Greenville Gets Best of Rays in New Year’s Day Matinee

By: Stingrays Media

The Greenville Swamp Rabbits (3-3-0-1) got ahead in the first period and never trailed on their way to handing the South Carolina Stingrays (3-1-2-0) their first regulation loss of the 2020-21 season by a final score of 3-1 on Friday afternoon at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

Cole Ully netted the lone tally for South Carolina in the contest, while goaltender Hunter Shepard got the start and kept the Rays in the game with 24 saves.

The Swamp Rabbits took the lead on a power play goal by Brendan Connolly at 16:33 of the opening frame and held a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.

Ully evened the score with his second tally of the season at 11:06 of the second when he wristed a shot by goaltender Ryan Bednard off the post and into the net. Assists on the strike went to forward Max Novak and defender Will Graber. The helper was Graber’s first professional point.

Greenville re-took the lead with just 1:15 remaining in the middle frame when Max Zimmer scored to make it 2-1 before the second intermission.

The Swamp Rabbits extended their advantage to 3-1 at 5:29 of the third when Connolly netted his second goal of the game while his team was shorthanded.

None of South Carolina’s 12 shots that made their way to Bednard in the third got past the netminder and Greenville secured their third victory of the year, all coming at the hands of the Rays.

Bednard stopped a total of 25 shots in the game, with Greenville outshooting SC by a slim 27-26 margin. The Swamp Rabbits had the only goal on special teams, going 1-for-6 while holding the Stingrays to 0-for-8 on the man-advantage.

South Carolina next travels to Jacksonville for a 7 p.m. face-off with the Icemen on Saturday night. The Stingrays return to the North Charleston Coliseum to open a two-game set with the Wheeling Nailers on Friday at 7:05 p.m.

You can see the full box score here.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us