NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Over the course of their time in the ECHL, the South Carolina Stingrays and Florida Everblades have met six times in postseason play, each side winning three series. Monday night, they squared off in Game 1 of the ECHL’s Eastern Conference semifinal series with pride and rivalry on the line. 
It took a little over sixty minutes for a winner to be decided and thanks to Dan DeSalvo, that winner was the home team.
DeSalvo scored 3:25 into the first overtime to propel the Stingrays to a 3-2 victory over the Everblades at the Carolina Ice Palace. Matthew Weis scored both regulation goals for South Carolina, which won its seventh consecutive game going back to May 26th. Stingrays netminder Hunter Shepard stopped 28 Florida shots, outdueling the Everblades Jake Hildebrand who made 31 saves in the contest.
DeSalvo’s winner was a classic single-handed effort. Taking a pass from Doyle Somerby, DeSalvo hit the Florida defensive blueline flying down the wing to Hildebrand’s right side. He turned the corner of an Everblades defender and continued toward the cage where he shoveled a backhander over the goalie’s right shoulder for the victory.
In this strangest of years, there were many things that were not “as usual” about the series opener. For starters, the game was not played at the North Charleston Coliseum. Prior to any knowledge that South Carolina would need its home ice, an agreement was reached to host high school graduation as well as reportedly being rented out for a television project. Secondly, with the change to a best-of-five series format with the higher-seeded team deciding the shape of the series (allow the lower seeded team to play its two home games first, play its home games to start or any other setup that both teams would accept) was going to be an x factor. Lastly, with an eight day window to fit potentially five games in, it meant that there was only one day of rest for both sides before beginning the series.
The only option with South Carolina hosting games one and two was to use the Ice Palace, which everyone knew was not going to be able to accommodate all of the season ticket holders let alone others. Those who did get to attend were loud and attentive all game long, giving the Stingrays an emotional push.
Florida got on the board first at the 5:22 mark of high-energy opening period. Ben Masella did some hard work along the boards to gain control of the puck and work it down the wall toward the corner. He eventually sent it toward the front of the net where Levko Koper redirected it past Shepard to make it 1-0.
Midway through the frame, the Stingrays caught a huge break when a set of three overlapping penalties put them onto a four-on-three power play. During the sequence a Florida player broke his stick, leaving the Everblades with effectively two defenders. South Carolina worked the puck around the outside with DeSalvo and Weis trading passes until Weis stepped into a one-time blast that beat Hildebrand, evening the score at 1-1.
Both teams had a shot to take a lead heading into the first intermission but the netminders said no to that. First it was Hildebrand turning away South Carolina captain Andrew Cherniwchan on a breakaway at 18:09. Then Michael Huntebrinker had a similar chance with 15 seconds to go in the frame but Shepard denied Huntebrinker to keep the score deadlocked after one.
The intensity continued through a tense, defensive second period where both goalies earned a clean sheet. Despite South Carolina picking up two power play chances and Florida one, the teams combined for a total of 21 shots on net – 12 by Florida and 9 by South Carolina – but the scoreboard didn’t budge off the 1-1 score as the teams prepared for the final twenty minutes of regulation.
The Everblades got an early edge in the third period, scoring a mere 22 seconds in. Marcus Vela, who recorded assists on both Florida goals, sent the puck from the corner to Shepard’s left to the crease. When it got there, it connected with Michael Neville and careened over the shoulder of the goalie and in, putting the Everblades back in front.
Even though they had more than 19 minutes of playing time left, the Stingrays went into all-out attack mode. South Carolina pressured Florida to no end, forcing Hildebrand into a brilliant display of the skills that earned him All-ECHL First team honors. He was able to hold the fort until the 11:28 when Caleb Herbert won an offensive zone faceoff to Weis who curled in the circle and ripped a shot that settled in the twine for Weis’ second of the contest and a 2-2 tie.
South Carolina had one last chance with a man advantage just over a minute later but Florida’s penalty killers did their job, shutting down the opportunity to keep the score even. By the end of regulation, the Stingrays had amassed 32 shots on net to 30 by Florida but the deadlock remained, setting up DeSalvo’s heroics in the extra period.
Florida won the season series handily with a 10-1-1-1 mark with the only regulation loss coming the the first meeting between the two South division rivals back in January at Hertz Arena. That matters not now as the Stingrays now have a chance to take what would be a commanding 2-0 lead in the series on Wednesday at the Ice Palace.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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