The South Carolina Stingrays fell 5-3 to the Jacksonville Icemen at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday night. Kyle Kupka, Jayden Lee, and Jamie Engelbert scored for the Stingrays, while Mitchell Gibson made 20 saves in the loss.
The Stingrays showed aggression early, outshooting the Icemen 13-7 in the opening frame.
Ivan Chukarov got the scoring started for Jacksonville 10:02 into the first period. Chukarov took a feed from Logan Cockerill and beat Gibson alone right in front of the goal to give the Icemen a 1-0 lead.
The Icemen doubled their lead less than five minutes into the second. After a save from Gibson on a shot from the right circle by Brody Crane, the puck deflected in off the leg of Liam Coughlin.
The Stingrays cut into the deficit midway through the second. After an initial one-timer from Kupka, chaos in front of the net ensued, and Kupka poked the puck home to break the shutout. Tyler Weiss and Lee assisted on Kupka’s fourth goal of the year.
The Icemen regained their two-goal lead with less than two minutes left in the second. Jacksonville captain Christopher Brown wheeled into the slot and beat Gibson glove side to give the Icemen a 3-1 lead.
Late in the third period, with the goalie pulled and a 6-on-5 advantage, Lee buried his second goal in two games with a shot through traffic from the top of the point.
Chukarov put up his second goal of the game with an empty net goal with a minute and a half to go.
The Stingrays once again cut the deficit to one with another 6-on-5 goal. Engelbert recorded his first professional goal with sixteen seconds remaining in the game with a wrist shot from the slot.
Brendan Harris iced the game for Jacksonville with a second empty-net goal with five seconds to go.
Jacksonville announced that goaltender Matt Vernon has been loaned to AHL Rochester. As a result, Rocester will sign Vernon to a Professional Tryout (PTO). In addition, the Icemen have signed goaltender Brian Wilson.
Vernon, 26, is currently in his second season with the Icemen after orchestrating a solid rookie campaign last year. Vernon earned ECHL All-Rookie Team and All ECHL Second Team honors after setting an Icemen team record for wins in a season with 25, while a 2.67 goals-against average, a 0.904 save percentage and earned a regular season shutout and two postseason shutouts.
In addition, he was named ECHL Goaltender of the Month for February, and also was named ECHL Goaltender of the Week for the week of November 20-26.
Vernon heads to Rochester with a 1-1-1 record with the Icemen this season. Vernon did spend time in Rochester’s Training Camp this past October.
LAMBDIN’S HAT TRICK POWERS BLADES TO 4-1 WIN
A hat trick by Logan Lambdin powered the Florida Everblades to an impressive 4-1 victory over the Orlando Solar Bears in front of a season-high standing room only crowd of 7,435 Saturday night at Hertz Arena.
The Everblades set the tone early, as Lambdin connected on the good guys’ first power-play shift of the game just 5:44 after the opening draw. Lambdin’s third goal of the season came exactly one minute into the five-on-four opportunity, as he buried a feed from Mike O’Leary with Colin Theisen also picking up an assist, as the Blades took a quick 1-0 lead.
Florida’s one-goal advantage would hold up through the remainder of the opening period and into the middle stages of the second, when Lambdin knocked home his second goal at the 11:26 mark. Lambdin spun around in the low slot and converted, with Carson Gicewicz and Colton Hargrove earning the helpers as the Blades doubled the lead to 2-0.
Orlando’s Aaron Luchuk responded just 61 seconds later, cutting the Everblades’ lead back to one goal, as Florida took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
Far from done, Lambdin finished off the hat trick with his third marker of the night, as the Everblades pulled ahead 3-1 at 5:28 of the third period. Hargrove picked up his second assist of the contest, while Gicewicz also added a helper as Lambdin sent the hats flying with a blast from between the circles.
An empty-net shorthanded goal by Connor Doherty closed out the scoring with 1:30 to play.
The Everblades outshot Orlando 23-18. In goal, Cam Johnson stopped 17 of 18 shots to win his fourth game in five starts this season.
INGHAM, RAYS DEFEAT GLADIATORS IN 28-SAVE SHUTOUT
The Greenville Swamp Rabbits scored once in each period thanks to Bryce Brodzinski, Carter Savoie, and Parker Berge’s first goal, but it was net-minder Jacob Ingham that was strong with the Force, leading the Swamp Rabbits to a 3-0 shutout win on 28 saves against the Atlanta Gladiators on Saturday night.
The win ends a three-game skid for Greenville, coming in front of 7,010 fans on “Star Wars Night”, presented by Champion Comfort Experts.
The Force was strong with the Swamp Rabbits early on, with Bryce Brodzinski starting things off to Greenville in the opening frame. With 2:27 gone by, Kaleb Lawrence approached the attacking net from the right wing, dropped below the goal line, and connected with Brodzinski. From a sharp angle, Brodzinski fired a wrist shot that squeaked past Gladiators goalie Ethan Haider’s glove, pushing the Swamp Rabbits to a 1-0 lead (Lawrence and Tate Singleton assisted). Despite a low volume of shots, Swamp Rabbits net-minder Jacob Ingham staved off all six shots on net.
Carter Savoie continued to channel the Star Wars energy of the night and kicked into lightspeed off the drop of the puck to double the Greenville advantage. Just nine seconds in, Savoie accelerated up the left side and unleashed a laser that beat Haider’s glove, pushing the Swamp Rabbits to a 2-0 lead (Parker Berge and Arvid Caderoth assisted). Ingham again stood tall, deflecting another seven shots from Atlanta aside.
The Gladiators turned to the dark side and applied pressure consistently throughout the last period, but the light side prevailed and the Swamp Rabbits weathered the storm. Parker Berge ended the scoring entries with his first of the season while on the power play into an empty net, earning his first professional goal to triple the Swamp Rabbits lead to 3-0 (Lawrence assisted). Ingham fired the proverbial proton torpedo into the exhaust shaft of the Death Star, stoning the final 15 shots of the game to bring the shutout to 28 saves in the win.
With the 28-save clean sheet, Ingham earned his first win of the season in his third game and second start (1-1-0-0).
