ROAD WARRIORS STOPPED BY RAYS 

VERSUS

GREENVILLE, SC – As their two parent clubs battled at Madison Square Garden, the Greenville Road Warriors were missing the comforts of home on Sunday evening as they fell to the South Carolina Stingrays by a 4-2 score. The loss gave the Road Warriors a split of the four-game series against the Stingrays with each team winning the home games, and dropped their record to 32-20-2.

In each of the three prior games this week between the Road Warriors and Stingrays Greenville notched the first goal of the game and came away with two wins. Tonight, however, was a different story as South Carolina opened up a two goal lead before the Road Warriors found the back of the net. In a span of 1:14 the game went from scoreless to a 2-0 Stingray lead. Trent Campbell wristed a shot off of Nic Riopel’s right pad and into the net at 8:04 to open the scoring then Tommy Goebel followed at 9:18 with a slap shot from the right wing. Before South Carolina could do any more damage, Marc-Olivier Vallerand potted his team-leading 18th goal by beating the Stingray defense to a rebound and backhanding it past Shane Owen. But just a few seconds after the goal the Road Warriors took consecutive penalties and were shorthanded by two men for two minutes. Joe Finley made them pay with his first goal of the season at 14:44 to restore the Stingrays’ two-goal lead.

The Road Warriors found the sledding tough in the offensive zone for a majority of the second period. And trailing by two it looked like Greenville was going to have a steep hill to climb in the third. That all changed with a goal in the final minute of the frame. Wes Cunningham dragged the puck into the South Carolina zone and was met by a trio of Stingrays in the high slot. Not giving up the battle, Cunningham kept the puck protected and allowed for Vallerand to swoop in and take control. The Road Warriors’ leading scorer hit Owen with a hard wrist shot that he couldn’t handle and Chris Clackson jammed it across the line from right on the doorstep. The goal was Clackson’s second in as many nights and came with just 18 seconds left in the middle frame. Riopel had a large hand in helping the Road Warriors close the gap by posting 10 saves in the frame and keeping the ‘Rays off of the scoreboard.

For a majority of the third period the Road Warriors had trouble getting their offense in gear and didn’t really get the comeback effort in motion until the waning moments. South Carolina’s Patrick Cullity was whistled for interference with 3:32 to play and put Greenville on the power play for the third time on the game. At that point the Road Warriors had just three shots in the frame, but fired five on goal over the final few minutes. Brandon Wong had the best chance in that time as he took a pass just off of the left post at the side of the net. His quick stuff attempt, though, was sticked away by Owen and kept Greenville from finding the tying goal. With nine seconds left on the penalty to Cullity Greenville pulled the goalie for the extra attacker but surrendered an empty-net goal to Pierre-Luc O’Brien with just under four seconds to play.

Riopel sustained the loss in net while making 37 saves. The Road Warriors ended the night 0-for-3 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the power play.

Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors return to home ice to battle the Gwinnett Gladiators on Tuesday, December 22 at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. It will be the final Twofer Tuesday of the season! Fans can get two center ice tickets, two hot dogs, two boxes of popcorn, and two sodas for just $30. The Twofer Tuesday offer can be bought at the BI-LO Center Box Office. Groups of 10 or more who plan to attend the game should call the Road Warriors at 864-674-PUCK to book in advance. Groups get discounts off the box office price, preferred seating based on availability, and other great benefits.