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Stingrays play Cincinnati cyclones tonight in game 1.
Stingrays' Rawlyk ready to face his former team
By Andrew Miller (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Friday, May 9, 2008
The text messages and e-mails started late Monday night and have not let up all week for South Carolina Stingrays defenseman Rory Rawlyk.
The playful taunts and jabs back-and-forth between Rawlyk and his old teammates from the Cincinnati Cyclones began almost immediately once the teams for the American Conference finals were set.
The Stingrays will take on the Cyclones in Game 1 of the best-of-seven ECHL American Conference Kelly Cup finals tonight at 7:30 at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. Game 2 of the series will be held Saturday night at U.S. Bank Arena. The series will switch back to the Lowcountry on Wednesday for Game 3.
Rawlyk played in 37 regular season and playoff games a year ago for the Cyclones and stays in contact with about a half-dozen players who are currently on their roster.
"We've been talking to each other on the phone and the chirping has been pretty good," said Rawlyk, who had four goals and 19 assists in 27 regular season games. "Nothing bad, just good-natured stuff between friends. They've got eight or 10 guys back this year from last year's team, so there will be some familiar faces out there on the ice."
With rookie defenseman Patrick McNeill likely out for the series with an undisclosed injury, Rawlyk will be counted on heavily to help stop his old teammates.
"They've got a really quick, skilled group of forwards," Rawlyk said. "They're probably one of the best skating teams in the league. They've got solid defensemen and great goaltending. It's easy to see why they had the best record in the league during the regular season."
The numbers the Cyclones put up during the regular season were downright gaudy.
Cincinnati won the Brabham Cup, given to the team with the best record during the regular season. They went 55-12-5, and the 55 wins were the second most in the ECHL's 20-year history.
During the month of January the Cyclones won an ECHL record 17 straight games, including 14 in a row at U.S. Bank Arena, another record. Their 26 road wins tied a league record and their 29 home wins were fourth most in ECHL history.
Rookie David Desharnais led the ECHL in scoring with 106 points on 29 goals and 77 assists. He was named the league's rookie of the year and became just the fifth first-year player to be named MVP in league history.
Cincinnati was also the ECHL's top scoring team with 292 goals, while the Cyclones gave up just 178 goals, which was second fewest to Texas' 177 goals allowed.
"Obviously, they are a well-balanced team," said Stingrays coach Jared Bednar. "They have three very potent offensive lines and they take care of their own end. They've got a lethal transition game and a lethal power play. They're a quick team, a small team and they like to get out and skate."
This will be the first series this postseason that the Stingrays don't have home-ice advantage. The Stingrays are a perfect 9-0 at home, but are winless in six tries on the road in the postseason.
"If we want to get out of this round and get to the Kelly Cup finals we're going to have to find a way to win on the road," said Stingrays captain Cail MacLean. "I don't think we've got a mental block about playing on the road. I think we've played some of our best hockey of the playoffs on the road and for whatever reason we haven't come out on top. I can think of a couple of games where I felt like we deserved a better fate."
Besides the injury to McNeill, the Stingrays could also be without winger Marty Guerin, who is second on the team in scoring with 14 points on nine goals and five assists. Guerin suffered an undisclosed injury in Game 4 of the Stingrays series with Columbia. He is listed as questionable for the weekend, Bednar said.
"Marty is day-to-day right now," Bednar said. "My gut feeling is that he won't play this weekend, but will be back in the lineup when the series comes back to Charleston."
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Stingrays Fall Hard in Game One, 6-2
05/09/2008 9:43 PM
Cincinnati, OH – The South Carolina Stingrays dropped game one of their best of seven game series against the Cincinnati Cyclones 6-2 at the U.S. Bank Arena.
“I thought we played well for most of the game,” said Head Coach Jared Bednar. “Other than five minutes in the second period, I thought we played hard.”
