Stingrays fulfill victory promise

The South Carolina Stingrays guaranteed a victory Friday night against the Gwinnett Gladiators.

South Carolina goalie Bobby Goepfert made sure the Stingrays were as good as their word.

Goepfert stopped all 35 shots and Bryson Busniuk had the game-winning goal to lead South Carolina past Gwinnett, 2-0, before a crowd of 4,601 at the North Charleston Coliseum.

The Stingrays, who are 3-1-0 against the Gladiators this season, improved to 19-8-3 (41 points) and remained in second place, just a point behind Florida in the ECHL's South Division. The Gladiators dropped to 12-15-4 (28 points).

A week ago, the Stingrays' front office came up with "guaranteed win" night as a promotion for the game with the Gladiators. Had South Carolina lost, fans in attendance would have received a free ticket for the Stingrays' game with Florida on Jan. 15.

But Goepfert came up with his strongest performance of the season, recording his league-leading third shutout, to ensure no free tickets were handed out.

"I guess I saved the ownership group a little money," he said with a chuckle. "The guys played great in front of me. I saw most of the shots and a lot of them were from the perimeter, so they deserve a lot of the credit."

Stingrays coach Jared Bednar said the second-year goalie is being a little too modest.

"I thought Bobby played great, especially in the third period," Bednar said. "We did a pretty good job in the first two periods in our zone, but (Gwinnett) really pushed hard in the third period and Bobby was equal to the task. We gave up some good opportunities in the third period on their power play, and he came up big on a few scrums in front of our net.

"I'm starting to expect that kind of game from him every time he's on the ice. I know he's not going to get a shutout every night, but I'm starting to expect it. This is exactly why I chased him so hard over the summer. I felt like he was our guy, and up to this point in the season he's been everything we'd hoped he be."

With the Stingrays leading 1-0 late in the third period, Goepfert came up with the save of the game. He stopped a penalty shot by former ECHL MVP Brad Schell.

After a scramble in front of the Stingrays net, Goepfert was called for a throwing-the-stick penalty that gave Schell the penalty shot.

"I was soaked out there, and when I went to poke check the puck, the stick came out of my hand," Goepfert said. "I don't think my stick interfered with the play at all, so I thought it was a tough call."

But Goepfert stuffed Schell, who led the ECHL with 108 points during the 2006-07 season, on his wrist shot to keep alive the shutout.

"I was pretty pumped up after that save," Goepfert said. "Every save was pretty big in the third period."

The Stingrays were forced to play most of the game without forward Michael Dubuc, who suffered an upper body injury in the first period after taking a hard check into the boards behind the Gladiators' net. Defenseman Scott Romfo left the game in the third period with another upper body injury. Dubuc will be reevaluated on Monday. Romfo is listed as day-to-day. Dubuc leads the Stingrays with 17 goals.

The Stingrays got their offense from the most unlikely of sources in Busniuk.

Busniuk, who played for Gwinnett last season, had been playing men's league hockey as recently as a month ago. Retired and living locally at the beginning of the season, he scored on a wrist shot in the first period over the shoulder of Gwinnett goalie Kevin Nastiuk.

"Anyone who tells you they don't have an extra jump in their step when they're playing their old team is lying," said Busniuk, who recorded his second goal on the season. "It felt great to get a win and to contribute on the scoresheet. It was a great effort by everyone. We didn't have any passengers tonight."

Pierre-Luc O'Brien scored an empty-netter with 27 seconds left.

Slap shots

--The Stingrays are 8-6-1 at home and 12-2-2 on the road.

--Washington Capitals defenseman Sean Collins, who played for the Stingrays last season, recorded his first NHL goal Thursday against Tampa Bay.

Including the Kelly Cup playoffs, Collins played in 51 games for the Stingrays last season. Collins has two points on a goal and an assist in 11 games for the Capitals this season.

Coming up

The Stingrays will travel to Atlanta to take on Gwinnett tonight. The Stingrays' next home game will be Sunday at 5 p.m. against Mississippi.

First Period: 1. SC, Busniuk 2 (Pokulok, Maxwell), 9:04. Penalties: Sawyer, G (cross checking), 5:50; Mason, G (high sticking), 9:25.

Second Period: No goals. Penalties: Lacroix, SC (goaltender interference), 11:16; Bench minor, G (too many men on the ice), 12:11; Turner, G (holding), 12:44; Sawyer, G (interference), 14:50; Corey, SC (double-minor, high sticking), 14:58.

Third Period: 2. SC, O'Brien 9 (Morin, Corey), 19:33. Penalties: Busniuk, SC (interference), 6:50; Kroll, SC (holding), 10:54; Siddall, G (charging), 14:20; Morin, SC (high sticking), 17:00; Lacroix, SC (elbowing), 19:57.

Shots on goal: Stingrays 9-14-13-36; Gwinnett: 5-11-19-35. Penalties: Stingrays 7-14; Gwinnett 6-12. Power play: Stingrays 0 of 6; Gwinnett 0 of 7. Goalies: Stingrays - Bobby Goepfert (7-2-3) 35 shots, 35 saves. Gwinnett - Kevin Nastiuk (5-8-3) 35 shots, 34 saves. Att: 4,601.