Leibold returns to Stingrays

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - The South Carolina Stingrays, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals and American Hockey League's Hershey Bears, announced that the club has signed forward Ryan Leibold to a contract for the 2024-25 season.

Leibold, 25, tallied 30 points (14g-16a) in 65 games for South Carolina last season. He first joined the team in March 2023, immediately after the conclusion of his college hockey career, and skated in nine games for the Stingrays before playing his first full professional season last year.

Leibold showed statistical improvements throughout the 2023-24 season. In his last 10 games, he tallied eight points (1g-7a) and was a +3. He was a key member of South Carolina's penalty-killing unit, which finished sixth in the ECHL at 82 percent last season.

Before joining the Stingrays, Leibold spent the 2022-23 season with the Merrimack College Warriors as a graduate student. Leibold helped the Warriors reach the Hockey East Championship Game and earn an at-large bid to the 16-team NCAA National Tournament for the second time in the program's history. Before transferring to Merrimack, Leibold spent four years with the Holy Cross Crusaders. In five seasons of college hockey, Leibold registered 70 points (24g-46a) in 157 games.