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Everblades Primed to Thaw Icemen

November 20, 2021 - ECHL (ECHL) - Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, Fla. - A key early-season ECHL South Division matchup is on tap Saturday night as the Florida Everblades wrap up a quick two-game homestand. The Blades will welcome the Jacksonville Icemen to Hertz Arena with the opening draw slated for 7:00 pm.

THE OPPONENT: The ECHL affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers and the AHL's Hartford Wolfpack, fifth-place Jacksonville was a 4-3 overtime winner over the Maine Mariners on Friday, staving off a potential three-game series sweep. For the Icemen, Christopher Brown has scored a team-best four goals, while James Sanchez has collected a team-high seven assists. Both players have 10 points, tops among Jacksonville skaters.

THE SERIES: Florida sports an 35-11-7 (.726) all-time record against Jacksonville, despite the Icemen winning the only matchup between the teams this season. The visitors from North Florida registered a 5-1 victory in the season opener for both teams back on October 23 behind two goals from Jake Elmer. Bobo Carpenter scored the only goal of the game for the Everblades with Jake Jaremko and Michael Neville picking up the assists. Saturday night's tilt is the first of four games in eight days between the Sunshine State rivals, as the Blades and Icemen will flock together for three games in Jacksonville on November 24, 26 and 27.

LAST TIME OUT: Joe Pendenza snapped a 2-2 tie with 3:45 to play to lift the Florida Everblades to an exciting 3-2 victory over the Orlando Solar Bears Wednesday night at Hertz Arena. John McCarron opened the scoring 17 seconds into the contest and Blake Winieicki added a game-tying goal in the third period.

The Everblades outshot the Solar Bears 53-29 and Cam Johnson made 27 saves for the Everblades to claim his third victory of the season.

BLADES SIT ATOP THE SOUTH: With Wednesday night's 3-2 victory over Orlando, the Everblades remain in first place in the ECHL South Division. With a 7-3-1-1- record, Florida has racked up 16 points and sits two points ahead of second-place Norfolk (7-4-0-0). Across the entire ECHL, the Blades are two points behind the North Division leader Newfoundland Growlers (9-2-0-0) in the race for the most points in the 27-team league.

TEAM COMPARISON: The Everblades and Icemen rank 14th and 27th, respectively, in scoring offense among the 27 ECHL clubs. Florida is averaging 3.17 goals per game, while Jacksonville comes in at 2.33 goals per contest. On the defensive end, the Everblades rank fifth, allowing just 2.58 goals per game, while the Icemen stand 12th with 2.83 goals surrendered per game.

THERE'S A BUNCH OF STREAKERS ON THE ICE: Blake Winiecki currently sports an eight-game point streak. The Lakeville, Minn. native has tallied at least one point in each of the Everblades' eight November contests, registering eight goals and six assists over that span. Winiecki is tied for the ECHL lead with nine goals and ranks fourth with 16 points. John McCarron (seven points) and Joe Pendenza (five points) are both riding four-game point streaks. Additionally, Winiecki and McCarron sport five-game and four-game assist streaks, respectively. During those streaks, Winiecki has five assists, while McCarron has four helpers during those runs. In net, Cam Johnson carries a three-game unbeaten streak that dates back to November 5.

CLIMB, CAPTAIN, CLIMB: Everblades captain John McCarron now has 15 points on seven goals and eight assists this season, continuing his ascent towards the top of the Everblades' career leaders list. While donning 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, while his 199 assists are two behind Berg's 201 for second place.

WHO: Florida Everblades vs. Jacksonville Icemen

WHERE: Hertz Arena (Estero, Fla.)

WHEN: Saturday, November 20 at 7:00 pm

TICKETS: Purchase tickets for Saturday's game and all future Everblades games HERE.

PROMOTIONS: Every Saturday home matchup this season will kick off with a free pregame tailgate party! Come out to Hertz Arena early and tailgate from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. This Saturday's tailgate party will feature live music by Chris Bepko and bounce houses for the kids! Also, celebrate with Swampee the gator on his 24th birthday.

In addition, The Everblades will wear specialty military-themed jerseys to honor Veterans Day and salute the armed forces. The jerseys are being auctioned off via the DASH auction app with net proceeds benefiting the National Coalition for Patriots. To bid, visit HERE.

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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