ESTERO – Alex Kile’s goal at 13:05 of overtime closed out a spirited comeback from a 2-1 third-period deficit as the Florida Everblades posted a 3-2 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen in Friday night’s opening game of the South Division Semifinals.
The South Carolina Stingrays topped the Orlando Solar Bears 5-3 in front of 5,256 fans at the North Charleston Coliseum to take their game one of the Kelly Cup Playoffs.
Florida’s victory in the first game of the 2025 Kelly Cup Playoffs presented by Lexus sent 6,165 fans into a frenzy as the Everblades moved one win closer to a fourth-straight Kelly Cup Championship,
Jordan Sambrook opened the scoring for the Everblades with a power-play goal just 2:15 into the contest, taking a feed from Colin Theisen and connecting from the blue line through traffic in front of the Jacksonville net for a 1-0 lead. Florida doubled up the visitors in the shot department, claiming a 16-8 edge over the game’s first 20 minutes.
Jacksonville flipped the script in the second period, taking a 2-1 lead with a pair of goals 74 seconds apart midway through the frame. Olivier Nadeau found the net first, registering a power-play tally at the 10:32 mark, followed by Logan Cockerill’s even-strength marker at 11:46.
It took deep into the third period, but the Everblades got the equalizer with a shorthanded goal from Kyle Betts at 16:31, as Betts took a long feed from Conor Doherty and knotted the game at 2-2, forcing overtime. Florida rode a dominant 19-7 advantage in shots on goal over the final 20 minutes of regulation to take a 43-26 edge into the extra session.
Overtime saw the teams battle for more than 13 minutes, before Kile ended the series opener, burying a feed from Jesse Lansdell in the slot to close out the 3-2 victory.
Everblades goaltender Cam Johnson stopped 31 of 33 shots to earn the victory, while his Jacksonville counterpart Matt Vernon registered 49 saves and suffered the loss.
The Stingrays took an early lead in the first period with a goal from Moore set up by Tyler Weiss. Weiss beat his defender in the left-wing corner before sliding the puck to Moore. Moore received the pass and chipped the puck into the top corner past Orlando goaltender Jon Gillies.
Lee doubled the Stingray lead 2:45 into the second period. Alexander Suzdalev brought the puck into the zone, and his shot on goal went just wide, giving Lee the chance for a wrap-around. Lee buried the opportunity to make it 2-0 Stingrays.
A power-play goal for Aaron Luchuk put the Solar Bears on the board midway through the second period. Luchuk shot on Bjorklund that went wide and followed up his rebound to go blocker side, making it 2-1.
Less than two minutes later, Hofer delivered a highlight reel goal to restore South Carolina’s two-goal lead. Hofer toe dragged around his defender and found the top right corner to make it 3-1 Stingrays
Jack Adams cut into the Stingray lead with a redirect in front of Bjorklund on a shot from Kris Myllari. Anthony Bardaro tied the game at three 31 seconds later when he buried a wrist shot from the left-wing circle
South Carolina needed a response, and Combs regained the Stingray advantage 46 seconds later. Micah Miller took the shot on goal as Combs rushed the net and tipped the puck past Gillies.
Hofer added another tally seven minutes later when he tapped in a cross-ice feed off the rush from Erik Middendorf to make it 5-3. That final score held, and the Stingrays took a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven series.
