JACKSONVILLE, FL - The South Carolina Stingrays season opened their 2026-27 season with a 5-1 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen on Friday night at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Head Coach Jesse Kallechy earned his first victory behind the bench in South Carolina. The Stingrays outshot Jacksonville by a two-to-one margin, with four players recording multi-point nights.

It didn’t take long for the teams to break the ice. An early Stingrays turnover led to an Icemen break, with Colby Ambrosio netting the game’s first goal just over a minute after puck drop. South Carolina had 13 of the first 14 shots but could not find an answer in the first period.

With three minutes left in the opening period, Zach Andrusiak dropped the gloves with Jacksonville’s Jaden Condotta, resulting in a penalty that the Stingrays killed off.

South Carolina generated a flurry of opportunities early in the second period while trailing 1-0, including a breakaway from Ryan Sandelin, but Jacksonville netminder Chase Wutzke kept the door shut.

With just over five minutes left in the second period, Jérémie Biakabutuka ripped a slap shot past Wutzke, netting South Carolina’s first goal of the season and tying the game at one.

Tyler Weiss then connected with Sandelin on a cross-ice pass that led to the go-ahead goal in the dying seconds of the middle period, pushing the Stingrays ahead 2-1 heading to the third.

The Stingrays extended their lead on the power play early in the third period. Kyle Jackson found Josh Wilkins open in front of the net, doubling South Carolina’s lead, 3-1. Minutes later, the lead grew to three when a defensive zone breakout led to Alex Gaffney connecting with Cam Morrison for his first goal as a Stingray.

The goals kept pouring in for South Carolina, with Tyler Kopff cashing in against his former team midway through the final frame, making it five consecutive goals to end the game sealing a 5-1 victory over Jacksonville in the season opener.

South Carolina goaltender Garin Bjorklund stopped 21-of-22 shots for his first victory of the season and improved to 8-0 in his career against the Jacksonville Icemen. Gaffney recorded his first professional point with his assist in the third period.

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The Stingrays return to the North Charleston Coliseum for Opening Night, presented by MUSC Health, on Saturday, October 17th, against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at 6:05 p.m. The full schedule can be viewed on our website here.

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