via the Stingrays
The South Carolina Stingrays looked to keep pace in a tight division. Unfortunately, they were unable to as they lost both games this weekend, one to the Orlando Solar Bears on Saturday, and one to in-state rival Greenville.
Saturday’s game was decided in the second period as Orlando scored three goals, to give them the lead. They would win the game by a score of 4-2. Dylan Margonari opened the scoring halfway through the first with assists going to Joe Devin and Taylor Cammarata. Orlando would tie the game early in the second before Kelly Zajac scored on the power play to give the Stingrays the 2-1 lead. Orlando would score the next two goals of the period in the last three minutes of the second to take a 3-2 lead into intermission. They sealed the with an empty net goal with a minute to go.
In Sunday’s match against Greenville, the fans were in for what appeared to be a good game for the Rays as they were up 2-0 after the first period, which even saw a Trevor Gillies fight. Zajac and Cammarata scored the goals for the Stingrays. In the second, Greenville struck twice before the period was halfway through, but Frankie Simonelli gave the Stingrays the lead again 11:39 into the period. The lead once again became two as Cammarata scored just over a minute into third. Then, something happened. All of a sudden Greenville stole momentum and never gave it back. They cut the lead in half with just under eight minutes to play, then tied it up with 1:10 on the clock on a six-on-four situation as the Stingrays took a penalty. Greenville then won the game with 14 seconds into overtime.
Standings: After only getting one of four possible points, the Stingrays have slipped to fourth in the South Division, 11 points behind leading Florida. The Stingrays do have three games in hand on them in addition to having games in hand on second place Greenville, who the Stingrays are two points behind, and on third place Atlanta who the Rays are tied with.
Week Ahead:
Tuesday, December 5 – vs. Greenville Swamp Rabbits, 7:05 p.m.
Thursday, December 7 – at Greenville Swamp Rabbits, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 9 – vs. Atlanta Gladiators, 7:05 p.m.
Sunday, December 10 – at Atlanta Gladiators, 2:05 p.m.
Leaders:
Goals: 7 – Andrew Cherniwchan
Assists: 10 – Zajac
Points: 14 – Joe Devin, Zajac
Plus/Minus: Plus-5 – Margonari
Wins: 6 – Jeff Jakaitis
Goals Against Average: 2.44 – Parker Milner
Save Percentage: 0.919 – Parker Milner
Roster Moves: The Capitals have assigned defenseman Kris Bundulis to South Carolina from Hershey. In addition, the Stingrays have traded Nick Neville to the Reading Royals for Matt Salhany.
Highlights:
