JACKSONVILLE, Fla –Friday night, the Jacksonville Icemen faced the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in Game 1 of the South Division Semifinals in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Greenville took game one with a 4-1 victory.
The first period was dominated by Greenville, who outperformed Jacksonville and outshot them 15-3. Ben Freeman tallied the first goal for Greenville on a power-play. A scoreless second period saw both teams with equal shots on goal, at eight apiece, as Jacksonville tried to find its feet. Greenville had two back-to-back goals less than 80 seconds apart within the first four minutes of the third period to put them up 3-0. The first was by Josh McKechney, and the second was by Joe Gatenby. Jacksonville found their feet and started to make a push, and a goal by Craig Martin gave the team some much-needed momentum. Greenville’s netminder Ryan Bednard would stifle Jacksonville’s comeback bid, making save after save and earning himself the No. 1 star of the game. Jacksonville opted to pull their goalie, Charles Williams, with five minutes left on the clock for the extra attacker, but an empty-net goal by Alex Ierullo meant there was no coming back for Jacksonville. The two teams will match-up again in Jacksonville for Game 2 on Sunday at 5 p.m.
Check out this photo gallery from Field Pass Hockey’s Andrew Fielder for highlights from the game.
