NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Stingrays ended the week on a high note, defeating the Jacksonville Icemen 2-1 on Sunday afternoon in front of 5,000+ fans at the North Charleston Coliseum. Erik Middendorf and Kyler Kupka scored for the Stingrays, while South Carolina goaltenders Seth Eisele and Garin Bjorklund combined to stop 23 of 24 shots.
While the first period saw no goals, it saw plenty of action. The Stingrays outshot the Icemen 11-9, but both goaltenders were up to the task early.
The Stingrays struck first at 9:21 into the middle frame. Middendorf brought the puck into the zone and slid it across to Austin Magera. Magera wired a shot on net that Jacksonville netminder Michael Houser stopped, but Middendorf was there for the rebound to give South Carolina a 1-0 lead. Magera and Weiss got the assists.
Eisele held down the fort with another seven second-period saves, including an incredible stop against Jacksonville’s Zach Jordan.
South Carolina doubled their lead 5 minutes into the third period. After Andrew Perrott sent the puck down low from the right point and Middendorf bumped the puck to Kupka, Kupka beat Houser with a turnaround shot for his team-leading 14th goal of the season. Middendorf and Perrott picked up the assists.
10:42 into the third period, Eisele was given a five-minute major penalty and ejected from the game. Bjorklund backstopped the Stingrays for the remainder of the game. Two minutes into the Jacksonville power play, the Icemen got on the board after a shot from the left point by Noah Laaouan found its way to the back of the net to make it 2-1.
The Icemen pulled their goaltender with two minutes left but failed to tally the equalizer, and the Stingrays hung on for a 2-1 victory to improve to 19-9-2-1 on the season.
The Stingrays will hit the road this week to take on the Atlanta Gladiators at Gas South Arena this Wednesday at 7:00 P.M.
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