NORTH CHARLESTON, SC-The Wheeling Nailers and South Carolina Stingrays staged a second straight spirited contest tonight at the North Charleston Coliseum requiring 7:03 of overtime before the Nailers claimed game two and a commanding 2-0 lead in the five-game series.
Kyle Bushee’s power play slapper from the left point slid under the pads of goalie Todd Ford who took his second straight loss in the series. Tim Crowder and Tyler Murovich set up the winning goal.
Both Wheeling goals came on power plays.
Wheeling drew first blood at 15:41 of the first period scoring on their first power play opportunity of the game. Rob Ricci was sent off for hooking and it took just 22 seconds into the two minute minor for forward Paul Crowder to bury a shot from the slot. Joey Haddad picked up his second assist in the series to go along with his three point (2g-1a) performance in game one. Forward Doug Rogers drew the other assist on the opening goal.
The 1-0 Wheeling lead stood up until 14:40 of period two when South Carolina rookie winger Sean Dolan picked up the first professional goal of his newly launched pro career. Dolan who hails from St Louis, Mo was recently signed by the ‘Rays out of the University of Wisconsin. He played four years for the Badgers after skating three seasons in the United States Hockey League.
His goal came on an odd angle shot from the bottom of the circle that seemed to catch Wheeling goalie Peter Delmas off guard. It also came off a nice transition sequence. First Stingray’s goalie Todd Ford made an excellent save in the ‘Rays’ end. The rebound was picked up by Joe Finley who sent the puck ahead to Ryan Del Monte. In turn Del Monte made the pass to Dolan deep in the zone who got off the successful shot. The teams skated into the second intermission tied 1-1 after a tight checking and hard hitting period.
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