Icemen. Heinke was picked up off of waivers by the Icemen shortly before the start of the season and has shown steady improvement over the following weeks, developing into a gritty and reliable 4^th line forward for Jacksonville. Heinke is a native of Kensington, CT, and played NCAA Division I college hockey with The College of the Holy Cross and Quinnipiac University, where he won a national title with the Bobcats in 2023.

LATEST ROSTER NEWS

Jacksonville got the services back of one of their premier defenders this past week as Reilly Webb returned from the Iowa Wild; in addition, forward Will Hillman returned to the Icemen after spending the opening weekend of the season on the short-term injured reserve list. Jacksonville also made its first SPHL call-up of the season with defenseman Joey Berkopec, who helped the Evansville Thunderbolts win back-to-back President’s Cup championships in 2025 and 2026.

SCOUTING THE SOLAR BEARS

Jacksonville hits the road to take on the Orlando Solar Bears this Friday night. Orlando, like Jacksonville, is looking for its first win of the season, after starting the year 0-3-0. The Solar Bears are led up front by forward Aaron Luchuk, who has four points (one goal, three assists) in three games for Orlando. The Icemen are 51-48-14 all-time against the Solar Bears.

SCOUTING THE GLADIATORS

The Atlanta Gladiators, after starting off the season with a 1-2-0 start, dropped back-to-back games last weekend against the Florida Everblades. The Gladiators are 29^th in goals for (1.4 goals per game on average) entering this weekend. Jacksonville is 36-34-9 all-time in games against Atlanta.