NORTH CHARLESTON, NC – The South Carolina Stingrays claimed four of the available six points while playing three games at the North Charleston Coliseum this weekend. They out skated the Toledo Walleyes 1-0 on Saturday night and won 5-2 on Sunday afternoon against the Reading Royals. The two wins came after they dropped their weekend opener 1-0 to
His team partner in goal Daren Machesney (2-3-0) deserved a better fate on Friday night but was beaten 1-0 by the Florida EverBlades despite an outstanding effort that kept the ‘Rays in the game. Machesney swept aside 26 of 27 shots on goal but was out dueled by Florida net minder John Muse who was at his best in the final period when the ‘Rays finally came alive on offense firing 11 shots on goal.
On the evening the ‘Blades limited the ‘Rays to 22 shots. Most of the ‘Rays best opportunities came in the final six minutes of the game. The contest’s single marker came on a hard slap shot launched from about 12 feet out in the right slot by defenseman Ryan McGinnis shoulder high through traffic. Forward David Rutherford picked up the lone assist on the game winner. The ‘Rays went zero for four on the power play and Florida failed to score on five such opportunities.
Saturday night’s crowd of 2,937 may have thought they had wandered into a replay of Friday night’s game as another 1-0 score determined the outcome. However this time the ‘Rays won riding the goal tending of Grubauer and overall team defense. Grubauer stopped 26 shots on goal while his counterpart Thomas McCollum played equally as well as he was peppered with 35 shots in the loss.
Defenseman Zach Tarkir got the only score of the game off of a setup by forward Anthony Maiani at 11:33 of the second period. Maiani carried the puck into the zone and caught the trailing Tarkir with a perfect pass enabling a one timer that proved to be the game winner.
Grubauer first shutout as a pro was witnessed by another German born goalie Ollie Kolzig who spent most of a long National Hockey League career with the Washington Capitals. Kolzig now one the Capitals’ goal tending coaches was in town to observe the Capitals’ young German born ECHL rookie.
Sunday’s matinee crowd of 3,369 saw South Carolina take a 1-0 lead in period one and then break the game open by scoring three times in the second period racing out to a 4-0 lead before Reading got on the board. An empty net shorthanded goal within the last two minutes by ‘Rays’ defenseman Johann Kroll ensured the win.
South Carolina’s Matt Pope got his team leading 15th point by scoring his sixth goal just 3:50 into the game. He drove a slap shot past losing goal tender Joe Palmer through a maze of traffic with helpers going to Kroll and Paul Baier.
The 1-0 home team lead stood up through period one and until 3:30 into the second period when Trent Campbell sent the ‘Rays up 2-0. He trailed the play into the zone and caught a nice pass as he arrived at the top of the near side circle and one-timed the shot home. Pierre Luc-O’Brien got the primary assist as Tarkir picked up the second helper.
South Carolina followed that strike with goals at 9:29 by O’Brien (Derek Keller and Campbell), and at 13:34 by Maiani (Danick Paquette and Sean Dolan). O’Brien’s sixth goal of the season came on a power play. The Maiani goal came off a great play by Paquette who nailed the puck carrier behind the net into the boards, grabbed the puck and centered it in one motion to Maiani who hammered it home. Campbell, O’Brien and Kroll had multiple point games as each had a goal and an assist in the match.
Reading eventually made it interesting when forwards Matt Schepke and Yannick Riendeau scored the game’s next two goals. Schepke got his second of the season from Everett Sheen and Rob Kwiet at 15:54 of period two. Next at 9:19 of the final period Reading Captain Ryan Cruthers scored a power play marker with an assist from Marvin Degon to move the score board to 4-2.
A late game penalty assessment and the removal of the Reading goalie for an extra attacker placed additional pressure on Grubauer until Kroll jumped on a loose puck and lofted a hard shot from the bottom of the far side circle in his zone the length of the ice into the Royal’s net to seal the 5-2 win.
The Stingrays will play on their next three games on the road against the Greenville Road Warriors.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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