Stingrays Advance, Bears Live to Fight Another Day

The South Carolina Stingrays jumped out to a 2-0 lead, then held on for dear life to advance to the next round of the ECHL playoffs, the South Division Finals.

Late in the 1st period Matt Scherer tallied his 1st goal of the playoffs to put the Stingrays on top. Then in the 2nd period Capitals' prospect Travis Morin notched his 6th goal of the postseason, on the power play, to give SC the worst lead in hockey, a two goal lead. Goaltender Davis Parley made it stand up though, despite the fact the Gwinnett Gladiators outshot the Stingrays 20-6 in the final frame, they could not beat the 25-year old netminder. Parley had his 1st shutout of the postseason, his 5th of the season, and South Carolina survived another game 5 for the second straight series. They will face the winner of the Texas-Columbia series which is surprisingly enough, headed to a game 5 even though the Wildcatters finished the regular season with a 38 point lead over the Inferno. I guess that is why they play the games, right?

The Hershey Bears got some help from a familiar face in Eric Fehr on their way to 3-2 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Fehr, who had just returned to the Bears following the Capitals playoff exit, provided two helpers, including the game-winner, 20 seconds into overtime on Alexandre Giroux's 2nd goal of the game. The Bears will now head back to Wilkes-Barre for game 5 with their backs still against the wall trailing the Penguins 3 games to 1.

"Don't Stop Believin"

Stingrays Rally, Win Without Leading Scorer

Team Scores Four Unanswered Goals to Down Bombers
South Carolina 4, Dayton Bombers 2
Boxscore

South Carolina found out some bad news before the game, that the team's leading goal scorer Matt W. Reid would miss at least the next two weeks with a concussion he suffered in Thursday night's game at Charlotte.

Perhaps it was that news, or their second game in two nights that caused the Stingrays to come out flat tonight. In what seems to be becoming an epidemic as of late with the Washington Capitals, the trend of spotting their opponents a 2-0 lead has now spread down to their affiliates. Goals by Dmitri Chernykh and Mike Berry provided Dayton with that lead heading into the first intermission.

The Stingrays would respond in the second period thanks to newly assigned defenseman Sasha Pokulok, who toe dragged the puck around a Bombers player at the point and then wristed the puck over goaltender Adam Berkhoel for his first career professional goal. Moments later South Carolina would tie the game at two thanks again to another nice play by Pokulok. He took the puck from the point again and maneuvered around a falling defender firing the puck on net. A battle for the rebound would see Evan Schwabe win the loose puck and fire it home for his 16th of the season. In what is a good sign for Caps fans out there, with every passing minute you could see Sasha Pokulok playing with more and more confidence, displaying the stickhandling ability that led to his being selected 14th overall in the 2005 draft.

South Carolina would only build on this momentum in the third period as Washington's local Maryland boy Stephen Werner would notch the game winner at the 7:52 mark to complete the comeback. Captain Cail MacLean would provide a power play goal with a little over a minute remaining to prevent any late rally from the Bombers and make the final 4-2.

Your Top Three Stars:

1. Sasha Pokulok, South Carolina 1 goal and 1 assist

2. Stephen Werner, South Carolina GW goal

3. Davis Parley, South Carolina 32 saves

Game Notes:

The win was Davis Parley's 23rd of the season that moved him into first place in the ECHL. It was also Parley's 21st consecutive start for the Stingrays.... The win improved the Stingrays record to 5-13-2 when their opponents score first, and to 3-8-2 without their leading goal scorer Matt W. Reid.... South Carolina is now tied with the Charlotte Checkers for 5th place in the South Division with 53 points.... The Stingrays have now won seven consecutive games at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Capitals Sunday Practice Update

First a quick look at the lines for today's practice:

1. Red line - Ovechkin, Zubrus, Clark, plus Zednik who should play Tuesday in Ottawa
   
2. Teal line - Semin, Laich, Fehr
3. Yellow line - Pettinger, Gordon, Sutherby
4. Black line - Brashear, Beech, Clymer

Mike Green was the first to hit the ice 15 minutes before practice was scheduled to begin. He showed no signs of his recent ankle injury and seemed to be skating at 100%.

Once again Brian Pothier and Matt Bradley were not at practice today joining injured list members John Erskine and Brian Muir on the sideline.

The practice had a very technical feel to it and the team was treating it that way as, despite the big win last night, there was not a lot of hooting and hollering today. They started off with a forechecking drill where the center was responsible for pressuring the puck in the offensive zone while the two wings covered the side boards preventing the breakout pass. Next was an outlet drill that had a couple of variations to it, all of which ended up in a breakaway scoring chance. This was followed by a drill that focused on their quick breakouts as 2 defensemen were located on each side of the forward line. They would change directions a couple times before entering the offensive zone.

The next part of practice was the most heavily practiced drill of the day as they worked on their play in the corners. The exercise would last as long as the offense controlled the puck. There were three variations of this drill that included dividing the offensive zone into a smaller area. They were highly contested drills as there was a lot of hard hitting led by none other than Ovechkin. Jeff Schultz also knocked Brooks Laich to the ice, drawing a roar from the players. While this was going on, Kolzig and Johnson took turns working with goaltending coach Dave Prior on the other side of the ice.

