South-Carolina
Cold-blooded special teams: Jacksonville Icemen beat Stingrays on Lizard Kings night
The Two-Minute Drill for Jan. 11: Dolphins, Bucs first round underdogs
The Dolphins will be playing under the coldest weather conditions in franchise history, and the Buccaneers are underdogs at home against the Eagles.
Turning point: Craig Martin found the net on the power play at 17:55 of the first period, a game-tying goal that began a run of four unanswered scores, leading the Jacksonville Icemen past the South Carolina Stingrays 5-2 in Friday night’s ECHL hockey at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Three stars: 1. Christopher Brown, Jacksonville (one goal, two assists). 2. Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Jacksonville (one goal, one assist). 3. Ivan Chukarov, Jacksonville (one goal).
Penalty box: Special teams starred for the Icemen (18-13-3-0) with power-play goals by Martin and Fiddler-Schultz and a short-handed goal by Brown. … The teams combined for 34 penalty minutes, including a second-period fight between Jacksonville’s Garret Cockerill and South Carolina’s Tyson Empey.
Around the rink: Icemen goalie Matt Vernon saved 23 of 25 shots during the opening of Lizard Kings Weekend, a throwback to the late-1990s Jacksonville Lizard Kings franchise in ECHL hockey. … Michael Kim scored first for South Carolina (18-12-2-0) and Jarid Lukosevicius got on the board in the final minutes. … Garrett Van Wyhe notched his sixth Icemen goal. … Brendan Harris, the club’s ECHL All-Star selection, provided two assists. … With the victory, Jacksonville leapfrogs the Stingrays into third place in the ECHL South Division.
Up next: Following Saturday night’s game against Greenville, the Icemen travel to the North Charleston Coliseum for a 3:05 p.m. Sunday game at the Stingrays.
The Times-Union