ECHL South Carolina Stingrays

Stingrays Come Out Strong in 5-3 Opening Win

Published on October 18, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
South Carolina Stingrays News Release


North Charleston, SC - The South Carolina Stingrays scored three power play goals as they opened up the 2008-2009 season with a 5-3 win over the visiting Augusta Lynx at the North Charleston Coliseum.

"We made it a little closer than we wanted to," said Head Coach Jared Bednar. "But I thought we played very well tonight, and getting that first win under our belt is always a good thing."

The Stingrays came out of the gate strong as Paul Kelly scored his first goal of the season on the power play at 8:40 when put the puck off the back of the Augusta goaltender, Joel Martin. The assists on the goal went to Zach Tarkir and Pierre-Luc O'Brien. The Rays struck again on the power play with two minutes left to go in the period. Sasha Pokulok took a great feed from Johann Kroll and put it in the back of the empty net. It was Pokulok's first goal of the year with the assists going to Kroll and O'Brien, his second of the night.

The second period of game had South Carolina increasing their lead when Tommy Maxwell scored an even strength unassisted goal at 1:35. The Lynx scored back to back goals, one on the power play and one short handed to make it a 3-2 Stingrays lead. But the Rays responded in kind by getting another power play goal of their own on a snipe by O'Brien at 15:35 from Trent Campbell and Brad Farynuk.

The third period had South Carolina potting another goal to make it 5-3, the eventual final. At 6:38, rookie Michal Dubuc scored his first professional goal from his line mates Travis Morin and Maxime Lacroix.

The winning goaltender was Michael Neuvirth who stopped 17 of the 20 shots that he faced. The losing goaltender was Martin who stopped 33 of the 38 shots that he faced. The Rays went three for five on the power play while killing off six of the eight short handed situations they faced.

The Rays are back in action on Friday night when they travel to Estero, FL to take on the Florida Everblades. Game time will be at 7:30 and the game can be heard on New Sports Radio 1450.

Don't miss all the fast-paced, hard-hitting action! Individual tickets can be purchased at the North Charleston Coliseum box office, by calling Ticketmaster at (843) 554-6060 and online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Full and partial season tickets are available by calling (843) 744-2248 or by visiting online at www.stingrayshockey.com. Stingrays Hockey - A Whole Lot Cooler!

Check out the South Carolina Stingrays Statistics

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ECHL Stories from October 18, 2008


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