The odd thing about hockey is that, on a given day, any team can beat any other team in their league. Sometimes, the same two teams that played the previous day will face-off again the next night and the score line will be reversed. This is what happend to the South Carolina Stingrays and the Norfolk Admirals last weekend. Though the Admirals took the weekend by a combined score of 9-8, the Stingrays demolished them in the second game.
Scott Allen (2), Gabriel Verpaelst, and Greg Chase scored in the course of the first period on Mark Dekanich while Chase finished his hat trick and Michael Pelech scored two more against Vitek Vanecek in the second and third periods. David Pacan and Evan Rodrigues scored for the Stingrays in an 8-2 decision for the hometown team. Here is Mark Dekanich’s postgame reaction from twitter (@dexshow):
💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
— Mark Dekanich (@dexshow) January 30, 2016
Norfolk continued the onslaught into the first period Saturday, but Dekanich stopped 14 of 15 shots he faced, allowing only Chase’s one-timer past him. Brandon Magee, part of the trade with the Idaho Steelheads, started the Stingray counter-attack by getting the Rays on the board first with a power-play goal. Joe Devin, returning from 16 games with the Lake Erie Monsters (AHL), scored his ninth ECHL goal before the first intermission. Magee and Brendan Ellis scored on the power play to chase Nic Riopel from the Admiral net. Marcus Perrier and Paul Rodrigues (EN) scored again in the third period to grant the Stingrays redmption and a 6-1 win.
In a late week roster move, head coach Specer Carbery claimed forward Casey Thrush off waivers. The Olney, MD native originally skated with the Allen Americans, registering three points (one goal, two assists) in 13 games.
NEXT WEEK
Brampton and Florida will visit the North Charleston Coliseum on Friday and Saturday respectively. For anyone attending the Florida game, free parking is part of the Stignrays Military Appreciation Night presnted by APECS Aerospace. The team will wear special jerseys to be auctioned off after the game to benefit America’s Mighty Warriors.
CURRENT STANDING
43 games played, 22-16-3-2 (W-L-OTL-SOL), 49 points, 3rd in South Division
