The Jacksonville Icemen set a local hockey attendance record on Saturday night, bringing in 11,288 fans to Veterans Memorial Arena.
The team achieved that impressive number thanks in part to the attendance of over 4,000 military personnel, whose tickets were sponsored by the Icemen and dozens of local businesses as part of the team’s Military Appreciation Night.
Unfortunately, the crowd was treated to a losing effort as the Icemen fell 5-1 to the league-leading Florida Everblades. The Icemen scored first but subsequently gave up five unanswered goals. The team now sits at 23-17-1-1 on the season, with another game against the Everblades coming up on Tuesday night.
Saturday’s impressive crowd represents a major victory for hockey in Jax. The city’s most recent pro hockey team prior to the Icemen’s arrival, the Barracudas, folded after being relegated to Jacksonville Ice & Sportsplex due to their inability to fill up enough of Veterans Memorial Arena. Before the Barracudas, the Lizard Kings also failed to attract enough fans to stay afloat.
The Icemen managed to occupy just over 75% of the arena, which has a max capacity of 15,000, on Saturday night.
Assuming the team can continue drawing these kinds of crowds, they should be able to avoid the same fate as the city’s previous minor-league hockey franchises.
If you’re looking to help the team keep its numbers up, you can purchase tickets for their remaining 2018-19 games here: https://www.jacksonvilleicemen.com/en/tickets.
