ECHL South Carolina Stingrays

Stingrays Fall to Checkers, 4-3

January 10, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
South Carolina Stingrays News Release


Charlotte, NC - The South Carolina Stingrays took a lead into the third period, but were unable to knock off the Charlotte Checkers in an afternoon affair at the Time Warner Cable Arena.

"We are scoring enough goals to win consistently," said Head Coach Jared Bednar. "Now we need our defense to make sure that they hold up."

The first period started out slow for both team, as neither team had much offense through the first ten minutes, just 3-1 shots on goal. It wasn't until the Rays had their first power play of the night that the offense started to pick. The Rays were forced to kill off a lengthy five on three to end the period, but were able to keep the Checkers off the board in the first frame.

For all of the scoring that did not occur in the first period, the Stingrays and Checkers combined for five goals in the second period. The Rays took the 1-0 lead on Mike Curry first goal as a member of the Stingrays, his second goal overall this year. The goal came at 3:30 and was assisted by Bryson Busniuk and Michael Dubuc. The lead would not last long, as Charlotte's Brad Ralph would tie things up at one less than two minutes later. The Rays would retake the lead later in the period on Travis Morin's 11th goal of the year. The goal came at 16:44 and was assisted by Jeff Corey and Maxime Lacroix at 16:44. Much like the first goal, however, the lead was short lived, as Michel Leveille got his 7th goal of the year just :45 seconds later to tie the game up at two. But prior to the period ending, Michael Dubuc got his team leading 20th goal of the year to make it a 3-2 Stingrays lead. The goal came at 18:32 and was assisted Bryson Busniuk.

After tying the game up in the third period, the Charlotte Checkers got the game winning goal on the power play from Mike Bayrack. The goal came at 14:20 and was the fourth goal of the season for Bayrack against the Stingrays, most on the Charlotte Checkers. The Rays pulled Michal Neuvirth late in the third in favor of the extra attacker, but were unable to tie things up before the game concluded.

The winning goaltender was Maxime Daigneault who stopped 30 of the 33 shots he faced. The losing goaltender was Neuvirth who stopped 24 of the 28 shots he faced. The Rays went 0-3 on the power play while killing off three of the four short handed situations they faced.

The Rays will be back on Thursday when they welcome in the Florida Everblades to the North Charleston Coliseum. Game time will be at 7:05 P.M. You can hear the game live on ESPN Radio 910 the TEAM starting with the Benitos pre-game show beginning at 6:50.

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



ECHL Stories from January 10, 2009


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