ORLANDO, FLA – From a historical standpoint, the Sourh Carolina Stingrays and the Wheeling Nailers do not have a large sample of post-season meetings to establish a true blood rivalry. However, come Friday night at the North Charleston Coliseum do not expect the two teams to treat each other with anything but animosity and hate.
After all, it’s the playoffs.
When South Carolina and Wheeling begin their battle for the the ECHL’s E.A. “Bud” Gingher memorial trophy as Eastern conference champion, there will be plenty of tired and banged up bodies but all that will be left in the locker room. All that matters is leaving it all on the ice in hopes of winning four games to get to the Kelly Cup finals.
THE HISTORY
The Stingrays and Nailers have met twice in the playoffs. Back in 2011, Wheeling took the best-of-five first round series three wins to one. Two of the games went to overtime with Andrew Orpik and Kyle Bushee playing the part of heroes.
The other series came in 2014, again in the first round. The Nailers put on a defensive display, allowing a mere four goals in a best-of-seven series sweep. Current Montreal netminder Mike Condon was a key cog for Wheeling as was current Pittsburgh Penguin Tom Kuhnhacki who won game two of the series in overtime.
THE PEDIGREE
South Carolina is the reigning Eastern conference king, having lost to Allen in the finals a year ago. The Stingrays have been to five conference finals and have three league titles (1997, 2001 and 2009) to their credit.
The Nailers do not have the success their opponent has. Wheeling has been to three conference finals – the last coming in 2011 – but have yet to claim a banner.
THE SEASON SERIES
The teams met twice during the regular season on December 4th and 5th with both contests at the WesBanco Arena in Wheeling.
Game one was a tight affair that saw South Carolina take an early lead only to have Wheeling score three unanswered on the way to a 3-2 win. Zack Torquato, Adam Krause and Brett Stern had the goals and goalie Brian Foster made 38 saves to earn the win. The Stingrays two goals came off the sticks of Stephan Vigier and Colin Mulvey.
The next night was a 6-1 blowout that went in favor of the Stingrays. Joe Devin, Jordan Kwas, Mulvey, Wade Epp had a goal each while Jared Staal added a goal and an assist and Vigier scored one and assisted on two. South Carolina scored six in a row before Torquato spoiled Vitek Vanecek’s shutout bid.
THE ROAD TO GINGHER
Fifth-seeded Wheeling’s path to the conference finals went through the states of Florida and Pennsylvania. In the first round, the Nailers lost two of the first three games to the Florida Everblades before winning three straight to take the series.
Round two against eighth-seeded Reading was a classic seven game affair. The highlights included Cody Wydo winning game four in triple overtime, an 8-3 win in game six and Riley Brace winning game seven with 37.1 seconds left in the first overtime.
South Carolina had a pretty easy time, toppling seventh-seed Kalamazoo four games to one in the first round. The Stingrays took two of the first three games in the series on the road (building commitments forced an unusual 3-4 format) before clinching at home.
Like Wheeling, South Carolina went the distance with sixth-seeded Adirondack. The Stingrays also needed to win games six and seven at home to take the series. Game seven went to double overtime before Devin played the part of hero with his fourth career ultimate game goal in two seasons.
KEY PLAYERS
Wheeling’s top performer in the playoffs has been Brace who has four goals and ten assists for fourteen points. Rookie John McCarron has been clutch, netting five goals and seven assists for twelve points and a plus-6 rating. Defenseman Mathew Maione sits in between Brace and McCarron with five goals and eight helpers for thirteen points. Wydo (11 points including six goals to lead all rookies) and captain Shane Bakker (10 points) round out the top five.
Foster has taken over the starting duties in net from Franky Palazzese. His performance against Florida led interim head coach Jeff Christian to lean on Foster against Reading. To this point, Foster has a 6-3 record with a 2.73 goals against average and a .912 save percentage.
Devin, nicknamed “Mr. Game Seven” for his performance, is South Carolina’s top scorer with nine goals and four assists for thirteen points. Kelly Zajac (2-11) is even with Devin but has a plus-7 rating to his credit. Caleb Herbert is second on the Stingrays roster with seven goals to go along with five assists for twelve points and a plus-7 rating. Austin Fyten (4-7-11, plus-3) adds even more offensive depth.
Goalie Mark Dekanich has been a beast between the pipes, leading the ECHL with a 1.69 goals against average and two shutouts over Adirondack. He suffered an injury in the first overtime of game seven, forcing head coach Spencer Carbery to turn to Vanecek who, despite not having played since game one, stopped eight shots before Devin won the game.
THE KEYS
The series has the potential to be either a goaltenders clinic or an offensive slugfest. South Carolina has a team goals against average of 2.08 while Wheeling carries a GAA of 3.31. Offensively the Nailers have scored 43 goals while the Stingrays have lit the goal light 41 times.
If Dekanich cannot go, Vanecek will have to play well for the Stingrays to win. Foster will have his hands full as well at the other end. Whichever team can keep their offense chugging along – meaning balanced scoring throughout the lineup – will have the upper hand.
Managing playing time will also be a huge factor as games one and two will give both squads four games played this week with South Carolina’s coming over five days while Wheeling’s will be over six. With the potential of three games in four days next week and back-to-back nights for possible games six and seven after that, the team with the fresher bodies should triumph.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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