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ECHL South Carolina Stingrays

Johansson, Gomez and Engelland Heading to Hershey

December 28, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
South Carolina Stingrays News Release


North Charleston, SC The South Carolina Stingrays announced today that Robin Gomez and Deryk Engelland have been called up to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, joining Jonas Johansson as the third call up to the Bears in the last week. The Stingrays will play four games in five nights, starting with a game in Augusta on Friday. Gomez and Engelland are expected to fly to Hershey today. It is not known when they will return. Johansson was promoted on December 23rd.

All three players have been keys to the Stingrays recent success, which has seen the team manage a record of 6-3-1 in its last ten games. The Rays turned things around in December after a miserable November, which saw the team go 3-8-3. The Stingrays are 5-3-1 in December.

Gomez scored his eighth goal of the season in Gwinnett on December 27th, giving the rugged winger eight goals and eight assists in 23 games this season. The Prince Rupert, BC native spent training camp with the Bears and played three preseason contests with the Washington Capitals.

"Robin has become a true power forward in this league," commented Head Coach Jason Fitzsimmons. "He is able to use his size and his strength to make space for himself in front of the net and that has translated into goals."

Derek Engelland has been a steady performer on the Stingrays blue line all season long that has been hurt by call ups and injuries. Engelland has 14 points on three goals and eleven assists in 28 games for the Stingrays.

"Derek has been tremendous from the fist game of the season. I can not think of any one player on our team that is more deserving of this chance," added Fitzsimmons.

With Johansson already gone the Rays will need to find some help on defense and up front. Johansson had five goals and three assists in five games with the Stingrays before the first round pick was called back to Hershey.

The Stingrays have now lost significant talent to the AHL including Johansson, Gomez and Engelland in Hershey, Aaron Power in Cleveland and Dave Spina in Springfield.

The Rays will play at Augusta on Friday night, before hosting the Lynx on Saturday evening at a special 6:00 start time. The Stingrays will wear special Tuxedo Jerseys on Saturday to celebrate New Years Eve.

A variety of season ticket and group ticket packages are still available. For ticket information contact the Stingrays office at 744-2248 or log on to www.stingrayshockey.com.

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