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South Carolina's postseason run ends in overtime
Stingrays' postseason run ends in overtime
By Andrew Miller (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Cyclones 2, Stingrays 1 (OT)
South Carolina coach Jared Bednar wanted a full 60-minute effort from the Stingrays on Saturday night.
Bednar got more than he asked for, and it still wasn't enough to beat the Cincinnati Cyclones.
Ryan Russell scored a short-handed goal with 4:07 left in overtime, and Cedrick Desjardins stopped 50 shots to lift Cincinnati past South Carolina, 2-1, Saturday night in Game 5 of the American Conference finals.
The Cyclones, the Brabham Cup winners during the regular season, won the best-of-seven playoffs series, 4-1, and will take on Las Vegas for the Kelly Cup.
"I thought we played a great hockey game for 75 minutes," Bednar said. "It was a great playoff game. Very hard- fought, very intense, both teams just leaving it on the ice. I couldn't have asked for anything more from our guys.
"I thought both goalies were fantastic. It
was a tight-checking game, very different from the previous games in the series. It wasn't as wide open as some of the games in the past. It could have gone either way. We did everything we needed to do to win that game, but sometimes it just doesn't go your way."
With the Stingrays on their ninth power play of the night, Russell picked up a loose puck off a faceoff just inside the blue line, skated the length of the ice and beat South Carolina goalie Davis Parley just over his glove for the winning goal.
"I had a pretty good jump off the faceoff and I just drove wide and got a shot off as quick as I could," Russell said. "Lucky for me it found a hole. This was the toughest series we've had so far. We had a seven-game series with Reading, but this was tougher. Three overtime games that could have gone either way. We could have easily lost this series."
While South Carolina's penalty kill was a perfect nine-for-nine on the night, the Stingrays' power play was shut out on nine chances and was one of 20 over the final three games of the series with the Cyclones.
"We tried a bunch of different things to get our power play going and we could never seem to get it on track," Bednar said. "We used some different people in some different situations, but nothing seemed to work and you've got to give credit to Cincinnati's penalty kill."
For the second straight game, Desjardins stopped just abou everything that was thrown at him. Desjardins stopped 50 of 51 shots Saturday after stopping 43 shots in the Cyclones 3-1 victory Friday night in Game 4.
"Cedrick was fantastic again tonight," said Cincinnati coach Chuck Weber. "He saw the puck and his rebound control was excellent. There were no second shots. I thought our defensemen did a good job of limiting their second shots."
The Stingrays grabbed a 1-0 lead on Andrew Gordon's fourth goal of the series. Marty Guerin walked off the left boards and wristed a shot on net that bounced off of Gordon's shoulder and into the net for the score.
The Cyclones tied the game midway through the third period on Jeremy Swanson's first goal of the playoffs. The Cyclones defenseman got the puck at the point and wristed what appeared to be a harmless shot on net. The puck hit a Stingrays defenseman's skates in front of the crease and trickled over Parley's pads for the score.
The Stingrays had two power- play chances in the final five minutes of the game and nearly took the lead on a Gordon slap shot from the point. But Gordon's blast, which beat Desjardins hit the cross bar and bounced behind the net.
"We hit three posts tonight," said Stingrays captain Cail MacLean. "It was just one of those games where we didn't get any bounces and it was going to take a great shot to beat (Desjardins) tonight. The guy stood on his head."
First Period: 1. SC, Gordon 5 (Werner, Guerin), 15:47. Penalties: Gordon, SC (holding), 3:57; Schmidt, C (cross checking), 6:17; Starling, C (hooking), 11:45; Gordon, SC (hooking), 19:19; Macdonald, C (major-elbowing), 19:32.
Second Period: No goals. Penalties: Deitsch, C (high sticking), 7:44; Campbell, SC (roughing), 9:44; Romfo, SC (slashing), 10:28; Rawlyk, SC (hooking), 12:54; Pinizzotto, SC (elbowing), 15:42.
Third Period: 2. C, Swanson 1 (Ehgoetz), 9:18. Penalties: O'Brien, SC (high sticking), 1:55; Kiser, SC (hooking), 6:37; Starling, C (slashing), 14:30; Ehgoetz, C (hooking), 16:37.
Overtime: 3. C, Russell 2 (Deitsch), 15:53. Penalties: Morin, SC (high sticking), 1:50; Schmidt, C (roughing), 2:34; Bench minor, C (too many men on the ice), 9:21; Macdonald, C (tripping), 14:03.
Shots on goal: Stingrays 17-15-10-9-51; Cincinnati: 7-11-9-4-31. Penalties: Stingrays 9-18; Cincinnati 9-21. Power play: Stingrays 0 of 9; Cincinnati 0 of 9. Goalies: Stingrays - Davis Parley (7-7-0) 31 shots, 29 saves. Cincinnati - Cedrick Desjardins (6-2-0) 51 shots, 50 saves. Att: 3,125.
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The cyclones' goalie won this series for them. He was fantastic! He left us all with our mouths open.
Stingrays’ Season Comes to a Close with 2-1 Overtime Loss
05/17/2008 10:17 PM
North Charleston, SC – The South Carolina Stingrays came in to game five having to win three straight games in order to move on in the playoffs. However, an overtime short handed goal by Cincinnati gave the Cyclones the game and the series, and closed out the season for the Rays.
“I’m extremely proud of these guys,” said Head Coach Jared Bednar. “We played hard game in and game out. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way, but we’ll be back next year to try again.”
The Stingrays got on the board first in the first period when Andrew Gordon got his fifth goal of the playoffs. With Marty Guerin making a great move in the circle, he was able to get a quick shot in on net. The puck bounced up before it got to goaltender Cedrick Desjardins and went off of Gordon’s shoulder and into the net. The goal gave South Carolina the 1-0 lead after one period of play.
The second period of game five looked a lot like the second period of game four. Both teams had chances, but the goaltenders were the story. Davis Parley made 11 saves in the period while Desjardins made 15 saves. The biggest opportunity for Cincinnati came when they had an extended five on three. But the Stingrays penalty kill played well as they killed off that penalty and two others.
The third period had South Carolina killing off a number of penalties early. It wasn’t until 9:18 of the third period that Cincinnati was able to tie things up at one. Jeremy Swanson got his first goal of the playoffs, taking a shot from the top of the slot which was tipped past Davis Parley.
The South Carolina Stingrays had a power play opportunity in the overtime period, but it led to disaster when Ryan Russell broke free and scored a short handed goal at 15:53, ending the game at 2-1.
The winning goaltender was Cedrick Desjardins who stopped 50 of the 51 shots he faced. The losing goaltender was Davis Parley who stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced. Both teams went 0-9 on the power play.
With the loss, the Rays’ season comes to a close. Thank you to all of our fans for your support of the South Carolina Stingrays this year. We look forward to October, when the Rays once again begin their quest for the Kelly Cup.