NORTH CHARLESTON, SC -The South Carolina Stingrays 29-20-3 (61 points) clawed their way within one point of first place Greenville 30-20-2 (62 points) with a gritty 3-2 win here Tuesday at the North Charleston Coliseum. The two teams are in a neck-in-neck race in the South Division of the ECHL Eastern Conference. They will face off three more times over the next five days including two games in Greenville on Friday and Saturday followed by a Sunday afternoon matinee game back in the low country in the Charleston area on Sunday afternoon.
Tuesday’s win came before a mid-week crowd of 1,226 fans who were thoroughly entertained by a free- wheeling end-to-end battle that no doubt portends the rest of the four-game series. If either team can dominate this stretch of games they will get a major boost towards the Division crown. Each team will have only 17 games left in the regular season after this four-game series is ended.
The fireworks started rather early as the ‘Rays and Road Warriors, who play each other 17 times over the course of the season, are establishing a first class intra state rivalry. Less than ten minutes into the game T.J. Reynolds of Greenville and Grant McNeil went toe to toe with the decision gong to McNeil. Reynolds had to leave the ice for repairs but returned to challenge McNeil again at the 15:27 mark. McNeil also won the second decision as the Greenville Captain failed to return to the game after the second fight.
Greenville used a power play to beat goalie Shane Owen 9:01 into the game as Brandon Wong beat the ‘Rays’ rookie goal tender. Wong got setups from d-man Lee Baldwin and forward Connor Shields. This was Greenville’s only power play success on the night. They were unable to cash in on four other power play opportunities in the game including a late third period charging minor against South Carolina that gave the Road Warriors life in the last 20 seconds of the game. Period one ended 1-0 in favor of the visitors.
The ‘Rays took the lead in period two tying the game 9:55 into the second stanza. They got a power play goal from Matt Scherer from in close on a bang-bang play involving forward Jordan Pietrus and defenseman Dustin Stevenson on the assists.
Forward Jake Hauswirth who has four goals in February and ten for the season used a blistering wrist shot to give South Carolina a 2-1 lead less than two and a half minutes later. He beat the Road Warriors’ net minder Nic Riopel with a wicked wrist shot from the middle of the far side circle. He was sprung into the Greenville zone for an unopposed shot by passes from McNeill and defenseman Nate Kiser.
The ‘Rays extended their lead at 13:12 of the third period using a power play to move out to a 3-1 lead. Defenseman Derek Keller got his first of the season on a shot from the high slot that deflected past Riopel when the puck hit a Greenville’ stick in the traffic in front of the net. Riopel had little chance on the deflection. Rob Ricci picked up his team leading 42nd point with the primary assist while Pierre-Luc O’Brien got the other helper on the goal.
Greenville rallied however to keep the outcome in doubt as Wes Cunningham scored with only 1:13 left in regulation time. He found the back of the net through traffic with a high hard shot from the slot. Mark Voakes and Blake Parlett drew assists. The 3-2 score held up but not without excitement and suspense.
Less than a minute after Greenville’s drew within a goal on the scoreboard the ‘Rays’ Trent Campbell was assessed a minor penalty for charging. However South Carolina was able to kill off the penalty despite the extra Road Warrior attacker.
The ‘Rays were able maintain enough possession so that Greenville was also unable to pull their goalie for a second extra attacker until less than 20 seconds remained in the game. Despite the end of game excitement the ‘Rays survived the penalty and picked up the two points.
On the evening, Owen stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced in picking up the win. He is now 3-1-1 since being signed by South Carolina. His opponent in goal Nic Riopel faced 17 shots from the Stingrays in the match.
<:u1:p>Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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