Everblades Look to Rebound Tonight in Jacksonville
November 26, 2021 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The first-place Florida Everblades (7-3-1-3) look to resume their winning ways after back-to-back shootout setbacks to the Jacksonville Icemen. The ECHL affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers and the AHL's Hartford Wolfpack, Jacksonville (7-6-1-1) sits in third place in the South Division, just two points behind the Everblades.
THE OPPONENT: The ECHL affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers and the AHL's Hartford Wolfpack, Jacksonville finds itself in third place in the South Division with 16 points. The Icemen feature a balanced attack, as Christopher Brown, Craig Martin and Ara Nazarian have scored a team-best four goals, while Nazarian and James Sanchez have collected a team-high seven assists. Nazarian leads all Jacksonville skaters with 11 points.
THE SERIES: Florida sports an 36-11-9 (.723) all-time record against Jacksonville. The teams have met three times this season, with the Icemen claiming a 5-1 victory on October 23, a 3-2 shootout win on November 20, and a 5-4 shootout victory on Wednesday. The first two meetings were in Estero and Saturday's matchup was in Jacksonville.
LAST TIME OUT: Jacksonville posted a 5-4 shutout victory in VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena Wednesday night. Jake Jaremko scored two first-period goals, while Dylan Vander Esch and Blake Winiecki added markers in the second period. Six different Everblades registered assists in the contest, with Alex Aleardi and Joe Pendenza tallying two helpers apiece.
STILL ON TOP: Despite the consecutive shootout setbacks, the Everblades hold onto the top spot in the South Division, which has tightened up with the top five teams separated by just four points. The three Sunshine State teams sit atop the division, as Florida leads the way with 18 points, Orlando (8-5-1-0) sits in second with 17 points and Jacksonville is third with 16.
ROAD WARRIORS: With a 5-0-1-1 record in seven games away from Hertz Arena, the Everblades remain just one of two ECHL teams yet to drop a road game in regulation time. The Newfoundland Growlers (11-2-0-0), who sit atop the North Division with a league-high 22 points, sport an unblemished 7-0-0-0 road record.
WINIECKI WINS ECHL RACE TO 10 GOALS: For the Everblades, Blake Winiecki remains red hot, as his current point streak has ballooned to 10 games. The Lakeville, Minn. native is currently tied for the ECHL lead with 11 goals, while he is tied for fifth with 18 points thanks to seven assists. Everblades captain John McCarron is also in the ECHL Top-10, tied for ninth with 15 points and tied for second with a plus-14 plus-minus rating, just two off the ECHL lead.
LEADERS IN GOAL: Cam Johnson is ranked seventh among ECHL goaltenders with a 2.01 goals against average. With the cutoff at 240 minutes played, Parker Gahagen, who sports a 1.93 GAA has temporarily slipped from the rankings with 187 minutes between the pipes this season. Entering the Jacksonville series, Gahagen was also in the ECHL top-10.
DON'T FORGET THE CAPTAIN: Among the ECHL point leaders, Everblades captain John McCarron is hot on Winiecki's heels with 15 points, tied for seventh in the ECHL. McCarron ranks second among Everblades skaters with seven goals and eight assists. League-wide, McCarron stands second in plus-minus rating with a plus-14, just one off the ECHL lead.
SPEAKING OF THE CAPTAIN: Everblades captain John McCarron continues his ascent towards the top of the Everblades' career leaders list. In a Blades sweater, McCarron has 129 career regular-season goals, third-most in franchise history. The captain is just 16 goals shy of Reggie Berg's all-time mark of 145. He also ranks fourth in Blades history with 170 regular-season assists, just 37 shy of Tom Buckley's team record of 207. Including playoff games, Captain Everblade has tallied 147 goals and is three shy of Matthieu Roy who sits in second place with 150.
WRECKING IT WITH RALPH: Everblades veteran head coach Brad Ralph is zeroing in on both his 500th win as a head coach and 250th victory behind the Blades bench. The veteran leader sports a stellar 491-209-68 (.684) career mark in 12 seasons and a 240-91-37 (.704) tally in his sixth season guiding the Everblades.
WHO: Florida Everblades at Jacksonville Icemen
WHERE: VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena
WHEN: Friday, November 26 at 7:00 pm
BROADCAST: Watch every Florida Everblades game on FloHockey.TV. Listen to the exciting game action on ESPN Southwest Florida on 770 AM, 98.1 FM, 104.3 FM and online at https://espnswfl.com.
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