Trevor Gillies (Stingrays)
The South Carolina Stingrays’ offseason signing of Trevor Gillies put the league on notice: don’t mess with him. After sitting out the enitre season thus far on injured reserve, Gilles took the ice at the North Charleston Coliseum for the first time for last weekend’s games against the Florida Everblades. The Hershey Bears also returned Austin Fyten to the Lowcountry for the weekend series.
Matt Marquardt’s goal in the first period looked like the game winner for almost 40 minutes of gam time. Mark Dekanich and Anthony Peters kept the Everblades and Stingrays deadlocked at 1-0 despite trading power play chances through the second period. Nick Jones took Joe Devin’s cross-ice pass for a quick one-timer to end the shutout bid and force overtime. Despite three shots from the Stingrays’ offense, the Everblades only needed one from Kevin Lynch to secure two points.
Before the next game against Florida, Derek DeBlois was loaned back to the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL. In his two previous stints with the Monsters this season, DeBlois has two goals through 10 games. After the game, Joe Devin would join DeBlois’s new team on loan from South Carolina. Devin’s 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) are enough to pace all Stingrays in offensive numbers.
Dekanich faced no more than seven shots a period, but Rasmus Timonen stayed up to the task and cut off the Stingrays offense. Corey Cowick scored in the final minute of the first to give the Everblades enough of an advantage through 40 minutes. On a 5-on-3, Evan Bloodoff scored to double the advantage. Again on the power play, David Pacan scored his sixth of the year to halve the lead. Ethan Werek scored on a give-and-go with Matt Willows by beating Bobby Shea to the net. Ryan Martindale added an empty-netter to finish the scoring, but not the game.
With 26 seconds to go in the game, Florida gets called offside. Marcus Perrier knocked down Willows in the corner to begin the shove contest. Perrier only got one glove off, but it was enough to wail away with a few overhead and uppercut punches; each would get a fighting major and Perrier received an additional misconduct for continuing the altercation. Cowick and Wade Epp dropped gloves and tangled breifly in Dekanich’s crease before a referee broke up the fight. Epp got a double minor and Cowick a single minor for roughing. Trevor Gillies, playing in his first two games with the Stingrays after coming off of Injured Reserve, tried to find a dance partner but nobody would fight the NHL veteran. Gilles got a 10-minute misconduct anyway.
NEXT WEEK
The Stingrays wrap up this six-game homestand next weekend against the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and 3:05 p.m. on Sunday.
CURRENT STANDING
3rd in South Division, 15-10-2-1 (W-L-OTL-SOL), 33 points. While tied with Atlanta in points, the Stingrays have played one more game than the Gladiators.
