NORTH CHARLESTON , S.C. – Hockey fans had a big weekend in the low country as the South Carolina Stingrays opened the 2011-12 season with games Friday and Saturday at the newly renovated North Charleston Coliseum. The Stingrays (1-1-0) opened the ECHL season against the Reading Royals on Friday with a 4-3 win in overtime but dropped a 4-1 verdict to the Wheeling Nailers Saturday night. The ‘Rays drew 8,346 fans in total for the two games. Friday night included tributes to former defenseman Nate Kiser as he was inducted into the Stingrays’ Hall of Fame during the game’s first intermission. Saturday also featured an afternoon Alumni game as a plethora of former ‘Rays played in that game and attended the weekend’s festivities. On Friday night, rookie Head Coach Spencer Carbery got his first pro win as defenseman Zack Takir found the net with just over a second left in the five minute overtime period for the game winner. Forwards Maxime Lacroix and Matt Pope assisted on the sudden death game winner. Lacroix had three assists in the game while Pope (2a) and Takir (1g, 1a) registered two points apiece to lead their team in scoring. The ‘Rays also got goals from returning players Pierre Luc-O’Brien and Sean Dolan as well as from newcomer Danick Paquette. Paquette a forward was a big nemesis against the ‘Rays last year while playing for the Gwinnett Gladiators. He played on both penalty kills and on the power play this weekend. His goal and Dolan’s marker came on power plays. Defenseman Paul Baier had the lone assist on the O’Brien goal which was the first of the regular ECHL season across the league. The win was not however without some controversy as the Royals appeared to win the game about two minutes into the extra period as Rob Kwiet lofted a wrist shot past winning goal tender Daren Machesney that was waived off by referee Tom Chemielewski. After consultation with his linesmen he ruled that the net had been displaced by traffic in the goal crease. Olivier Labelle, Dennis McCauley and Yannick Riendeau scored for Reading. Riendeau’s goal came at 17:27 of the final regulation period and sent the game into overtime. Mark Owuya took the loss in net for the Royals facing 45 shots on goal. Machesney stopped 29 of 32 shots for the win. The Wheeling Nailers (2-0-0) recorded their second straight win of the new season with a hardnosed win here Saturday night. The Nailers blasted Greenville Friday night 6-1 and then rolled over the Stingrays 4-1 on Military Appreciation Night. Wheeling struck first, when forward Chris Barton pushed an unassisted goal past ‘Rays’ goalie Daren Machesney just over ten minutes into the first period. The Rays who were never able to sustain much of a power play during all of last season tied the score with their lone goal of the night on a Matt Pope power play strike. The goal came at the 9:33 mark of period two. He got helpers from Dolan and Chris Higgins. The 1-1 tie lasted just over a minute, as Barton tallied his second goal of the game and season with the Nailers on the penalty kill. The short-handed goal came at 10:50 with an assist going to Paul Crowder. Less than two minutes later the Nailers struck again as Patrick Johnson and Ben Winnett combined to run the score to a 3-1 Wheeling advantage. The Nailers who played outstanding defense all evening got a third period power play from Matt Lombardi (Crowder and Zach Hansen) to seal the win, while limiting South Carolina to just three shots on goal in the final twenty minutes of action. Overall winning net minder Patrick Killeen saw only 17 shots on the night while Machesney was hammered with 34 shots in taking the loss. Notes: The ‘Rays depart for a five-game road swing with the initial stop next Saturday in Toledo. Their next home game is on Wednesday, November 2, 2011 against their arch rival the Florida EverBlades. South Carolina scored three times on 11 power play opportunities over the two games this weekend (27.3 percent). The team had struggled all of last season with the man advantage averaging just 15.2 percent during the entire regular season. Meanwhile they killed off two of the 13 penalty kills they faced (92.3 percent) this weekend. Wisconsin born rookie defenseman Sam Lofquist has left the team signing with a team in Europe. Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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