TRUST: MEIRELES SCORES TWICE IN RABBITS 5-3 WIN
BY: Matt Trust, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
Greenville, SC – Greg Meireles scored twice, and Gordi Myer tallied his first professional goal to help Greenville to a 5-3 road win over the South Carolina Stingrays on Wednesday night.
Only 20 seconds into the contest, the Swamp Rabbits scored first courtesy of Gordi Myer’s first pro goal. Myer fired a wrist shot from the right point and beat Rays’ goaltender Alex Dubeau to provide Greenville a 1-0 lead.
The Stingrays responded at the 3:30 mark from Zach Malatesta’s fourth goal of the season. Malatesta corralled the puck and fired past Rabbits netminder John Lethemon.
Late in the second period, Swamp Rabbits defenseman Alec Rauhauser regained his club’s advantage at the 19:32 mark. Rauhauser received the puck at the left-point, danced through the Stingrays defense, and went forehand-backhand past Dubeau. Greenville carried a 2-1 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, Greenville added an insurance marker courtesy of a Greg Meireles on the power play at 7:51. Meireles buried the rebound in the low slot of a Matt Bradley bid for his campaign’s eighth goal.
South Carolina answered with a power play goal of their own from Justin Florek at 10:09. Florek redirected a Cole Ully feed at the net-front past the glove of Lethemon to cut the score to 3-2.
The Swamp Rabbits regained their two-goal cushion with Max Zimmer scoring his 11th goal of the season at 14:47. Anthony Rinaldi created a footrace for Zimmer on a breakaway and beat Dubeau backhand-forehand.
Meireles hit twine for the second time at 16:55. Meireles cut into the zone 1-on-3 and beat Dubeau with a shot along his blocker side on a delayed penalty.
Jordan Klimek scored for South Carolina at 19:45 to round out the 5-3 final.
#RABBITSRISING#
The Greenville Swamp Rabbits will continue their three games in four nights stretch on Friday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The Rabbits will rematch the South Carolina Stingrays in the Upstate on Friday and Saturday. Ticket information is available online at swamprabbits.com.
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ABOUT US
Acquired by Spire Sports + Entertainment (SS+E) in 2020, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits hockey team has provided family-friendly, live entertainment at Bon Secours Wellness Arena since 2010.
Formerly the Greenville Road Warriors, the Swamp Rabbits are the highest level professional minor league franchise in South Carolina.
The Swamp Rabbits are proud affiliates of the NHL’s Florida Panthers and AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Greenville is a member of the ECHL, Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League.
Since the conclusion of the 2019-20 NHL Season, 678 former ECHL players have debuted in the NHL. Nine former Greenville Road Warriors/Swamp Rabbits have later made their NHL debut.
