NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – The Greenville Road Warriors dropped a hard-fought 3-2 decision to the South Carolina Stingrays on Tuesday night at the North Charleston Coliseum. The loss dropped Greenville’s record to 30-19-2 on the season.
The Road Warriors and Stingrays are among the least penalized teams in the ECHL and they showed why during the first period of Tuesday’s game. Each side received just one power play opportunity, but the difference was Greenville cashed in its chance while the Stingrays didn’t. Brandon Wong‘s third power play goal of the season, 17th overall, put the Road Warriors on the board first at 9:01 of the opening period. Lee Baldwin and Connor Shields teamed up to set up Wong for his wrist shot from the right wing. Greenville survived its lone shorthanded situation of the period by killing off the tripping minor assessed to Jimmy Kilpatrick at 13:11. Just because power plays were hard to come by didn’t mean penalty minutes weren’t dished out in bunches during the first. That was because Road Warriors captain T.J. Reynolds and Stingrays forward Grant McNeill fought twice in the period.
While the Road Warriors carried a majority of the play in the second period, the bounces didn’t go their way and South Carolina scored a pair of goals to take the lead into the third period. Greenville earned the only two power play chances in the period with the first coming at 7:01 Jake Hauswirth guilty of delay of game. Once the penalty expired, South Carolina went to work in the offensive end and earned the tying goal at 9:55. Matt Scherer tapped in a pass from Dustin Stevenson at the side of the net; sneaking it just under the blocker of Nic Riopel. A few minutes later, the Road Warriors had a defenseman get stuck in South Carolina ice with the Stingrays breaking out and it resulted in a 2-on-1 going back into the Greenville end. Hauswirth made up for his penalty by wristing a shot past Riopel’s blocker at 12:15. South Carolina was able to take the lead into the intermission thanks to 13 saves in the period by goalie Shane Owen.
In the final frame the Road Warriors put forth a valiant comeback effort late, but it came with the score favoring South Carolina by two and fell just short. The deficit reach two because Derek Keller netted his first goal of the season with the Stingrays on the power play at 13:12. The shot from the point eluded Riopel due to a large amount of traffic in front of the net. Greenville kept the pressure on the Stingrays throughout the rest of the period and scored with time winding down to draw within one. Wes Cunningham’s third of the season came with Riopel off for the extra attacker with 1:13 remaining in the game. Things really swung in Greenville’s favor when Trent Campbell picked up a charging minor with 20 seconds left, but even with Riopel pulled for the extra attacker Greenville could not produce the tying goal.
Riopel suffered the loss while making 14 saves on the night. Greenville finished 1-for-5 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors return home to battle the South Carolina Stingrays on Friday, February 18 at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. The Road Warriors are teaming with Rotary Club of Greenville to host their first “Stop Polio Cold” game. The night features the Road Warriors wearing special red and gold jerseys which will be auctioned off live following the game. Proceeds from the jersey auction and that night’s ticket sales will be donated to Rotary’s “End Polio Now” campaign. You can also take advantage of the Friday Family Four Pack which features four tickets, four hot dogs, four pretzels, four bags of chips, and four sodas for just $48! Also, for information on group packages call 864-674-PUCK to speak to a Road Warriors group sales representative.
