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ECHL South Carolina Stingrays

Stingrays Move Into Second Place With 6-1 Win

March 28, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
South Carolina Stingrays News Release


North Charleston, SC - The South Carolina Stingrays scored six unanswered goals, including three by newly aquired rookies Matt Smith and Ben Nelson, to trip up the Mississippi Sea Wolves 6-1 at the North Charleston Coliseum.

"The game finished up the way I wanted it to," said Head Coach Jared Bednar. "It took us a while to get going, but once we did, I really like the way we played."

In the first period, the South Carolina Stingrays came out with a number of good chances, but were unable to get it by Mississippi net-minder Morgan Cey to take the lead. The game was scoreless until 7:11 when the Sea Wolves were able to capitalize on a three on two breakaway to take the 1-0 lead. The Stingrays answered five just five minutes later when Matt Smith got a power play goal, his second goal of his career, in just three games. The goal came at 12:04 and was assisted by Chris Chaput and Sasha Pokulok.

In the second period there were chances abound, for both teams, but the goaltenders were the story until the final five minutes. At 16:37 the Rays took their first lead of the night when Ben Nelson got his first professional goal in just his third game as a pro. The goal was assisted by Marty Guerin and Smith. South Carolina would extend their lead with just 10 seconds to go in the period when Travis Morin got his team leading 33rd goal of the season from Rory Rawlyk and Pokulok.

The South Carolina Stingrays continued to dominate in the third period when they scored three more goals. Matt Smith got his second of the ninth and his third of the season at 5:37 of the period from Pierre-Luc O'Brien and Pokulok to make it 4-1. They would extend it to 5-1 on Matt Scherer's 11th goal of the season. Scherer tipped a shot by Pokulok at 7:01 with the other assist going to Chris Chaput. At 15:00 minutes Todd Griffith got his 18th goal of the season, and his 5th as a member of the South Carolina Stingrays, from Paul McIlveen and Scott Romfo to make the score 6-1 the eventual final.

The winning goaltender was Josh Johnson who stopped 28 of the 29 shots that he faced. The losing goaltender was Cey who stopped 25 of the 31 shots that he faced in 55 minutes of play. Rookie John Hallas played the final five minutes and stopped the only shot that he faced. The Rays went 1-3 on the power play while killing off all six shorthanded situations they faced.

The win, coupled with the 4-1 loss to the Gwinnett Gladiators, put the South Carolina Stingrays in second place in the Southern Division.

The Rays are back in action tomorrow night when they play host to the Columbia Inferno in the final home game of the regular season on Fan Appreciation Night.

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