Sports
Stingrays Regain Top Seed in the South Division Following Sunday Victory
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – The South Carolina Stingrays (36-20-4-1) picked up their third win of the week following a 5-2 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen (36-21-3-1) on Sunday afternoon at the North Charleston Coliseum. With the win, the Stingrays moved into first place in the South Division.
Jacksonville gained a 1-0 advantage midway through the opening stanza on Chris Grando’s first professional goal. Grando received the puck, spun away from a defender, and shoveled a shot past Tyler Wall for the lead.
Robbie Stucker evened the score with 1:28 remaining in the first period as he flung a shot past traffic and beat Olof Lindbom for the 1-1 game. The goal was Stucker’s first professional tally, following an assist last night in his professional hockey debut.
Entering the second period, the Stingrays took their first advantage of the game on Max Humitz’s 16th goal of the year. Humitz fired a one-timer off a pass from Josh Wilkins past Lindbom for the 2-1 lead at the 3:49 mark of the middle frame.
Derek Lodermeier tied the game at two goals apiece, netting his 18th goal of the year. While on the man advantage, Lodermeier collected a blocked shot from Brandon Fortunato and flipped it past a sprawling Wall.
Ian Mackey regained the South Carolina advantage three minutes later with his second goal in the last two games. Ryan Scarfo led a two-on-one rush before feeding Mackey for the redirection on the open net and the 3-2 advantage.
The Stingrays doubled their lead on the power play as Connor Moore wristed a shot through traffic that beat Lindbom for the 4-2 lead with 46 seconds remaining in the second period.
With time winding down, Humitz iced the game on his second marker of the afternoon. Humitz picked off a pass in his own end and swung a shot the length of the ice that hit the back of the net for the final goal of the contest.
The Stingrays return to the North Charleston Coliseum to host the Maine Mariners for the first time in franchise history next Saturday, March 25th at 6:05 p.m. Show your support for breast cancer awareness at our annual Pink in the Rink game presented by MUSC Health and bid on the Stingrays’ game-worn pink specialty jerseys to benefit Share Our Suzy. The first 1,000 fans will receive a pink rally towel courtesy of MUSC Health and parking is free!