After four goals in the first 24 minutes for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, the South Carolina Stingrays fell, 5-2, on Saturday evening at the North Charleston Coliseum in front of 5,872 fans on Teddy Bear Toss Night, presented by Crews Chevrolet.
Greenville (9-8-2-0) struck first and never looked back. Tim Rego opened the scoring 12:03 into the opening frame, putting the Swamp Rabbits ahead, 1-0. Over five minutes later, Ryan O’Hara doubled the advantage with 2:33 left in the period giving the Swamp Rabbits a 2-0 lead going to the 1st intermission.
In the 2nd period, Greenville went to a 5-on-3 power play just over two minutes into the period and capitalized. Carter Savoie made it 3-0 six seconds into the 5-on-3 power play, and John Parker-Jones tapped home a centering pass from Keaton Mastrodonato with 16:22 remaining, putting the visitors ahead, 4-0.
Following the goal from Parker-Jones, South Carolina believed to have an answer. Kyler Kupka had a goal disallowed, but the teddy bears came raining down onto the ice from the stands. After the teddy bears were picked up, the Stingrays broke through. Stan Cooley wired home his third goal this season to cut the deficit to three, 4-1, with 6:18 left in the 2nd period. South Carolina had chances later in the frame, but could not beat Swamp Rabbits netminder, Pierce Charleson, who kept the 4-1 lead intact for Greenville heading to the 3rd period.
In the 3rd, South Carolina could not generate many opportunities. With just over five minutes remaining in regulation and on the power play, the Stingrays pulled netminder Seth Eisele to bring out the extra attacker but Patrick Polino scored an empty-net goal, making it a 5-1 game. The Stingrays then scored on the power play with Zac Funk netting his third goal in as many games, but could not find any more as they fell to the Swamp Rabbits, 5-2.