JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three straight third period goals gave the Jacksonville Icemen (1-0-0-0) a 4-2 win over the South Carolina Stingrays (0-1-0-0) Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Arena in the teams’ first action of the 2018-19 season.South Carolina defenseman Kevin McKernan scored his first professional goal in the contest, while forward Jake Kamrass added a tally in the second period. Goaltender Parker Milner got the start for the Rays and made 28 saves in a losing effort.McKernan got the scoring started with the lone goal of the first period at 17:12, scoring off a face-off win by Patrick Gaul. The defender’s shot glanced off something in front of the net and trickled past Jacksonville goaltender Mikhail Berdin to make it 1-0 South Carolina.
But the Icemen evened things up at 1-1 in the second period when Blake Kessel scored a power play goal at 12:28 of the middle frame.
The Stingrays got the start to the third period that they were looking for 34 seconds in when Kamrass put a rebound by Berdin to take their second lead of the night at 2-1. Captain Joey Leach put an initial shot off the helmet of the Icemen netminder before Kamrass cleaned up the rebound. Forward Andrew Cherniwchan contributed the second assist on the play for SC.
The new lead didn’t last long however, as Jacksonville tied things back up at 2-2 less than a minute later on a deflection by Garet Hunt.
The Icemen scored twice more later on in the final frame and controlled the contest the rest of the way. Forwards Cody Fowlie and Alexis D’Aoust each found the back of the net to secure the win for the home team.
Berdin picked up the win in between the pipes, making 24 saves in his first ECHL action. The Icemen outshot South Carolina 32-26 in the game and won the special teams battle, going 1-for-4 on the power play. The Rays finished their first action of the season with an 0-for-5 mark on the man-advantage.
South Carolina now heads to Orlando for two games against the Solar Bears this week on Monday and Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Stingrays open their home schedule vs. Greenville on Saturday, Oct. 20 with Opening Night: Capitals Championship Celebration presented by STASH Storage. Tickets are on sale now!
Season tickets are on sale now! For more information or to purchase, contact the Stingrays by phone at 843-744-2248 or visit 3300 W. Montague Ave. Suite A-200 during business hours.
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