With a few weeks until Training Camp opens, the South Carolina Stingrays were in need of goaltending. Today, head coach Ryan Warsofsky announced they signed two on Tryout agreements.
Both Greg Lewis and Troy Passingham are 25 and just finished their final season of college hockey. Lewis attended Clarkson University in upstate New York while Passingham played for Ryerson University in Toronto.
Lewis, of Mars, PA, went 36-40-10 in 92 appearances with the Golden Knights. He had his best season last year, going 14-9-2 with a 2.04 goals against average and a .925 save percentage en route to a Quarterfinal appearance in the ECAC tournament.
Passingham opted to stay in his native Canada for university. The Mississauga, Ontario native played one game for the Florida Everblades on March 26, 2011 — a 5-0 loss to the Wheeling Nailers where he was yanked after the fourth goal — putting NCAA Eligibility out of the question. At Ryerson, Passingham went 49-50-0 in five seasons. Like Lewis, his best campaign came last year, finishing with a 2.47 GAA and a .933 SV%.
Three days earlier, he was on a 24-hour Amateur Tryout with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. Chris Osgood was coming off sports hernia surgery and was questionable for a game against the Western-Conference leading Vancouver Canucks. That, and the Wings did not have the salary cap space to recall their goaltender in Grand Rapids (AHL), Petr Mrazek. Passingham ended up praticing with the team, but did not dress for the game as Osgood was cleared just in time — the Canucks went on to win 2-1.
This short foray into the professional world came after a successful run with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, winning the Memorial Cup — Canada’s top junior hockey prize — in 2009-10.
Both goaltenders will audition for a role on this Stingrays team come the start of Training Camp.
