Everett Clark knocked home a rebound late in the third period to break an even score and give the Jacksonville Icemen (26-22-2-2) a 3-2 win over the South Carolina Stingrays (25-20-5-0) on Saturday night at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The Stingrays got goals from defender Vinny Muto and forward Andrew Cherniwchan in the loss, while forward Grant Besse added two assists and goaltender Parker Milner started his ninth straight game and stopped 26 shots.
South Carolina grabbed the early lead just as their first power play of the night came to a close when Muto was fed in front of the net by Besse, who used a spin move to create space before dropping the puck off in front where Muto slammed it home. The second assist on the play was credited to forward Jordan Samuels Thomas.
The Icemen responded in the second period, scoring twice in less than two minutes to take a 2-1 lead. First, Wacey Rabbit capitalized on a rush and powered a shot past Milner at 2:42 before David Broll pushed a rebound into the net at 4:18.
Cherniwchan evened the game back up at 12:04 of the middle frame with his 19th goal of the year from Besse. The Northern Michigan University grad found the back of the net by banking the puck off of goaltender Tanner Jaillet and the two teams headed to the final period with a tied score of 2-2.
Although South Carolina outshot Jacksonville 12-8 in the final 20 minutes, Clark had the lone tally at 14:21 of the third, which gave the Icemen the victory.
Jaillet picked up the win for Jacksonville with 25 total saves. Both teams came up empty on the power play and finished 0-for-4 on the man-advantage. The Icemen had the edge in overall shots on goal, 29-27.
The Stingrays play their third home game in three days to close the weekend on Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Gladiators at 3:05 p.m. at the North Charleston Coliseum. Tickets are on sale now!
To bring your group to the game, call the Stingrays Front Office at 843-744-2248! For single game tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.