South Carolina Stingrays

Caps Prospect Vanecek’s Shutout Lifts Stingrays in Game 1

(courtesy Sarah Hobday)

Five different players scored points for the South Carolina Stingrays as they shutout the Wheeling Nailers, 3-0, in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series. Vitek Vanecek stopped all 33 shots for his first shutout of these playoffs; Brian Foster started for Wheeling and made 26 saves on 29 shots.

After Spencer Humphries took a slashing penalty, the Stingrays responded with an aggressive penalty kill to generate the game’s first goal. David Pacan and Austin Fyten went up ice with the puck to kill off more time, but Fyten’s shot went past the blocker of Foster for the 1-0 lead.

After the penalty ended, the Stingrays kept buzzing around the offensive zone; Jared Staal rewarded the team effort with the 2-0 goal. Stephan Vigier turned a pass from behind the net to Fyten at the top of the crease. Foster stopped him, but Staal buried the rebound for his first of the playoffs.

With helpers from Joey Leach and Joe Devin, Bobby Shea turned in his first of the playoffs. A high rising shot on the blocker side of Foster made the lead insurmountable for the visitors from West Virginia.

South Carolina’s Trevor Gillies got himself into penalty trouble at the end of the game, taking a boarding minor at 16:05 and an elbowing minor at the final horn. The Stingrays penalty kill went five-for-five on the night, improving their playoff efficiency to 89.86%.

Derek Army and Clark Seymour paced all skaters with six shots on goal each for the Nailers.

The teams will rematch tomorrow night from the North Charleston Coliseum for Game 2.

Max Wolpoff

Churchill High School graduate (2015) and current Boston University journalism student. Follow me on Twitter (@Max_Wolpoff) for game-day tweets or my random musings about being a college student.

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