ECHL South Carolina Stingrays

Pink in the Rink Fights Breast Cancer as Thunder Top Rays in Overtime

Published on March 5, 2016 under ECHL (ECHL)
South Carolina Stingrays News Release


NORTH CHARLESTON, SC-The South Carolina Stingrays (33-18-5-2) welcomed a crowd of 7,129 fans for the 10th Annual Pink in the Rink presented by Trident Health Saturday night, however it would be the Adirondack Thunder (33-18-2-4) earning the 3-2 overtime victory at the North Charleston Coliseum. South Carolina got goals from Jared Staal and Joe Devin, and 31 saves from Mark Dekanich on an evening where the club helped fight breast cancer.

In front of the electric crowd and skating on pink ice, South Carolina bolted out of the gate to earn a 2-0 lead. Staal opened the scoring with his ninth goal of the season at 11:17. Patrick Gaul raced into the offensive zone on the left wing. His shot was denied by goaltender Drew Fielding's left pad, but Staal converted on his second attempt on the rebound to make it 1-0.

The Stingrays scored only 1:13 later on the power play thanks to Devin's 15th goal of the season. The ECHL Rookie of the Month, Brett Cameron, cycled the puck back to the left point. Devin fired a slapshot that struck the post and landed in the back of the net to make it 2-0 Stingrays.

The Thunder were able to cut into the Stingrays lead with a power play goal at 16:14 of the opening frame. Jeff Silengo scored his 12th goal of the season via a deflection of a Patch Alber shot to cut the lead to 2-1.

The goaltenders took over in a scoreless second period. Fielding was peppered with 15 South Carolina shots and came up with several key saves to keep his team down by just a goal. Dekanich came up with the save of the period, sprawling in desperation and getting his shoulder on a Michael Kirkpatrick shot.

In the third period, the Thunder would tie the game at 14:06 as defenseman Mike Bergin scored only his second goal of the season. Adirondack forward Greg Wolfe found Bergin in front of the goal. He let a slapshot go that knuckled between the pads of Dekanich to tie the game, 2-2.

In the third period, South Carolina twice knocked the puck into the goal appearing to score, but each was waived off by the officials and no goals were awarded.

After several phenomenal saves from each goaltender, the game continued to overtime. In the extra session, Adirondack's Kirpatrick played hero, scoring the game-winning goal at 3:03, beating Dekanich short-side. The goal was his 24th of the season.

The Stingrays outshot the Thunder 42-34. Fielding was the game's first star with 40 saves.

After the game, the Stingrays auctioned off the pink accented jerseys they wore during Saturday's game. Jared Staal's jersey went for a team-high $3,000. More information, including an auction total, will be released next week as the Stingrays raised funds for Share Our Suzy.

South Carolina visits Greenville on Thursday before heading home to battle Atlanta on Friday and Saturday. Friday at 7:05 p.m. is the Dog Days of Winter as fans may bring their dogs to the game. It's also a Rays 4 Pack game featuring 4 tickets, 4 sodas, 4 hot dogs and a large popcorn for just $65. Ticket information is avaliable at StingraysHockey.com.

Check out the South Carolina Stingrays Statistics

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



ECHL Stories from March 5, 2016


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