Sports
Stingrays Tie Franchise Record with 11 Goals in Shutout Rout of Cincinnati
CINCINNATI, OH – The South Carolina Stingrays (38-21-4-1) shut out the Cincinnati Cyclones (42-13-6-3) by a final score of 11-0 on Friday night at the Heritage Bank Center. South Carolina’s 11 goals tied a franchise mark for most goals scored in a game, occurring for the first time since February 9, 1996.
The Stingrays jumped out to a quick lead at the 2:09 mark of the opening period as Tarek Baker netted what would be the game-winning goal. Baker scooped up a rebound and wrapped it past Cincinnati’s Beck Warm for the 1-0 lead.
Kevin O’Neil doubled the advantage three minutes later as he rebounded a shot past Warm for the 2-0 lead.
South Carolina added a third goal from Connor Hall in his professional hockey debut for the 3-0 advantage midway through the opening stanza. Hall danced around the defender and wristed a shot from the right circle that beat Warm, subsequently ending his night.
Mark Sinclair relieved Warm and gave up a goal on the first shot he saw as O’Neil netted his second of the contest. O’Neil collected a kick save and flung it past Sinclair for the 4-0 lead at the 10:34 mark of the first period.
O’Neil capped off the opening period with his first professional hat trick with 1:01 remaining in the frame. O’Neil cut to the front of the net and backhanded a shot, chipping a second-chance effort between Sinclair’s legs for the 5-0 lead.
Cincinnati buckled down defensively in the middle frame before a pair of power play goals fell for South Carolina. Austin Magera’s one-timer was kicked by Sinclair onto the tape of Bear Hughes who rebounded the shot for his team-leading 23rd goal of the season.
Magera added one of his own on the man advantage two minutes later, making it a 7-0 Stingrays’ lead. Sinclair made a save on an attempt from Hughes before Max Humitz swept a pass to Magera for the backdoor slam nearing the end of the second period.
Anthony Del Gaizo opened the scoring in the third period as he set up between the circles and swept a shot between the legs of Sinclair for the 8-0 lead. Magera fed Del Gaizo in the slot where the forward netted his first of two consecutive goals.
Del Gaizo followed up his marker with another tally six minutes later while on the power play. As Sinclair made his way to the top of the crease, Del Gaizo snuck to the post where he received a pass from O’Neil for the 9-0 advantage.
Less than a minute later, Baker Shore tallied his first professional goal in his professional hockey debut, deflecting a pass from Baker past Sinclair for the 10-0 lead.
Magera concluded the scoring by tying a Stingrays franchise mark with 11 goals in a game. Magera gained a step on the Cincinnati defense and raced for a breakaway before flipping a shot past the blocker of Sinclair for the 11-0 final on his second goal of the night.
The Stingrays are back in action tomorrow night as they head to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum for the first time since the 2021 Kelly Cup Finals to take on the Fort Wayne Komets beginning at 7:30 pm.