The South Carolina Stingrays were back in the North Charleston Coliseum to take on the Flordia Everblades in the first of a three-game weekend series. Two new faces joined the club, with one joining the ice tonight, Sean Ross and Ethan Strang. Ross joined the third line with Garet Hunt and Ryan Leibold, with Mitch Gibson going up against Cam Johnson.
The first period was rough start for the Stingrays, as a little miscommunication between Benton Maass and Mitch Gibson caused a goal to Florida to take an early lead. The Stingrays wouldn’t get their first shot on goal until almost eight minutes into the period when Ryan Leibold would put a nice one on Johnson. Nicky Leiverman would send a rocket soaring past Cam Johnson not long after to even the score at one.
The second period would truly be a playoff-worthy period. Every minute of ice time was a true battle for who wanted it more. Garet Hunt was called for interference and the penalty would expire as he exited the box, he would soon scrap with the rat himself, Kyle Neuber. This would mark Hunt’s 10th fight of the season, and we should be expecting a suspension coming soon. A backhander from Riese Zmolek past Gibson. On the Rays power play, the refs waived off a goal 25 seconds into the man advantage, which would have tied things up at two a piece. This caused havoc on the ice and amongst fans, as it clearly caused the goal line, but was waived off in the end.
Things steadily went downhill in the third period, as the Stingrays would get a powerplay on a Darcy tripping calling almost seven minutes into the period to attempt to tie things up again. They would get no shots on goal. Garet Hunt would once again spend time in the penalty box, where Mark Senden would score on Gibson, extending the lead. A minute later, Joe Pendenza would get in on the action and score again for the Blades on a pass from Stanislav Demin. Less than a minute after the captain’s celebration, Mark Senden would once again score for Flordia, bringing it to a grand total of three goals in less than three minutes, putting the score at 5-1 for the Everblades. The Stingrays tried to battle back but were outskated and just looked out of place in the final minutes of play.
They will be back in action on Saturday for redemption against the Everblades on home ice again.
