Stingrays Weekly Report - December 30

The South Carolina Stingrays didn’t slow down at all after returning from the ECHL’s holiday break, taking points from all three of their games last week to close out 2019 with a 9-0-3-1 record during December. The Stingrays finished the 2019 calendar year with an overall regular season record of 40-20-8-1. Last week’s victories over Atlanta and Orlando kept the team’s winning percentage at a league-high 0.862 and extended their ECHL-best point streak to 16 games (12-0-3-1). Saturday night’s shutout win over Orlando was the team’s seventh victory over the Solar Bears in eight meetings this season, as well as their league-best seventh shutout. SC also continues to be the best defensive team in the ECHL, allowing just 2.14 goals per contest while maintaining the top goal differential in the league of +42.

South Carolina will start their 2020 portion of the schedule with six straight home games beginning with a three-in-three this weekend at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Stingrays host the Florida Everblades on Friday and Saturday night before the Atlanta Gladiators come to town on Sunday afternoon. SC has a record of 3-0-1 so far this season against both the Everblades and Gladiators.

STINGRAYS RECORD: 23-2-3-1LAST WEEK: 2-0-0-1

THURSDAY: ATLANTA GLADIATORS 4, SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS 3 SO(Infinite Energy Center – Duluth, GA)The Atlanta Gladiators scored twice in the third period to erase a deficit and had the only tally in a shootout after a scoreless overtime to defeat the South Carolina Stingrays by a final score of 4-3 Thursday night at the Infinite Energy Center. The Stingrays scored all three of their goals in the second period with tallies by forwards Andrew Cherniwchan, Cam Askew and Matthew Weis. Despite taking the loss in the shootout, goaltender Parker Milner stayed unbeaten in regulation this season, stopping 29 shots in the contest.

FRIDAY: SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS 3, ATLANTA GLADIATORS 1(Infinite Energy Center – Duluth, GA)The South Carolina Stingrays dominated from the start and skated their way to a 3-1 win over the Atlanta Gladiators on Friday night at the Infinite Energy Center to extend their league-best point streak to 15 consecutive games. Forwards Tim Harrison, Matthew Weis and Max Novak scored goals for the Rays while goaltender Logan Thompson stopped 26 shots to earn the victory and improve his record to 10-2-1 on the season.

SATURDAY: SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS 3, ORLANDO SOLAR BEARS 0(North Charleston Coliseum – North Charleston, SC)The South Carolina Stingrays had another impressive effort on the defensive end Saturday night and earned their seventh shutout of the year with a 3-0 defeat of the Orlando Solar Bears at the North Charleston Coliseum to extend their league-best point streak to 16 consecutive games. Goaltender Logan Thompson stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn his second blank slate of the season, both of which have come against the Solar Bears. All three of South Carolina’s goals came in the third period, with forwards Jonathan Charbonneau, Andrew Cherniwchan and Mark Cooper getting credit for the tallies.THIS WEEKFriday, January 3 vs. Florida Everblades, 7:05 p.m. (North Charleston Coliseum)Saturday, January 4 – vs. Florida Everblades, 6:05 p.m. (North Charleston Coliseum)Sunday, January 5 – vs. Atlanta Gladiators, 3:05 p.m. (North Charleston Coliseum)STINGRAYS LEADERSGoals: 14 – Andrew CherniwchanAssists: 20 – Dan DeSalvo*Points: 32 – Dan DeSalvo*Plus/Minus: Plus-21 – Andrew CherniwchanPenalty Minutes: 29 – Cole UllyShots On Goal: 101 – Andrew CherniwchanWins: 11 – Parker Milner*, Logan ThompsonGoals Against Average: 1.86 – Parker Milner*Save Percentage: 0.927 – Parker Milner** - In the AHLCAPTAIN CHERNY LEADS THE WAYTeam captain Andrew Cherniwchan had points in all three games for South Carolina last week, scoring two goals and one assist. The eighth year forward leads the club with 14 goals and a +21 rating this year, which is fourth best in the ECHL. Cherniwchan recently moved into 7th on the team's all-time goal-scoring list with 90 career tallies in a Stingrays sweater. He is also 11th all-time in overall scoring with 196 points and 15th in assists with 106.CHARBONNEAU STEPS UPSecond year forward Jonathan Charbonneau also had points in all three of South Carolina’s games last week, accounting for a goal and two assists. The St-Colombant, Quebec native is currently on a team-high 4-game point streak and has reached double-digits in scoring this season with 10 points on four goals and six assists.

THOMPSON TAKES OVERRookie goaltender Logan Thompson went 2-0-0 last week, allowing just one goal in his two victories while earning his second shutout of the season on Saturday night against Orlando. Thompson finished the month of December with a 5-0-1 record, allowing just 10 goals to give him a goals-against average of 1.70 along with a 0.945 save percentage. On the season, the Calgary, Alberta native has totaled 11 wins and a goals-against of 2.15 which is third-best in the ECHL along with a 0.925 save percentage that ranks fourth.HAMMOND TURNING HEADSConsistency has been key for defenseman Tariq Hammond, who has only had a negative plus-minus rating one time during the 2019-20 season. The lone occurrence came in the club’s second game of the year on Oct. 18. Since then, he has gone 23 straight games with an even or better rating, which has allowed the Calgary, Alberta native to compile a +17 mark for the year. Most recently, Hammond had two assists last week along with a +4 rating. The blueliner has totaled eight points in 24 games this season on a goal and seven assists.

—Tickets for all of the team’s upcoming 2019-20 home contests are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

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