ECHL South Carolina Stingrays

Bellefeuille and the Checkers Top Rays 5-4 in OVertime

Published on December 9, 2005 under ECHL (ECHL)
South Carolina Stingrays News Release


Charlotte, NC Blake Bellefeuille's hat trick goal came at 3:23 in overtime and gave the Charlotte Checkers a 5-4 overtime victory over the South Carolina Stingrays at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

The overtime win ended a back and forth game in which neither team ever led by more than one. With the loss the Stingrays snapped a four game winning streak and fell to 8-9-6 on the season, while Charlotte improved to 10-8-1.

"We put forth a great effort tonight in a game that could have gone either way," commented Head Coach Jason Fitzsimmons. "Unfortunately they got the last bounce of the game."

The Rays are now 0-6 in games that go past regulation. The game winner came on a Checkers rebound in overtime that popped right on to the stick of Bellefeuille helping Charlotte to improve to 5-0 against the Stingrays.

The Checkers scored the game's first goal on the power play at 4:21 of the first period when Rory Rawlyk's shot found its was past Maxime Daigneault for the defenseman's eighth goal of the season. After Luke Stauffacher was denied on a penalty shot at 10:56 by Daigneault, Marty Clapton evened the score for the Rays. With South Carolina on the power play, Clapton tipped a Deryk Engelland shot past Al Montoya at 11:26. It was Clapton's fifth of the season.

Each team scored a pair of goals in the second period to send the game into the third tied at 3-3. Blake Bellefeuille scored a short handed goal just 22 seconds into the period to give the Checker the lead, but Jeff Legue converted an Evan Schwabe pass at 4:48 to tie the score on his team leading eleventh goal of the season. After Blake Rodney scored a power play goal for the Checkers at 8:41, the Stingrays tied the game again on a quick shot from the right wing by Cam McCaffrey at14:40.

In the third period, Jonas Johansson's power play goal gave the Stingrays their first lead of the night at 4-3, but Charlotte managed to tie the score on Mike Bayrack's late power play goal at 13:24.

The Stingrays will host the Trenton Titans tonight at 7:05 at the North Charleston Coliseum and host the Greenville Grrrowl on Sunday at 3:00PM. Tonight it Budweiser night with the Rays wearing their Bud jerseys. The Stanley Cup will visit the Coliseum on Sunday for Kid's day with $5.00 children's tickets.

Check out the South Carolina Stingrays Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from December 9, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central