The South Carolina Stingray’s were back in action in the North Charleston Coliseum to take on the Trois Rivieres Lions. The Stingrays are attempting to bounce back after an overtime loss to divisional rivals, the Orlando Solar Bears. Garin Bjorklund would get the start in goal, as well as Coach Brenden Kotyk making some surprising lineup changes. He has opted to play seven defensemen, rather than moving the defensemen up as forwards as he has previously done, and Tyson Empey moving back up to the first line.
The first period started off with a delay from the Stingrays crew, as they changed the glass behind the goal before the puck drop. As that got squared away and we were underway with the Rays quickly taking control of the puck within the first five minutes, Bjorklund facing no shots. There were quite a few early attempts from the Stingrays, including a feed from Tyson Empey to rookie Jacob Hudson to put a shot on Strauss Mann. South Carolina quickly started to lose the momentum as Ryan Leibold headed to the box for high sticking, giving TR the first man advantage of the night. Jakov Novak would quickly take advantage and put the Lions on top midway through the first period. Novak wouldn’t stop there, as he would bury another puck past Bjorklund with less than a minute remaining in the period to further extend the lead going into the second period.
The Stingrays came into the second period continuing to battle for pucks, but couldn’t get past Mann. Halfway through the period, Alex-Oliver Voyer would extend the Lion’s lead to three over the home team as he sent one past Bjorklund. Jack Adams and Jackson Leppard connected on a good attempted towards the end of the period but it would hit the crossbar, a sound every fan in the arena did not want to hear.
With the third period underway and South Carolina in desperate need of a huge momentum boost, Anthony Beauregard would be sent to the penalty box for tripping for our second and final penalty of the game from two very physical teams. Kevin O’Neil would finally put the Stingrays on the board almost four minutes into the period, giving them the push they needed to continue to battle it out on home ice. With 2:45 left in the period, Bjorklund had finally went to the bench, as he had been waiting outside of the crease for the go-ahead. Shortly after, Nicolas Lariviere would send home an empty net goal, making the score 4-1, solidifying the Lion’s wins over the Stingrays.
The Stingrays will be back in action on Sunday to take on the TR Lions again, as they will retire former Captain Andrew Chernicwan’s number, and induct him into the Stingray’s Hall of Fame.
