JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Saturday night, the Jacksonville Icemen faced the Atlanta Gladiators in the second of back-to-back games. Jacksonville took a 5-2 victory and broke their franchise record for wins in a season with their 41st. As Jacksonville eliminated Atlanta from the postseason the previous night, this was the last time the two teams would see each other until next season.
In a hard-fought game, Jacksonville tallied first with a power-play goal from Derek Lordemier for his 21st of the year at the 3:36 mark. Atlanta would get momentum back toward the end of the first period on a goal from Michal Mrazik to even things up.
Jacksonville came out strong in the second period, scoring three goals within the first six minutes. Matheson Iacopelli scored on the breakaway for his fourth goal in four straight games and his 20th of the year. Luke Lynch would make it 3-1, just over a minute later, for his first of the night on his own rebound, and Christopher Brown would push the puck over the goal line with his stick minutes later to give the Icemen a 4-1 lead. Atlanta got one back on a goal by Zach Yoder to make it 4-2.
Luke Lynch got his second of the night early into the third period to make it 5-2 and earning him the No. 1 star of the game. As the final horn sounded, tempers began to fray, with several Atlanta players going after Jacksonville players. Josh Thrower left the Atlanta bench and attacked players still on the Icemen bench. I’m sure the league will look at this, and suspensions may be looming for this incident. With the linesmen and referee finally breaking things up and sending the Atlanta players to the locker room, the Icemen players could finally salute the fans and celebrate their new club record.
Check out this photo gallery from Field Pass Hockey’s Andrew Fielder for highlights from the game.
