Stingrays gearing up for Everblades
The Post and Courier
The Stingrays lost their first two games to Charlotte before winning four straight to eliminate the Checkers from the playoffs.
The South Carolina Stingrays will open their South Division final best-of-seven series with Florida this Friday night in Estero, Fla., beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Germain Arena.
After losing the first two games to the Charlotte Checkers in the South Division semifinals, the Stingrays reeled off four straight wins, including Sunday night's 4-3 series-clinching victory, to advance to the next round.
The Everblades, who had the best regular season record in the ECHL at 49-17-5 (103 points), defeated Gwinnett in five games to advance to the South Division finals. The Stingrays finished second in the South Division with a record of 42-23-6 (90 points).
The Stingrays were 6-6 in 12 games against the Everblades during the regular season.
"To be honest, I think this is the series that everyone wanted to see," said Stingrays head coach Jared Bednar. "I know it's going to be a competitive, hard-fought series."
South Carolina has faced Florida three times in the playoffs — 2002, 2004 and 2005 — but have never beaten the Everblades in a playoff series.
The Stingrays are 1-7 against the Everblades in the playoffs.
The Stingrays won the Kelly Cup in 1997 and 2001. The Everblades advanced to the Kelly Cup finals in 2004 and 2005, but lost to Idaho (4-1) and Trenton (4-2) respectively.
SOUTH DIVISION FINAL SERIES
Friday: South Carolina at Florida, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday: South Carolina at Florida, 7:30 p.m.
May 1: Florida at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
May 2: Florida at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
May 3: Florida at South Carolina, 5 p.m., if necessary
May 5: South Carolina at Florida, 7:30 p.m., if necessary
May 6: South Carolina at Florida, 7:30 p.m., if necessary
E-mail this story
Printer-friendly version
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Notice about comments:Postandcourier.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Postandcourier.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.
Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by signing up!
Full terms and conditions can be read here.