Breakthrough time for Jacksonville Icemen? What fans need to know for 2023-24 ECHL hockey

Second round, year one. Second round, year two.

After two years of postseason frustration at the hands of the Florida Everblades, Nick Luukko is setting his sights. This time, maybe, his third year in Jacksonville will be the charm.

"That's the expectation this year," the third-year Jacksonville Icemen head coach said. "We want to go win the championship."

The journey toward that goal begins 7 p.m. Saturday, a shot at early revenge and a sampling of the challenges to come, with the Icemen's ECHL season opener against the reigning champion Everblades at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.

Full 2023-24 Icemen schedule: See all 72 hockey games

Two consecutive years, the Icemen have skated into the South Division finals only to smack head-on into the Everblades, who went on to back-to-back Kelly Cup championships.

But after those near misses, the Icemen aren't pursuing an overhaul. By the numbers, they ranked among the top clubs in the hockey league last year. They'd like to keep it that way -- just with a different ending.

Stability. In 2023-24, it's the name of the game.

"It's huge," Icemen captain Christopher Brown said. "Stability makes it comfortable, and when you're comfortable, it's easy to play at your best."

EXPERIENCE PAYS OFF FOR ICEMEN

In all, seven Icemen players are now entering at least their third year with the club: Brown, Brandon Fortunato, Victor Hadfield, Brendan Harris, Derek Lodermeier, Craig Martin and Jacob Panetta.

In the third level of American professional hockey, often a revolving door, that practically amounts to rock-solid stability.

"It creates that chemistry, knowing how our other players play the game, and it helps make it way easier," Lodermeier said.

Four of the team's six leading scorers return in Brown (24 goals, 40 assists), Harris (15 goals, 34 assists), Lodermeier (26 goals, 21 assists) and Martin (13 goals, 21 assists). Also back in Jacksonville are Fortunato and Panetta, the club's most experienced defensemen.

That experience gives the Icemen a solid foundation for the arrival of newcomers in the franchise's first year of affiliation with the NFL's Buffalo Sabres and the American Hockey League's Rochester Americans.

Last week, the Icemen received five players on assignment from Rochester in defensemen Chris Jandric and Nicolas Savoie, and forwards Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Damien Giroux and Dominick Mersch. On Wednesday, Jacksonville added former Fort Wayne forward Anthony Petruzzelli, scorer of 100 career ECHL goals in five seasons.

"There's a handful of us that have been here for a couple years now, and obviously you get new guys every year," Lodermeier said. "So we're just trying to mesh them into what we want to represent here, and what we do as a team."

ICEMEN RETURN FROM WINNING 2022-23

Experienced or not, this year's Icemen have a target to shoot for in last year's defensive record. The Icemen last year limited opponents to 207 goals, fourth-best in the league behind Idaho, Toledo and South Carolina.

One area that will look different, however, is goaltending. With Parker Gahagen and Olof Lindbom both assigned to American Hockey League teams, and Charles Williams now the team's goaltending coach, the Icemen has two new goalies in Joe Murdaca and Matt Vernon, son of former Flames and Red Wings Stanley Cup champion Mike Vernon.

"We've got to get all on the same page to see what we're doing out there, and then special teams always play a factor," Brown said.

While their main special-teams figures were in the middle of the pack (10th on the power play, 14th on the penalty kill), the Icemen ranked second in the league with 15 short-handed goals and topped the standings with only three short-handed goals allowed.

In what may be the ECHL's hardest division, no one can take anything for granted, the Icemen included. Last year's fifth-place South Division team, the Atlanta Gladiators, would have earned enough points to tie for second in the Mountain Division. The fourth-place team in the South, the Everblades, ultimately won it all.

"Every point is going to matter, especially in this division," Brown said.

LUUKKO: DETAILS 'A LOT BETTER'

For Luukko, the Icemen took one big step from year one to year two. He's expecting a similar jump for his third year on the First Coast.

"We saw a lot of the guys that were here two years ago had better years last year offensively [than in 2021-22], so we'll just continue to build off that," he said.

The Icemen got their first taste of live action last week, splitting a two-game exhibition series with the Savannah Ghost Pirates at the Community First Igloo. The early indications, Luukko feels, are favorable.

"I just feel like guys are picking up everything a little bit quicker than we have been in the past," he said. "I'd say that the details have been a lot better."

Icemen players and coaches aren't the only ones nearing Saturday with anticipation.

Club officials are expecting that the Icemen could approach their single-game record attendance for the opener. The seventh-year franchise, which led the 28-team league in 2022-23 with an average attendance listed at 7,749, plans to open seating within the arena's upper bowl for Saturday's game.

"There's a lot of feeling of unfinished business over the last couple years," Luukko said.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Icemen season preview for 2023-24 ECHL