The practice finished up with a 3 on 1 breakaway drill that also included a trailing defenseman. Ben Clymer had the prettiest goal in this exercise beating Johnson glove side that drew an applause from the nice crowd on hand. I would estimate that there was about 200 people there on this Sunday morning as the bleachers were mostly full.

After practice Jamie Heward brought his son out for a little mites on ice entertainment. I lost track counting the number of times he fell which was amusing.

The NHL returns today to NBC with a regional game at 3:30 PM ET. If you are a fan of hockey you should support the sport as we need all the ratings we can get. The local game in DC should be Philadelphia at Atlanta.

Down on the Farm:

Before a sellout crowd of 10,734 people at the Giant Center last night, the Hershey Bears took a 2 goal lead into the third period before falling to the Norfolk Admirals 4-3. Newly demoted Jakub Klepis scored his first AHL goal of the season and Chris Bourque added his 12th and 13th in the losing effort. It was the Bears second straight loss heading into the All-Star break as they are now 4 points behind the division leading Admirals.

Matt Stefanishion tied the game at 3 late in the third period and Donny Grover got the game winner in overtime as South Carolina rallied for a 4-3 win at the Texas Wildcatters. It was the third consecutive game in as many nights between the two teams. Davis Parley stopped 42 of 45 shots for the win in his fourth consecutive night of work including his game with Hershey on Wednesday. The Stingrays will take a much needed break and return to action on Friday night in Duluth, Georgia against the Gwinnett Gladiators.

TGIF Morning Thoughts

• Hopefully everyone took advantage of the week off and got away from the game a little bit and recharged their batteries so that when the Caps hit the ice tonight, they will resemble the hard working team we have come to know and love.

• It's funny how over the course of the past week defenseman Brian Pothier's status changed from being out with the flu, to being out with an upper body injury. But seriously, did anybody really buy that report from the beginning? We all saw Pothier hobble off the ice in Carolina last week doubled over. Sure didn't seem like a case of the flu just hit him all at once. Why the Capitals feel like they need to disguise injuries so much is beyond me. If this was the NFL they would be regularly fined by the league.
  

• Rookie Jeff Schultz was recalled from Hershey and will be in the lineup for tonight's game. Schultz had an impressive couple games last week, and providing that he continues to display that same level of play, I believe he should remain in the lineup for good.

• I was a bit shocked when Jakub Klepis was recalled to the team earlier in the week. Let's face it, he has done nothing to distinguish himself this year at the NHL level. Klepis should stay in Hershey where he could play twenty minutes a night and get his game back in shape. If I were the GM, Eric Fehr would have been my call up. If you've had a chance to see a Hershey game as of late, he looks like a man playing among boys. He is playing with a lot of confidence right now and deserves a shot to earn a regular spot in the Capitals lineup.

• Keith Seabrook, Washington's second round pick in the 2006 entry draft, was named WCHA (Western Collegiate Hockey Association) rookie of the week. Seabrook, a freshman for the Universith of Denver, had 3 points, 7 hits, and 3 blocked shots in back-to-back games against #1 Minnesota last weekend. It looks as though another Capitals' prospect is developing quite nicely.

Down on the Farm:

The South Carolina Stingrays defeated the Texas Wildcatters 6-2 last night. Davis Parley returned to the team, following a one game stint with the Hershey Bears, and stopped 47 of 49 shots to record his league leading 20th win of the season. From Stingrayshockey.com:

“Parley was tremendous,” South Carolina coach Jason Fitzsimmons said. “Davis is a true professional. Goaltending was the difference and he has been a pleasure to watch. We spread around the scoring and it was a great way to begin a six-game road trip.”

Capitals' prospect and local boy Stephen Werner had a goal and an assist to improve the Stingrays record to 22-15-3, 47 points putting them only five points behind the division leading Gwinnett Gladiators. He currently has 5 goals and 3 assists in 8 games this season in South Carolina. After battling injuries earlier this season, look for Werner to return to Hershey once he gets a little more seasoning in him.

For those of you on the Capitals message boards who continue to post about Matt Yeats and want to know where he is now, look no further than the ECHL's Texas Wildcatters. He has played in 29 games so far this year, posting a 15-10-2-1 record.

The team will be in Texas again tonight for a rematch at 8:35 pm. You can catch all the action live via b2networks by visiting Stingrayshockey.com.

The Hershey Bears return to action tonight with a key game against the East Division leading Norfolk Admirals. It will be the first of a home-and-home series between the two teams that will go a long way in deciding who will take control of the division. The Bears are currently only one point behind the Admirals, who received a boost on their roster with the reassignment of Rene Bourque, the 2004-05 AHL rookie of the year, from the Chicago Blackhawks. In 24 games with the Blackhawks, the talented left-winger recorded 4 goals and 4 assists.

As announced by coach Bruce Boudreau, Daren Machesney will get the start in goal tonight. You can catch all the live action via b2networks by visiting the Hershey Bears official homepage. The game time tonight is 7:00 pm.