The South Carolina Stingrays were back in action bright and early at the North Charleston Coliseum for Education Day as around 7000 kids piled in to watch the club take on the Atlanta Gladiators. Connor Moore would be back in the lineup, as well, and Ian Mackey would rejoin the fourth line with Mitchell Gibson.
Nick Leivermann got the party started five minutes into the game with an unassisted goal against Grigals. A few penalties would be called on both sides of the ice, but all would be killed.
The second period would start off strong, with an Atlanta goal being under review. A puck would slide past Mitch Gibson at the same time but would be waived off after a lengthy review by the officials. Austin Magera would skate off as the play would go under review as a Glad collided with him but would return to the ice shortly.
Ivan Lodnia would keep the good vibes rolling as Kevin O’Neil’ would put a beautiful pass on his stick from behind the net, letting him bury it past Grigals, putting South Carolina up 2-0.
The third period was nothing less than exciting, with the Stingrays and ATL switching off going on the man advantage, with Mutter going in first and Leivermann following as soon as it expired. With the Stingrays on the penalty kill, Gibson loses his stick behind the net and ends up with a player’s stick as a replacement until the play is called dead. As time winds down, South Carolina holds them to only one shot on goal.
The momentum continues on another Stingrays powerplay, as Kevin O’Neil’ put a nice shot on goal for Jack Adams to tap it into the goal. Truly, a Happy Gilmore “tap tap tap a roo” moment in front of the net with the minimum force needed to slide past the goal line.
Atlanta finally gets on the board with six minutes remaining in the game, Pierson robbing Gibson of a shutout. The Gladiators would pull the goalie with 1:30 remaining, but it wouldn’t be enough as the score remained the same.
The Stingrays hit the road this weekend and head up to Norfork to take on the Admirals. They will not return home until March 1 to take on the Florida Everblades.
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You got everything right in your article except Gibson didn’t lose his stick behind the net,he actually intentionally dropped the stick to the ice after a hard Gladiator shot broke his stick.