By: Stingrays Media
The South Carolina Stingrays (17-5-2-1) held on to beat the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (15-8-6-0) by a final score of 3-2 at the North Charleston Coliseum to close out the 2022 calendar year on Saturday night.
The Stingrays jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Andrew Cherniwchan's fourth goal of the season at the 3:38 mark of the opening stanza. Benton Maass skated around the back side of the net and fed Cherniwchan at the top of the crease where the forward redirected a shot past Greenville's Ryan Bednard for the early advantage.
Before the first period expired, Justin Florek added to the South Carolina lead with his sixth marker of the year. Florek contorted his body in order to get his stick on the ice and tip a pass from Jonny Evans over Bednard's shoulder for the 2-0 lead with 4:26 left.
Carter Turnbull tipped a pass from Bear Hughes into the back of the net to provide South Carolina a 3-0 lead at the 2:11 mark of the second period. Turnbull's tally was his team-leading 17th goal of the season.
Greenville's Max Martin put the Swamp Rabbits on the board 35 seconds later with his second goal in the last two games. Martin snuck away from the defense and batted a pass from Alex Ierullo into the back of the net to pull within two goals early in the second period.
Ierullo cut the deficit to one goal, netting his 11th marker of the year with 1:41 remaining in regulation. With the goaltender pulled, Greenville used an extra attacker to screen Clay Stevenson for the final goal of the night from the blue line.
The Stingrays flip the calendar to 2023 as they return to the North Charleston Coliseum to host the Orlando Solar Bears on Wednesday, January 4th beginning at 7:05 p.m.
