JOHNS ISLAND, SC-The South Carolina Stingrays (37-29-6)-80 points completed the 2010-11 regular season winning two of a three-game series played against the Florida EverBlades to close out their 72 game schedule. Saturday night’s victory, a 2-1 shootout at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida clinched fifth place for the ‘Rays in the Eastern Conference of the ECHL.
They shutout the ‘Rays twice once at the North Charleston Coliseum 1-0 back in November and then 3-0 on March 19 at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling.
The teams’ close point totals may indicate a test of two evenly matched squads. Importantly however, the late season signings of players finishing their college seasons and the return of players from American League call-ups can dramatically affect post season competition.
The Stingrays for example have signed several recent college players whose NCAA seasons have been completed and have defensemen Josh Godfrey and Dylan Yeo plus forwards David de Kastrozza, Maxime Lacroix, and Brock McBride all skating in the AHL. To some extent this makes predictions in the post season difficult. ECHL playoff rosters must be submitted today for all participating teams. Some comparisons are available however based on the recently completed regular season schedule. A series preview follows.
During the regular season Wheeling amassed 1,203 penalty minutes while South Carolina was assessed 990 minutes of sin bin time.
Ryan Schnell a forward out of the United States Hockey League, the 6’3” forward leads the Nailers in penalty minutes with 158 minutes in just 36 games. He also played nine games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the American Hockey League.
The Nailers who are an affiliate of the AHL regular season champions Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Pittsburgh of the NHL are led on offense by Rookie forward Nick Peterson (24g, 33a) 57 points racked up in just 40 games. Another rookie forward Ben Street is tied with Peterson for the teams lead in goals with 24 markers among his 51 points. Additional offensive firepower is expected from 23 three year old Michael Bedard of Montreal, PQ. He has a nice plus/minus total of +20 and posted 47 points in 48 games including 20 goals. Street leads the teams in plus/minus with a +21. Both Peterson and Street spent considerable time in the AHL this season. The Nailers finished with an average of over three goals a game (3.19) with 230 goals on the season.
Goaltending
The Nailers are riding 2.92 goals against average while South Carolina has allowed an average of 2.83 goals against them. The Stingrays’ goaltending duties have been handled by rookie Shane Owen (10-7-1-2). He appeared in 20 games for the ‘Rays posting a goals against average of 2.61 and a save percentage of 0.907. Veteran Todd Ford who spent major portions of the season in Hershey will provide experience in net. In net for 22 games Ford has a record 0f 12-8-1-1 and a 0.901 save percentage. He posted 2.74 goals against average.
The Nailers goal keeping workload has been primarily handled by rookies Patrick Killeen and Peter Delmas. Killeen a large 6-4 204 pounder was between the pipes in 40 games recording a 19-16-0-2 record based on a goals against average of 2.87 and a 0.902 save percentage. Peter Delmas (15-6-0-2) has appeared in 24 games. He allowed an average of 2.03 goals per game and has a save percentage of 0.928. The two have been splitting time in goal since Delmas was assigned to Wheeling by Hamilton of the AHL in January.
Defense
On defense South Carolina should be led by the steady play of Patrick Cullity who skated in all but one game this season for the ‘Rays. Cullity had a nice plus/minus rate of +14 to lead the team’s defensemen in the category. Additionally veteran Nate Kiser the team’s all time penalty minutes leader will provide lots of experience and toughness if needed. ‘Rays’ fans also hope for the return of Josh Godfrey who is playing with the Chicago Wolves in the AHL. Godfrey has cannon of a shot and had 15 goals and 12 assists in 49 games at the time of his call up. His return most likely depends on whether Chicago makes the AHL playoffs. The Wolves are just one point out of a playoff position with one week left in the AHL season.
Wheeling’s blue liner corps is led by third year pro Kyle Bushee (7g, 24a) 31 points who adds offense to the mix. Bushee played his junior hockey with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League and then moved on to graduate from Canisius College where he played varsity hockey. The Nailers’ defense gets ruggedness from Peter Merth who is among the team leaders in penalty minutes with 90 PIMS. Merth played in 69 games in the regular season posting a plus/minus of +5 to go with one goal and 11 assists.
Prediction
The Stingrays and Nailers fortunes will depend a lot on who is on their respective playoff rosters and who is actually available for the playoff contests. Based on the current rosters and the uneven play of the Stingrays Wheeling goes into the first round as a slight favorite in this series.
PHN will be on hand to cover all of the games in this series.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.