The South Carolina Stingrays, ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Washington Capitals and AHL's Hershey Bears, announced today that the club has signed forward Ryan Leibold to an ECHL contract for the 2024-25 season.
Leibold, 25, is the Stingrays' first signing of the 2024 offseason. The Ashburn, VA native tallied 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) in 65 games for South Carolina last season. The Stingrays are the only professional hockey team Leibold has ever played for. He joined the team in March 2023, immediately after the conclusion of his college hockey career, and skated in nine games for the Stingrays before playing his first full professional season last year.
"We're excited to have Ryan back for his second full season of professional hockey," said Stingrays Head Coach Jared Nightingale. "He laid a really good foundation as a rookie and brought an element that winning teams need. He plays a hard and dependable style that will be very important to how we want to play. I'm really happy to have him on board."
Leibold showed statistical improvements throughout the 2023-24 season. In his last ten games, he tallied eight points (one goal, seven assists) and was a +3 plus-minus. He was a key member of South Carolina's penalty-killing unit, which finished sixth in the ECHL at 82% last season.
Last season, the Stingrays missed the postseason for just the third time in 31 years, and this season, Leibold wants to help the team get back there.
"With the way last year ended, I really wanted to come back and return to the playoffs and the success that the Stingrays are used to having," Leibold said. "I'm excited about Coach Nightingale and the direction we're going in, and I'm ready to get to work."
Before joining the Stingrays, Leibold spent the 2022-23 season with the Merrimack College Warriors as a graduate student. Leibold helped the Warriors reach the Hockey East Championship game and earn an at-large bid to the 16-team NCAA national tournament for the second time in the program's history. Before transferring to Merrimack, Leibold spent four years with the Holy Cross Crusaders. In five seasons of college hockey, Leibold registered 70 points (24 goals, 46 assists) in 157 games.
The Stingrays 2024-25 season begins on Saturday, October 19, with the Home Opener against the Savannah Ghost Pirates at 6:05 p.m. The full schedule can be viewed here.
