The South Carolina Stingrays were back in action at the Coliseum to take on the Savannah Ghost Pirates for the last time in the regular season. Mitchell Gibson would get back-to-back starts in goal, as Jacob Hudson would rejoin the lineup. During warmups, Jackson Leppard and Joe Fleming would start chirping and reacquainting themselves rather quickly. Soon enough, some friendly pushing would happen at center ice, inciting an all-out pre-game brawl. Things would settle, but starting lineups would include big hitters such as Garet Hunt, Tyson Empey, and Jackson Leppard on the front end.
The first period would start off without a hitch, with no gloves hitting the ice, as things seemed to settle down. Benton Maass would put the Stingrays on the board early and strike first. The Ghost Pirates would start putting pressure on Gibson and finally put one past him on a tough deflection with less than four minutes remaining in the period.
With the second period underway, we would finally get the Leppard- Fleming continuation from pregame warmups that we had been waiting for eight seconds after the puck had dropped. The mits went down as the punches flew between the two. As the two headed off for their five-minute time out and play resumed, Noah Carroll joined Fleming in the box for delay of game, giving the Stingrays a man advantage 56 seconds in. The Ghost Pirates would kill this penalty and would go on to kill two other back-to-back penalties South Carolina would have. The Ghost Pirates would get on the board after a turnover from the Stingrays, as Nick Granowicz would take full advantage and get in close range on Gibson for his first pro goal. They would keep the momentum as Alex Gilmour would get another one top shelf. Coach Brenden Kotyk would use a timeout to help regroup the squad, as they would need to finish out the period and come out for a big third.
During the third period, Michael Kim had to be held back from the Ghost Pirates bench. Acting very out of character for the defenseman, as he is usually a physical player but not a mouthy one. Savannah was later assessed a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct after about a five-minute stoppage of play as the Stingrays went on another power play. It was later determined to be a racial slur that was said from the bench. Hudson would also scruff with Griffin Loughran in the corner, both heading to the box for roughing. Savannah would quickly score a goal on 4-4, making the score 4-1. With a little over nine minutes to play, a puck would hit the cross bar behind Mitch Gibson as a player collided with the net, unknowing if it was a goal or not due to the net and puck no longer being by the goalie. After review, it was deemed a goal for Savannah, as Reid Cooper would come into the game. The Stingrays would play out the rest of the contest with grit, but it wasn’t enough, as the crossbar was South Carolina’s worst enemy tonight, and their powerplay was less than subpar.
They are back in action tomorrow night to take on the Jacksonville Icemen in their last regular home game of the season for Fan Appreciation Night. South Carolina is still in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs, and it is going to come down to these last few games to see what their fate is.
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