JACKSONVILLE – Jalen Luypen scored twice, Kaden Bohlsen netted his third goal in the last two games, and the South Carolina Stingrays never trailed, downing the Jacksonville Icemen, 4-1. at Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday night.
South Carolina (6-3-0-0) struck first early in the 1st period. The Stingrays worked a perfect 3-on-2 opportunity as Jalen Luypen tapped home a centering pass from Lynden Breen, pushing the Stingrays in front just 5:13 into the game.
The Stingrays held that lead throughout the 1st period and went to the power play with 4:02 remaining.
Late on the power play, Breen again delivered a pass to the back post where Kaden Bohlsen punched home his fourth goal of the season, doubling South Carolina’s advantage, 2-0. South Carolina took that lead into the 2nd period after netminder Mitch Gibson stopped all eight shots he saw in the first 20 minutes.
In the 2nd period, Jacksonville (5-5-0-0) cut into the Stingrays lead. Christopher Brown scored on the power play with 15:14 left in the period, but that was the only chance the Icemen converted all night.
Gibson shut the door after the lone goal. He stopped the final 15 shots from the Icemen on the night, including seven in the 3rd period. Trailing by one, Jacksonville pulled their netminder, Cameron Rowe, with just over two minutes remaining in regulation and the Stingrays added two empty-net goals from Luypen and Kyler Kupka to finish off the 4-1 victory over the Icemen.
In the win, Luypen and Breen both finished with multi-point nights. Bohlsen now has three goals in his last two games and Kupka has points in seven of his last eight games.
Atlanta 5, Jacksonville 2
The Atlanta Gladiators defeated the Jacksonville Icemen 5-2 on Friday Night to improve to 7-1 on the season.
Coming off of a 3-1 loss to Greenville on Wednesday morning, the Gladiators looked to bounce back in Jacksonville on Friday night. T.J. Semptimphelter got the start for the Gladiators in goal, while Scott Ratzlaff started in net for Jacksonville.
While much of the opening period was scoreless, the Gladiators opened the scoring with 3:33 left in the first period. Cody Sylvester hammered in his first goal of the season on the power play from Chad Nychuk and Louis Boudon eleven seconds into the man advantage. Atlanta took the 1-0 lead to the locker room, with the Icemen leading the shot count 10-9.
Things opened up in the second period, with play becoming more physical. Both teams got into some penalty trouble, which led to the Icemen scoring on a 4 on 3, 7:28 into the second period.
Christopher Brown scored his fourth of the year from Fulp and MacArthur to tie the game at 1-1. It did not stay tied for long, as 17 seconds later, Ryan Francis found Louis Boudon for his third of the year to put Atlanta back up at 2-1.
Jacksonville went back to the power play and converted 2:03 later to tie the game at 2-2, with Hardie scoring for Jacksonville. Another penalty on Atlanta late in the period put Jacksonville back on the power play, but this time the Gladiators were able to score a shorthanded goal to go up 3-2. Louis Boudon threw a pass behind his back to Alex Young who went forehand to backhand to beat Ratzlaff for his fourth of the year. Atlanta led 3-2 through two periods and outshot Jacksonville 8-6 in the second period.
Atlanta was able to close things out in the third, with Isak Walther making it 4-2, 2:33 into the period, and Alex Young scoring late with 4:45 left to make it a 5-2 final.
Semptimphelter stopped 19/21 for his fourth victory of the year. The Gladiators improved to 3-0 on the road this season and 7-1 overall. Atlanta’s power play went 1/3 while the penalty kill went 3/5. The Gladiators outshot the Icemen 24-21.
(Photo by Jim Brady/Florida Sports Wire)
