Bednard Celebrates 100th Career Appearance with a 34-Save Victory

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Ryan Bednard celebrated his 100th career appearance by turning back 34 shots as he helped lead the South Carolina Stingrays (18-29-6-0) past the Orlando Solar Bears (27-22-4-0) by a final score of 5-2 on Saturday at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Gregory DiTomaso opened the scoring eight and a half minutes into the first period and gave the Stingrays a 1-0 lead. Ryan Dmowski went step-for-step with DiTomaso for an odd-man rush and threaded the needle for the defender to lift the puck over Brad Barone for his second tally of the year.

Orlando retaliated with an odd-man rush of their own where Dylan Fitze beat Bednard to tie the game. Tristan Langan swept a puck across the ice to Fitze, who fired a one-timer into the back of the net for his eighth mark of the season.

The Stingrays struck back from Justin Florek’s second goal of the weekend before the first period expired. Florek spun a puck from the right circle on net where Barone made the initial stop. A pileup in the crease sent the puck sliding across the goal line off an Orlando defender for the 2-1 lead.

Karl Boudrias added one midway through the second stanza for his second goal of the season. The defender received a feed from Cherniwchan and flung a puck on net. Orlando deflected the puck out of the air, but sent it behind their own netminder to double the Stingrays lead.

The Solar Bears pulled their goaltender with nearly four and a half minutes remaining in the third period, which led to an empty net goal for Dmowski. Dmowski received a lead pass from Jade Miller and turned on the after burners to beat the Orlando defense to the net and slid home his 15th goal of the year.

Orlando fought back and cut the deficit to two off a deflection from Jake Transit. Andrew McLean fired a shot from the blueline that ricocheted off Fitze and finished with Transit tallying his fourth goal of the season.

South Carolina regained their three-goal advantage with six seconds left in regulation with a burst of speed from Lawton Courtnall. With time winding down, Courtnall stole the puck and raced past the Orlando defense to guide the puck into the back of the net for the final goal of the contest.

The Stingrays finish off a three-game weekend tomorrow, March 6th, at 3:05 p.m. against the Atlanta Gladiators. Bring your furry friend with you to the North Charleston Coliseum for our second Pucks and Paws Night of the season presented by Washes and Wags.

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--StingraysHockey.com--