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| (SportsDay FILE photo by Nancy DeLander Beecher) |
CHARLESTON (Florida SportsDay) - The South Carolina Stingrays (28-14-4-1) dropped a Saturday night matchup at the North Charleston Coliseum to the Jacksonville Icemen (32-15-2-0) by a final score of 3-2.
Craig Martin scored two goals and Brendan Harris finished with three points. The Icemen remain atop the South Division with the win.
Jacksonville gained the first lead of the night on Martin’s 11th goal of the season. Martin crashed the net and flicked a quick shot past the blocker of Tyler Wall for the 1-0 lead with 2:50 remaining in the second period.
Martin doubled the lead on his second goal of the contest 1:41 later with a snapshot off a faceoff win from Harris. Martin lined up on the inside of the left circle and flung a shot over the shoulder of Wall for the 2-0 advantage to close out the middle stanza.
Lawton Courtnall cut the lead back to one goal as he buried a shot from the right circle that beat the blocker of Parker Gahagen. Courtnall’s second marker of the year cut the deficit in half only 1:20 into the final period of regulation.
The Stingrays tied the game on a wrist shot from Benton Maass with nine minutes remaining in the third period. Five seconds after the expiration of a power play, Maass sent a shot through traffic that beat Gahagen’s glove for the 2-2 game.
The Icemen regained their one-goal advantage on a power play goal from Harris with 4:41 remaining in regulation on his 14th tuck of the year. Harris received a pass behind the Stingrays’ defense and snuck a shot inside the left post for the game-winning goal.
SAVANNAH 4, GREENVILLE 2
Despite two goals to open the third period, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits fell 4-2 to the Savannah Ghost Pirates on Saturday night at Enmarket Arena.
After a back-and-forth opening 10 minutes, the Ghost Pirates scored the opening goal on a give and go pass from Daniel D'Amato to Alex Swetlikoff at 12:44. Later in the period, at 17:52, Logan Drevitch sliced a cross ice pass to Elijah Vilio for a one-timed goal and the 2-0 Savannah lead.
After a scoreless second period saw the Swamp Rabbits begin to generate chances, Greenville jumped onto the scoreboard just 20 seconds into the third period, as Brett Kemp sniped his 12th of the season into the net. Just 42 seconds later, Bobby Russell tied the game for Greenville with his first goal of the season. At 5:29, the Ghost Pirates turned a 3-on-1 into the go-ahead goal, as Spencer Naas scored his ninth of the season. At 19:59, Mason Primeau beat the buzzer for the empty-net goal and the 4-2 final.
With the loss, the Swamp Rabbits fall to 26-15-7-0 while the Ghost Pirates improve to 16-25-8-1.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Florida's Joe Pendenza scored twice in the Everblades 4-3 loss at Allen Saturday night. Cam Johnson made 38 saves...the Orlando Solar Bears host the Utah Grizzlies on Sunday afternoon...the ECHL announced this week that Savannah will host the 2024 All-Star game.
(Mike Bonts writes about hockey for Florida Sports Wire and SportsDay)