Successful road trip moves Stingrays to second place

A 3-0-1 road trip through the Central Division last week extended the South Carolina Stingrays’ unbeaten streak to eight games (6-0-2) and moved the team into second place of the South Division standings with a record of 27-16-6 for 60 points. The Stingrays began their road trip with a 4-2 win at Missouri on Tuesday, handing the Mavericks just their second home loss of the season. Stephan Vigier had a goal and an assist to lead the offense while Mark Dekanich turned aside 21 shots to pick up the win in goal. South Carolina suffered the only setback on the trip on Wednesday, falling at Tulsa 2-1 in overtime before rebounding with a 5-1 win at Wichita on Friday. Caleb Herbert, reassigned to the Stingrays earlier in the day by the Washington Capitals, scored two goals in his first game with South Carolina this season, while David Pacan added three points (1g-2a). Dekanich extended his personal winning streak to five games, stopping 25 of the 26 shots he faced. The Stingrays ended their busy week with a 4-1 victory over the Thunder on Saturday. After spotting Wichita an early 1-0 lead, South Carolina scored the game’s final four goals, including a pair from Austin Fyten. Vitek Vanecek picked up the win with 21 saves. Cameron enters the week on a six-game scoring streak (5g-4a) and is tied for third among ECHL rookies with 16 goals while ranking seventh among first-year players with 37 points. Pacan has tallied at least one point in 11 of his last 12 games, totaling 19 points over that span (7g-12a). Pacan has 44 points overall on the season (16g-28a) which is tied for the 10th in the league. Both Dekanich and Vanecek rank among the league’s goaltending leaders, as South Carolina ranks third in the league with 2.35 goals-against per game. Dekanich is fourth with a .926 save percentage and seventh with a 2.13 goals-against average while Vanecek is 11th overall, and third among rookies with a 2.29 goals-against average. The Stingrays and Greenville meet four times this week, with a pair of games at South Carolina on Tuesday and Sunday sandwiched around games at Greenville on Friday and Saturday.