The first period featured back and forth play, but Cincinnati got on the board with a goal by Jean-Michel Daoust. The Rays had a number of chances on the power play in the first period, but were down by one after 20 minutes.
The second period saw South Carolina tie the game up at one when Trent Campbell scored on a penalty shot past Cedrick Desjardins at 4:39. Less than a minute later the Cyclones had tied up the game, and in the span of two minutes late in the period, Cincinnati put three more on the board to take a 5-1 lead going into the third.
In the third period, the Stingrays began to play their game and got on the board for a second time, when Matt Smith got his first goal of the playoffs from Andrew Gordon and Stephen Werner. One more goal from Cincinnati gave them a 6-2 lead, the eventual final. After some fireworks when the game closed, the Rays will prepare to tie the series up tomorrow night.
The winning goaltender was Desjardins who stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced. The losing goaltender was Davis Parley who stopped 21 of the 27 shots he faced. The Rays went 0-7 on the power play while killing off five of the six short handed situations they faced.
The Stingrays are back in action tomorrow night at 7:30 looking to split the first two games of the series before heading home.
Don’t miss all the fast-paced, hard-hitting action! Individual tickets can be purchased at the North Charleston Coliseum box office, by calling Ticketmaster at (843) 554-6060 and online at www.ticketmaster.com.
Full and partial season tickets are available by calling (843) 744-2248 or by visiting online at www.stingrayshockey.com. Stingrays Hockey – A Whole Lot Cooler!
Stingrays Dealt Crushing Blow with 5-4 OT Loss
05/10/2008 10:14 PM
Cincinnati, OH – After dropping game one in Cincinnati, South Carolina needed to come back in a big way in order to even up the series before heading home. The South Carolina Stingrays got two goals from Paul McIlveen and had a 3-0 lead in the third period, but couldn’t hang on, losing 5-4 in overtime.
“A tough one to swallow for sure,” said Head Coach Jared Bednar. “Take out the end of the third period and I loved the way we played tonight. We just need to keep playing our game and turn things around at home.”
In the first period the Rays got on the board getting their first lead of the series when Paul McIlveen got his second goal of the playoffs from Steve Pinizzotto and Sasha Pokulok at 17:31.
In the second period their one goal lead became two when McIlveen scored again from Andrew Gordon and Matt Scherer. The Rays weren’t done and at 15:22 Chris Chaput got his fourth goal of the playoffs, and unassisted goal to give the Rays a 3-0 lead going into the third period.
Penalty troubles early in the period gave Cincinnati an opportunity to get back in the game. They scored on a five on three at 3:01 and had another power play goal at 9:41 to cut the lead down to one. Less than a minute later the game was tied up at three with just under ten minutes to go in the period. South Carolina showed some life late when Gordon got his second goal of the playoffs on a five on three from Sean Collins and Travis Morin at 15:23. The Cyclones pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and David Desharnais got his seventh goal of the playoffs to tie the game up with just over a minute left to play.
In overtime, the Stingrays fell when Thomas Beauregard got his team leading eighth goal of the playoffs from Barrett Eghoetz at 4:52.
The winning goaltender was Maxime Daigneault who stopped 14 of the 15 shots he faced in 29:15 in relief of Cedrick Desjardins. The losing goaltender was Davis Parley who stopped 26 of the 31 shots he faced. The Rays went 1-5 on the power play while killing off five of the seven short handed situations they faced.
The Rays return home and will take on the Cyclones in game three on Wednesday night at 7:05 P.M. Cheer on the Stingrays as they look to get back into their best of seven series by wearing red to the game on Wednesday.
Don’t miss all the fast-paced, hard-hitting action! Individual tickets can be purchased at the North Charleston Coliseum box office, by calling Ticketmaster at (843) 554-6060 and online at www.ticketmaster.com.
Full and partial season tickets are available by calling (843) 744-2248 or by visiting online at www.stingrayshockey.com. Stingrays Hockey – A Whole Lot Cooler!