ECHL Greenville Swamp Rabbits

Furious Comeback Falls Short in Exhibition Loss

Published on October 11, 2014 under ECHL (ECHL)
Greenville Swamp Rabbits News Release


Charleston, SC - The Greenville Road Warriors scored three unanswered goals to close out their exhibition opener on Saturday night, but fell to the South Carolina Stingrays, 4-3, at the Carolina Ice Palace in Charleston. Brandon Hynes (GRW), Branden Gracel (SC) and Lucas Van Natter (SC) each scored a pair of goals, while Stingrays' netminder David LeNeveu made 18 saves for the win.

South Carolina jumped out to an early two-goal lead with back-to-back tallies less than a minute apart in the opening frame. At the 6:29 mark, Gracel knocked home a feed from Michal Cajkovsky before Lucas Van Natter made it 2-0 just 59 seconds later.

Following the first intermission, Gracel and Van Natter continued their success as the South Carolina extended its lead to 4-0 in the middle frame. Just 11 seconds into the period, Wayne Simpson found Gracel for his second tally of the game. Van Natter added his second as well at the 5:07 mark from Patrick Gaul and Louis Belisle.

The Road Warriors made it close in the third period with a three-goal frame beginning when Pat Mullane found Hynes at the left circle, who beat LeNeveu over the glove at 3:54. Less than four minutes later, Sebastien Geoffrion cut the deficit to two with a power play goal following a South Carolina bench minor for too many men on the ice.

Hynes drew the visitors to within one and notched his second goal of the night with just 55 seconds to play, but the comeback fell just shy.

Road Warriors' goaltender Mackenzie Skapski suffered the loss after making 24 saves. The Stingrays outshot Greenville 28-21.

Greenville also finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

The Road Warriors conclude pre-season play tomorrow with a 5:00 p.m. puck drop in Gwinnett, Georgia against the Gwinnett Gladiators. For live updates, follow the team's official Twitter account .

The Road Warriors kick off their 5th season of hockey in the Upstate on Friday, October 24th against the South Carolina Stingrays at 7 p.m. The Warriors are offering fans a special $10 Opening Night ticket and 2014-15 ticket plans start as low as $81! Call a Road Warriors Account Executive at 864-674-PUCK or visit GreenvilleRoadWarriors.com/tickets-overview.html to secure your Road Warriors tickets today!

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