Next
Home Game

vs 4-2 | 7 PM
Buy Tickets to next home game

Last
Game

Last Game
1st 2nd 3rd Final
Hershey Bears 1 0 0 1
Providence Bruins 1 3 0 4
Games/Scores
Hershey Bears News

RAYS WITH FOUR GAMES LEFT IN ECHL REGULAR SEASON

March 22, 2010

by: Joe Shetrom The South Carolina Stingrays split a pair of games in South Florida this past week, finishing their season series with the Florida Everblades with a 6-4-3 record. With four contests remaining in the regular season, Cail MacLean’s club boasts a 38-18-12 mark (88 points), tops not only in the South Division but also the American Conference. Making their way to the Sunshine State to start the two-game set against the ‘Blades on Friday, the Rays welcomed back a trio of leaders to the lineup: veterans Spencer Carbery and Nate Kiser and captain Matt Scherer. It took Florida just 17 seconds to get on the scoreboard, with Ross Carlson potting his 21st on the game’s opening shift. Nearly thirty minutes elapsed before the next goal was tallied, however, when Keith Johnson struck for his team-leading 26th midway through the second period. Just over a minute later, at 11:11, Grant Farrell collected his second goal of the year, converting a power play opportunity nine seconds into a Ernie Hartlieb tripping minor. Shea Guthrie knotted the score at 2-2 in the latter stages of the middle frame, though, beating goalie Shane Connelly at 16:17. Chris Capraro led off a three-goal third stanza for the visitors, registering his first goal with SC at the 1:17 mark. A pair of first-year pros, Jake Hauswirth and Trevor Bruess, assisted on the go-ahead marker. A minute and a half later Johnson scored his second of the evening, sending the puck past Everblades goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu to make it 4-2. Enjoying a 5-on-3 man advantage, Florida trimmed their deficit to one at 10:02, with Milan Gajic depositing his 14th of the campaign on playmakers from Guthrie and Hartlieb. Remaining on the penalty kill, the Stingrays regained some breathing room on Hauswirth’s short-handed goal at 11:42, essentially quashing hopes of a ‘Blades comeback. At the final buzzer it was 5-3 in favor of SC. Connelly, in net again with Todd Ford still in Portland, stopped 27 of 30 to pick up his twelfth victory. Beckford-Tseu, meanwhile, fell to 16-9-4 with a 38-save effort. Back at it on Saturday to close out the season series, the Rays looked to inch closer to the forty-win plateau for the tenth time in the team’s 17-season history. Following a scoreless first period, South Carolina and Florida exploded for a combined six goals in the second frame, with each club coming away with three markers. Guthrie kicked off the offense at 8:21, potting a power play goal to hand the ‘Blades a 1-0 advantage. That lead lasted just twenty seconds, however, as Hauswirth lit the lamp for the second time in as many games to square the score at 1-1. Scherer netted his first tally in one month at 14:35, but Carlson and Colin Nicholson scored two minutes apart to propel Florida to their second lead of the night. Jason Fredricks closed out the second with his first goal, a power play lamp-lighter, at 19:36. The Everblades controlled the scoreboard in the final stanza, coming up with two late markers to secure a 5-3 win, their seventh in 13 contests against SC in 2009-10. Beckford-Tseu saw a mere 20 shots come his way, turning aside 17 while Connelly suffered the loss with 28 saves on 33 shots. South Carolina’s schedule features just one game this week, a Friday night faceoff versus the Reading Royals. The Stingrays own a 3-0-1 mark against Reading this year, including a pair of wins at the North Charleston Coliseum.


device iconDownload the Applocation pin iconGet Directions