KILE’S OT GOAL WINS GAME ONE

ESTERO, Fla. – Alex Kile’s goal at 13:05 of overtime closed out a spirited comeback from a 2-1 third-period deficit as the Florida Everblades posted a 3-2 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen in Friday night’s opening game of the South Division Semifinals. The victory in the first game of the 2025 Kelly Cup Playoffs presented by Lexus sent 6,165 fans into a frenzy as the Everblades moved one win closer to a fourth-straight Kelly Cup Championship,

Jordan Sambrook opened the scoring for the Everblades with a power-play goal just 2:15 into the contest, taking a feed from Colin Theisen and connecting from the blue line through traffic in front of the Jacksonville net for a 1-0 lead. Florida doubled up the visitors in the shot department, claiming a 16-8 edge over the game’s first 20 minutes.

Jacksonville flipped the script in the second period, taking a 2-1 lead with a pair of goals 74 seconds apart midway through the frame. Olivier Nadeau found the net first, registering a power-play tally at the 10:32 mark, followed by Logan Cockerill’s even-strength marker at 11:46. 

It took deep into the third period, but the Everblades got the equalizer with a shorthanded goal from Kyle Betts at 16:31, as Betts took a long feed from Conor Doherty and knotted the game at 2-2, forcing overtime. Florida rode a dominant 19-7 advantage in shots on goal over the final 20 minutes of regulation to take a 43-26 edge into the extra session.

Overtime saw the teams battle for more than 13 minutes, before Kile ended the series opener, burying a feed from Jesse Lansdell in the slot to close out the 3-2 victory.

Everblades goaltender Cam Johnson stopped 31 of 33 shots to earn the victory, while his Jacksonville counterpart Matt Vernon registered 49 saves and suffered the loss.

The rivals will be back at it for Game Two of the best-of-seven series Saturday night at Hertz Arena, with the opening puck drop slated for 7:00 p.m. Visit floridaeverblades.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

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BLADES BITS

Friday’s overtime contest was the third between the two clubs over the past two postseasons and fifth over the last four editions of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, including 2024-25. The rivals traded overtime victories in last year’s South Division Semifinals, with Florida winning Game Two by a 2-1 count and Jacksonville responding with a 4-3 victory in Game Three. The Everblades were 3-1 in overtime games in the 2023-24 Kelly Cup Playoffs.
 

Jordan Sambrook now has five postseason goals in his Everblades career, as the blueliner scored a pair of goals in the 2021-22 Kelly Cup Playoffs and added two more in 2023-24. Alex Kile has two playoff goals for the Blades and six in his ECHL career, while Kyle Betts has nine ECHL postseason tallies and his first with the Blades.

Betts’ shorthanded goal was the Everblades’ 13^th shorty of the season, including the playoffs. Florida potted an ECHL-best 12 shorthanded goals during the 2024-25 regular season, two more than the next-best team in the league.

Friday Night’s Scoresheet 

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