NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The South Carolina Stingrays wrapped up the week with a 2-1 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen on Sunday afternoon in front of over 5,000 fans at the North Charleston Coliseum. Erik Middendorf and Kyler Kupka found the back of the net for the Stingrays, while goaltenders Seth Eisele and Garin Bjorklund combined to stop 23 shots.
First period, the Stingrays outshot the Icemen 11-9, but both goaltenders were sharp early on. Michael Houser was in the net for Jacksonville and delivered a solid performance.
South Carolina broke the deadlock at 9:21 of the second period. Middendorf carried the puck into the zone and passed it across to Austin Magera, who fired a shot that Jacksonville stopped, but Middendorf jumped on the rebound to give the Stingrays a 1-0 lead. Magera and Tyler Weiss picked up the assists.
The Stingrays doubled their lead five minutes into the third period. Andrew Perrott sent a pass down low from the right point to Middendorf, who quickly got it to Kupka, who turned and fired a shot past Houser for his 14th goal of the season. Middendorf and Perrott recorded the assists.
At 10:42 of the third period Eisele was handed a five-minute major penalty and ejected from the game and Bjorkland was put in the net for the rest of the game. Two minutes into the Icemen’s power play, Jacksonville capitalized when Noah Laaouan’s shot from the left point found its way into the back of the net, cutting the lead to 2-1.
With just under two minutes remaining, the Icemen pulled their goalie in an effort to tie the game. However, they were unable to find the net and the Stingrays held on for a 2-1 victory, improving to 19-9-2-1 on the season.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s Julie Taylor for highlights from the game:
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