North Charleston, SC – The South Carolina Stingrays scored three goals in the first ten minutes of the game which was enough to defeat the Elmira Jackals by a score of 4-2 at the North Charleston Coliseum.
“It was kind of a sloppy game tonight,” said Head Coach Jared Bednar. “But it was a good win for us tonight. We came out with a lot of jump tonight and were able to hold on.”
The Stingrays scored early and often in the first period, starting just over three minutes into the game. Pierre-Luc O’Brien intercepted a pass from Paul McIlveen. After passing the puck to Trent Campbell who took a point blank shot, O’Brien got the rebound and shot it past Mitch O’Keefe to make it a 1-0 game. Just 1:05 later, Ben Boudreau found a stray puck off a strange bounce off the boards, right in the slot. He fired a wrist shot over the glove side of O’Keefe scoring his first goal as a member of the Stingrays, and giving the Rays a 2-0 lead. Just four minutes after that, at 8:32, Nate Kiser fired a shot from the top of the far side circle which hit off one of the Jackal’s players and found its way to the back of the net. Before the end of the period, Josh Aspenlind scored his ninth goal of the year to make it a 3-1 score.
In the second period, Trent Campbell took an off balance shot that hit off the near side post, then the far side post and finally in the goal past new goaltender David Shantz. The goal came at 9:20 of the period and was assisted by Matt Scherer and O’Brien to give the Rays a 4-1 lead. The Jackals would score once more before the end of the second period on Wes Cunningham’s fifth goal of the year, on the power play. After two periods of play the score was 4-2, the eventual final.
The third period was a tightly contested, but scoreless period. The lone excitement occurred when Tom Maxwell and Guillaume Lepine dropped the gloves at 4:23. After Maxwell connected on a few occasions the two players went down with Lepine bleeding from the nose. Even after pulling their net minder, while already on the power play, the Jackals were unable to score again before time expired.
The winning goaltender was Michal Neuvirth who stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced. The losing goaltender was O’Keefe who stopped three of the six shots he faced in 10:21. Shantz stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced in 48:38. The Rays went 0-5 on the power play while killing off eight of the nine short handed situations they faced.
We’ll be back tomorrow night when the Rays look to make it a clean sweep against the Elmira Jackals Game time will be at 7:05 P.M. You can hear the game live on ESPN 910 The TEAM starting with the Benitos pre-game show beginning at 6:50
Don’t miss all the fast-paced, hard-hitting action! Individual tickets can be purchased at the North Charleston Coliseum box office, by calling Ticketmaster at (843) 554-6060 and online at www.ticketmaster.com.
Full and partial season tickets are available by calling (843) 744-2248 or by visiting online at www.stingrayshockey.com. Stingrays Hockey – A Whole Lot Cooler!
Elmira Jackals 2 at South Carolina Stingrays 4 - Status: Final
Dec 19, 2008 - North Charleston Coliseum
1st Period
Scoring - 1. South Carolina, P. O'Brien (8) (T. Campbell, M. Scherer) 3:13
2. South Carolina, B. Boudreau (1) (J. Kroll) 4:18
3. South Carolina, N. Kiser (2) (P. Kelly, S. Romfo) 8:32
4. Elmira, J. Aspenlind (9) (S. Yetman, W. Cunningham) 15:39
Penalties - C. Switzer Elm (hooking - minor 55.2) 5:52, T. Maxwell Sc (high-sticking - double minor 60.3) 17:44
2nd Period
Scoring - 5. South Carolina, T. Campbell (6) (M. Scherer) 9:20
6. Elmira, W. Cunningham (5) (S. Yetman, P. Faubert) 15:54 PP
Penalties - J. Grimaldi Elm (tripping - minor 57.2) 9:48, T. Morin Sc (holding - minor 54.2) 12:27, T. Campbell Sc (hooking - minor 55.2, unsportsmanlike conduct - disputing decision - minor 40.2) 14:35, B. Farynuk Sc (hooking - minor 55.2) 17:35
3rd Period
Scoring - No Scoring
Penalties - J. Grimaldi Elm (holding - minor 54.2) 2:19, G. Lepine Elm (fighting - major 47.13) 4:23, T. Maxwell Sc (fighting - major 47.13) 4:23, J. Grimaldi Elm (interference - minor 56.2) 5:23, P. Faubert Elm (slashing - minor 61.2, unsportsmanlike conduct - disputing decision - minor 40.2) 6:07, T. Morin Sc (high-sticking - double minor 60.3) 7:32, T. Campbell Sc (roughing - minor 51.2, roughing - minor 51.2) 16:18
