Three more wins last week have extended the South Carolina Stingrays’ run of wins to eight straight games, the longest streak in the ECHL this season. The Rays took down Indy on Friday before sweeping the Norfolk Admirals in a two-game set on Saturday and Sunday to improve their home record to 4-0-0 this season. SC is tied for first place in the ECHL’s South Division standings with 22 points and has the top winning percentage in the ECHL (0.917), with an overall record of 11-1-0. The Stingrays are the top defensive club in the ECHL, allowing just 2.17 goals per contest. They also rank second in scoring with an average of 4.33 goals per game after a week in which they totaled 15 goals in three outings.
South Carolina will complete their four-game home stretch on Tuesday night when they take on the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Rays have defeated the Swamp Rabbits in both of their previous meetings this season that were played in the upstate earlier this month. Their first contest consisted of a shutout by goaltender Parker Milner, while Andrew Cherniwchan gave SC a win in their second meeting the next day with a shootout strike in the fifth round of the skills competition. South Carolina will then cap off their week with a trip to Estero, Fla. for two matchups against the Everblades on Friday and Saturday.
STINGRAYS RECORD: 11-1-0-0LAST WEEK: 3-0-0-0FRIDAY: SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS 4, INDY FUEL 3(North Charleston Coliseum – North Charleston, SC)Jordan Klimek scored his first goal of the season with just 1:17 left to push the Stingrays past the Indy Fuel by a final score of 4-3 on Friday night at the North Charleston Coliseum. Klimek finished with a goal and an assist in the game, while his defensive partner Kristofers Bindulis also tallied a goal and an assist and captain Andrew Cherniwchan added two helpers. Goaltender Logan Thompson earned the win for South Carolina with 27 saves in the contest.
SATURDAY: SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS 6, NORFOLK ADMIRALS 2(North Charleston Coliseum – North Charleston, SC)Goals from six different skaters gave the Stingrays their seventh consecutive win on Hockey Fights Cancer Night Saturday at the North Charleston Coliseum, a 6-2 defeat of the Norfolk Admirals. South Carolina also had six skaters with multi-point efforts, including four who had a goal and an assist in Max Novak, Mark Cooper, Mitch Vanderlaan and Captain Andrew Cherniwchan. Forwards Jonathan Charbonneau and Dan DeSalvo each had a pair of assists in the victory. Goaltender Logan Thompson got the start in net for the second consecutive night for the Rays and picked up his fifth win of the season with 29 saves.
SUNDAY: SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS 5, NORFOLK ADMIRALS 2(North Charleston Coliseum – North Charleston, SC)In his first professional start, goaltender Billy Christopoulos went the first 57 minutes of the game without allowing a goal and earned a victory as the South Carolina Stingrays defeated the Norfolk Admirals by a score of 5-2 for their eighth straight win on Sunday afternoon at the North Charleston Coliseum. Team captain Andrew Cherniwchan scored twice in the second period, while defender Tom Parisi had a goal and two assists and forward Cole Ully added two helpers. Christopoulos finished with 34 saves in the game, earning the first star after the contest concluded.THIS WEEKTuesday, November 19 – vs. Greenville Swamp Rabbits, 7:05 p.m. (North Charleston Coliseum)Friday, November 22 – at Florida Everblades, 7:30 p.m. (Hertz Arena)Saturday, November 23 – at Florida Everblades, 7 p.m. (Hertz Arena)STINGRAYS LEADERSGoals: 8 – Casey Bailey*Assists: 12 – Dan DeSalvoPoints: 14 – Dan DeSalvoPlus/Minus: Plus-14 – Tom ParisiPenalty Minutes: 15 – Mark Cooper, Matthew WeisShots On Goal: 52 – Casey Bailey*Wins: 5 – Parker Milner*Goals Against Average: 1.38 – Parker Milner*Save Percentage: 0.944 – Billy Christopoulos(* - In the AHL)CAPTAIN CHERNY COMING UP CLUTCHTeam captain Andrew Cherniwchan played in his 400th professional game Saturday night and helped the Stingrays defeat Norfolk with two points in the game. First, the Hinton, Alberta native assisted on Mark Cooper’s tally late in the first period before scoring on a breakaway off a feed by Cole Ully for his fourth goal of the year. The next day, Cherniwchan added two more goals in the second period and now has 13 points this season (6g, 7a) which is second-best on the club.
THOMPSON EARNS BACK-TO-BACK WINSRookie goaltender Logan Thompson picked up back-to-back victories to begin the weekend with 27 saves on Friday night to defeat the Indy Fuel and 29 more stops Saturday in a 6-2 victory over Norfolk. The native of Calgary, Alberta is 5-1-0 on the season in 367 minutes of action. Thompson has a goals-against average of 2.62 through his first six outings of the year.PARISI CONTINUES TO TURN HEADSDefender Tom Parisi had three points in Sunday's win over Norfolk with a goal and two assists. He is now third among all ECHL defensemen in scoring with 12 points (5g, 7a) through the team's first 12 games. Parisi also increased his ECHL-leading plus-minus rating to +14. The Providence College alum's five goals are tied for the league lead among blueliners and his 45 shots on goal are third-most in the league among defensemen.
DESALVO SCORES A DANDYForward Dan DeSalvo netted a highlight reel power play goal to kick off the scoring in Sunday afternoon’s victory over Norfolk. The expert passing play resulted in his second goal of the season and his team-leading 14th point of the year. DeSalvo, a native of Rolling Meadows, Ill., has points in nine of the team's 12 contests this season and his 12 assists are tied for 5th-most in the ECHL.
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