JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville Icemen, ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and the AHL’s Rochester Americans has acquired forward Luc Brown and defenseman Kirill Chaika from the Indy Fuel in exchange for forward Anthony Petruzzelli and defenseman Victor Hadfield.
The transaction follows a 4-0 loss to South Carolina on Wednesday. The Stingrays (6-5-2-0) earned their third consecutive victory over the Jacksonville Icemen (5-6-2-). Jackson Leppard scored twice, and Mitchell Gibson stopped all 17 shots he faced.
Brown, 27, heads to Jacksonville with five points (3g,2a) in 11 games with the Fuel this season. Last season, the 6-0, 187-pound forward registered 33 points (12g, 21a) in 46 appearances with Indy. Brown has totaled 89 points (33g, 56a) in 137 career ECHL games played in stints with the Fuel, the Idaho Steelheads, Cincinnati Cyclones, Greenville Swamp Rabbits and Orlando Solar Bears.
Chaika, 26, joins the Icemen having collected a goal in 12 games played with the Fuel this season. The 6-6, 222-pound blue liner, has totaled 28 points (5g, 25a) with 120 penalty minutes in 128 ECHL games played with the Fuel from 2021-2023. The Minsk, Belarus resident has also been a plus player during his professional career, currently at a plus/minus of +27.
Hadfield had logged an assist in eight games with the Icemen, while Petruzzelli accrued six points (4g, 2a) in 13 games during his time in Jacksonville.
For the second consecutive game, Leppard opened the scoring. Josh Wilkins fired a turnaround shot from the top of the right circle that got tipped in front by Jack Adams. Leppard pounced on the loose puck and hit the post initially, but on the second effort, he backhanded the puck into the open net to give the Stingrays the lead. South Carolina held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The second period’s only goal came with just 1:42 left in the middle frame. Benton Maass fired a stretch pass off the right wing boards to Leppard, who darted ahead on a breakaway and beat Jacksonville goaltender Michael Houser with a wrist shot under the blocker.
The Stingrays added some much-needed insurance goals in the third period. Matt Tugnutt buried his second goal of the season when he crashed the net and swept in the rebound off a one-timer from Maass. Wednesday was Maass’s third multi-point game of the 2023-24 season. He finished the night with two assists.
Wilkins made it 4-0 with 8:45 remaining in the third period when he knocked in the rebound off a shot from Leppard. The goal was Wilkins’ team-leading sixth goal of the season.
The Icemen are back at home for a pair of games this weekend, beginning on Friday against the Florida Everblades. The team plays host to the Savannah Ghost Pirates on Saturday.
(SportsDay photo by Nancy DeLander Beecher/Florida Sports Day)
