North Charleston, SC – The South Carolina Stingrays scored two unanswered goals in the third period, and snapped a five game winless streak over the Charlotte Checkers by beating them 5-4 at the North Charleston Coliseum.
“It doesn’t get bigger than that,” said Head Coach Jared Bednar. “Nothing has been coming easy for us lately, but we came from behind and fought through.”
The Charlotte Checkers took the early lead in the game on Michel Leveille’s 8th goal of the year, knocking it off the short side post and in to make it a 1-0 game at 4:19 of the period. The Rays answered back later in the period, when Viktor Dovgan got on the board for his second goal of the year. Dovgan took a shot from the nearside point and it was tipped in front of Charlotte goaltender Jeff Jakaitis to tie the game at one. The goal came at 14:07 and was assisted by Travis Morin and Maxime Lacroix. Just three minutes and seven seconds later, Brad Ralph jumped on a free puck and fired a shot past Jeremy Duchesne to retake the lead at 2-1.
Charlotte made it a two goal game at 2:39 of the period on Ryan Hillier’s ninth goal of the year, knocking in his own rebound to make it 3-1. Unfazed, the Rays began their comeback by getting a power play goal by Brad Farynuk, his ninth goal of the year at 7:23. The goal was assisted by Morin and Matt Scherer and made it a 3-2 game. The Rays would tie the game at three on Morin’s 13th goal of the year at 12:11. After missing on a centering pass, Morin had an errant pass end up on his stick and he fired a shot just inside the short side post. The goal was assisted by Lacroix and Keith Johnson. The tie game did not last for long, as Charlotte would retake the lead just 2:11 later on Jeff Miles’ 10th goal of the year. The goal came at 14:22 and made it a 4-3 game after two periods of play.
Michael Dubuc got the game tying goal for the Rays in the third period on a breakaway at 7:34. Scott Romfo, from deep in his own zone, saucered a spot on pass to Dubuc who scored one on one past Jakaitis. The goal was the 22nd of the year by Dubuc and the lone assist belonged to Romfo. 2:20 later, the Rays took their first lead of the night, as Spencer Carbery tipped in a shot by Romfo. At 9:54, Romfo fired a shot from the near-side point which was redirected in front of Jakaitis and found its way to the back of the net. The goal was Carbery’s 10th of the year and was assisted by Romfo and Mike Curry to make the it a 5-4 score, the eventual final.
The winning goaltender was Duchesne who stopped 18 of the 22 shots he faced. The losing goaltender was Jakaitis who stopped 32 of the 37 shots he faced. The Rays went 1-4 on the power play while killing off all seven short handed situations they faced.
The Rays will be back in action on Tuesday night when they travel to Florida to take on the Everblades at Germain Arena at 7:30 P.M. You can hear the game live on ESPN Radio 910 the TEAM starting with the Benitos Pre-game show beginning at 7:15. Monday Night Hockey, the Rays Coach’s show will be live from Estero, FL from 6-7 on Monday on Sports Radio 1450.
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!
Charlotte Checkers 4 at South Carolina Stingrays 5 - Status: Final
Jan 31, 2009 - North Charleston Coliseum
1st Period
Scoring - 1. Charlotte, M. Leveille (8) (K. Smith, B. Deeth) 4:19
2. South Carolina, V. Dovgan (2) (T. Morin, J. Corey) 14:07
3. Charlotte, B. Ralph (7) (D. Rutherford, M. Bayrack) 17:14
Penalties - M. Leveille Chr (tripping - minor 57.2) 0:28, M. Lacroix Sc (high-sticking - minor 60.2) 1:09, P. O'Brien Sc (interference - minor 56.2) 4:54, M. Scherer Sc (tripping - minor 57.2) 10:18, C. Murray Chr (fighting - major 47.13) 15:40, S. Carbery Sc (fighting - major 47.13) 15:40
2nd Period
Scoring - 4. Charlotte, R. Hillier (9) (R. Murphy, E. Graham) 2:39
5. South Carolina, B. Farynuk (9) (T. Morin, M. Scherer) 7:23 PP
6. South Carolina, T. Morin (13) (M. Lacroix, K. Johnson) 12:11
7. Charlotte, J. Miles (10) (E. Graham, C. Capraro) 14:22
Penalties - C. Murray Chr (interference - minor 56.2) 6:23, J. Brouillette Chr (delay of game 63.2) 7:00, T. Morin Sc (interference - minor 56.2) 7:45, L. Falardeau Chr (hooking - minor 55.2) 17:24, R. Murphy Chr (roughing - minor 51.2) 18:19, J. Godfrey Sc (elbowing - major 46.3) 18:19
3rd Period
Scoring - 8. South Carolina, M. Dubuc (22) (S. Romfo) 7:34
9. South Carolina, S. Carbery (10) (S. Romfo, M. Curry) 9:54
Penalties - B. Farynuk Sc (hooking - minor 55.2) 10:17, K. Scuderi Chr (hooking - minor 55.2) 13:59, M. Dubuc Sc (diving 64.2) 13:59, N. Kiser Sc (delay of game 63.2) 19:05
