Jacksonville, FL-- On Wednesday night, the Norfolk Admirals faced off against the Jacksonville Icemen for the fifth time of the season. After winning the first matchup, the Admirals had lost three in a row to the Icemen entering Wednesday’s game. Jake Theut took the net for Norfolk looking for his second straight win while Adam Carlson would take the net for Jacksonville. It was Carlson's 13th straight start in goal.

The Admirals came out swinging for the fences in the first period, showing their ability to score in several different ways. Just three minutes and ten seconds into the game, River Rymsha would slip a shot through the five-hole past Carlson to take the quick 1-0 lead. With the goal, Rymsha extended his team lead in points by all defenseman to 15.

Jacksonville would respond quickly after a slash from Mitch Vandergunst gave them a powerplay opportunity. Just 29 seconds later, Bobby Lynch would score on a one-timer from his knees over the shoulder of Theut. The remainder of the period belonged to the Admirals with Joe Masonius scoring on the powerplay giving him his first goal of the season on an assist from Rymsha.

After a delay of game by Alex Tonge, the Icemen, who have allowed the most shorthanded goals in the league this season, gave up yet another. This time to Sebastian Vidmar on a pass from Austin McEneny with just north of six minutes remaining to go up 3-1.

The second period would not be as promising as the first, with the Jacksonville scoring six goals to Norfolk’s one.

Lynch would score his second goal five minutes and 11 seconds into the period with Brendan Warren tacking on another with 13 minutes remaining. Artem Ivanyuzhenkov would answer 21 seconds later with a goal of his own to go up 4-3. JC Campagna would pick up the assist on the goal

Jacksonville then scored four unanswered goals in the final ten and a half minutes of the second period with Lynch scoring his third goal, giving him a hat trick on the night. After Adam Dauda’s goal with 3:07 on the clock, the Admirals trailed the Icemen 7-4 heading into the final period.

To start the third period the Admirals would make a change in net going with Sean Romeo to close out the game.

Things started trending up for Norfolk with Tonge scoring an unassisted goal with 14:43 left in the game. A minute and 23 seconds later, the former Iceman Scott Dornbrock would score his first goal with the Admirals on assists from Vidmar and Ivanyuzhenkov, cutting the deficit to just one.

However, that would be the final goal scored by the Admirals on the night with two more coming from Icemen, resulting in a 9-6 loss. Norfolk will play in Jacksonville one more time on Friday to finish the two-game series before heading up to Atlanta to finish their seven-game road trip.

Written by Chris Bova