'Hopefully, I'm the first of many'

It's been more than a decade, but Cail MacLean can still see the play unfold like it happened yesterday.

It was overtime in Game 1 of the 2001 Kelly Cup playoffs and MacLean, the captain for the Trenton Titans at the time, can see the puck popping up off of the ice about waist high and Stingrays center Dave Seitz winding up his stick like a batter getting ready to take a home run swing.

"It's like a nightmare that keeps playing over and over in my head," MacLean said with a chuckle. "One second the puck is in the air and the next it's in the back of our net. Game over. It was one of most incredible goals I've ever seen."

It's just one reason why Seitz, the South Carolina Stingrays' all-time leading scorer, will become the first player in franchise history to be inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

Seitz will be inducted into ECHL Hall of Fame during a ceremony Wednesday afternoon at the Embassy Suites Hotel in North Charleston. He is a member of the league’s fifth Hall of Fame class along with Bill Coffey, Sheldon Gorski, John Marks and Bob Woods.

“Obviously, it’s a tremendous honor and it’s very humbling all at the same time,” Seitz said. “I didn’t do it alone. All my teammates and coaches over the years, and especially my family, played a huge role in this. My mother and father and brother and sister made a ton of sacrifices during my career, and I wouldn’t be where I am without them.”

Like a lot of Stingrays players, Seitz, a Buffalo, N.Y., native, thought his time in the Lowcountry would be a one short.

Seitz made the roster of the Rochester Americans, of the American Hockey League, as an unsigned rookie free agent in 1996. He played 13 games for head coach John Tortorella, the current New York Rangers head coach, before getting sent down to South Carolina.

“It was disappointing, but guys like Steve Shields, who had played down here the year before, told me I was going to love it and to keep my head up,” Seitz said.

Seitz helped lead the Stingrays to their first Kelly Cup title in 1997, recording 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 17 playoff games.

“I kind of fell in love with this place after that first season,” Seitz said.

Although he would get back up to Rochester and Chicago, of the International Hockey League, for brief stints, Seitz’s heart was always back in the Lowcountry.

“There were times in Chicago when I just wanted to get back to Charleston,” Seitz said. “I was playing at a higher level, but I wasn’t having as much fun.”

His legacy was sealed during the Stingrays’ run to their second Kelly Cup title in 2001. After struggling to score just 14 goals during the regular season, Seitz erupted for 28 points (13 goals, 15 assists) on his way to being named the Kelly Cup playoff MVP.

“Clinching the series at home, in front of my family and friends and our fans, was probably the greatest moment of my playing career,” Seitz said. “Being named the MVP was just icing on the cake.”

Besides the overtime game-winner against Trenton, Seitz’s two goals in Game 5 against Pee Dee in the 2000 ECHL Southern Conference quarterfinals were the most memorable of his eight-year career with the Stingrays.

“Two of the biggest goals in Stingrays history,” said Darren Abbott, the Stingrays’ former radio broadcaster and team president. “He scored one with about 20 seconds left in regulation and then scored again at the start of the overtime. That’s what Dave did. He just ripped people’s heart out that didn’t have a Stingrays jersey on.

“Dave was just as good off the ice, too. I think that gets overlooked. He was very involved in the community. I could call him to go down to the children’s hospital at 4 p.m. and he’d be there an hour later.”

Tom Nemeth, a defenseman with the Stingrays in the 1994-95 season, and forward Rod Taylor, who played here in the 2002-03 season, are others who have worn the South Carolina uniform and are now in the ECHL Hall of Fame.

Seitz said he’s surprised more Stingrays haven’t been inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame and hopes he’s not the last of the players with significant ties to the franchise to be enshrined.

“Brett Marietti, Jared Bednar, Brad Dexter and Kirk Daubenspeck all deserve to be in there,” Seitz said. “Hopefully, I’m the first of many Stingrays.”