Vitek Vanecek (via the Stingrays)
To start the playoffs, South Carolina will battle the Kalamazoo Wings in the quarterfinals, as the Stingrays look to return to the Kelly Cup Finals, where they lost in seven games last season.
THE TEAMS
South Carolina: bolstered by some late season additions, the Stingrays displaced the Florida Everblades for the South Division Championship in the last few weeks of the season. None of the Rays played all 72 games this season.
David Pacan will be a consistent scoring threat; he ended the regular season with 20 goals and 42 assists. However, keep an eye out for the AHL loaners like Derek DeBlois and Caleb Herbert. Both spent considerable time in Lake Erie and Hershey respectively, but their returns to the Lowcountry gave the Rays the offensive spark they needed.
Mark Dekanich and Vitek Vanecek worked in tandem all season, but early on saw Branden Komm compete for the starting role. Komm was traded, signaling the team’s desire for a solid 1-2 tandem and not a three-horse carousel. Vanecek played to a 2.03 goals against average — second in the league — while Dekanich won 20 of his 35 starts.
Kalamazoo: if not for a 9-0-1-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) run to end the season, the Wings would have been on their couches watching the playoffs unfold. Their late-season tear pushed out the Elmira Jackals and Orlando Solar Bears to give three of the North Division’s four teams a playoff spot.
Joel Martin is the likely starter for all of Kalamazoo’s games. He played a league-high 64 games in the regular season, finishing with three shutouts, a 2.94 GAA, a .918 save percentage, and 36 wins. Former Stingrays backup Clay Witt from last season’s playoffs will be the backup.
The one iron-man on the Wings, Alex Mallet, is the team’s second-best scorer with 23 goals and 34 points. Ludwig Blomstrand missed one game all year, but led the Wings in goals (29), shots on goal (211), points (63), and power play goals (7).
GAME NOTES
South Carolina is one win away from becoming the first franchise in ECHL history to win 100 playoff games.
The only previous playoff meeting between Kalamazoo and South Carolina came in the Eastern Conference Semifinals of 2012, three years after the Wings joined the league. The Wings won the series four games to one.
The Rays are also after their fourth franchise Kelly Cup.
