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While Big Game Garza and the Rays in TB finally accomplished last night what they, perhaps, should have last Thursday — defeating Captain Chris Clark’s Red Sox — our own ECHL affiliate South Carolina Stingrays look like a strong contender in the “Premier AA Hockey League.” All up and down the Washington Capitals organization, there is cause for excitement.
Voice of the Hershey Bears, John Walton, tells us that the Stingrays roster is loaded just as is the Bears, as the trickle down effect of great talent unable to crack a deep Bears lineup finds ice time in Charleston.
Those on the current Stingrays roster that are worth following:
Capitals signee C Travis Morin (Stingrays’ 2007-08 leading scorer), Capitals 2006 5th round pick and Bears signee LW Maxime Lacroix; and Capitals signee D Viktor Dovgan (enjoying his second tour of duty with the ‘Rays).
And there’s still former 1st rounder and Caps signee, D Sasha Pokulok, who scored a goal in the season opener, which the ‘Rays won 5-3.
Impressively, the Stingrays drew almost as many fans to its home opener (7,962) as did the Bears (8,178).
stingrayshockey.com
Michael Neuvirth stopped 17 of 20 in that 5-3 win, but was just recalled to Hershey this afternoon.
(Love that new Stingrays logo, by the way.)
And if you like cheap beer, here’s one more reason to be excited about Stingrays hockey.
With about 20 seconds left in the Washington Capitals season opener in Atlanta, Donald Brashear engaged Thrashers highly-touted rookie D-man Zach Bogosian, who had just shoved David Steckel into the half-boards.
At the time, I questioned the utility of Brash going after Bogosian, reasoning that it did nothing but bolster the kid’s esteem among his teammates. The game was clearly decided at that point, and I don’t think Bogosian’s hit was a dirty one. Not to mention the difference in size between the two combatants.
Indeed, the fight earned him much admiration from his mates. From NHL.com’s Dan Rosen:
“When the guys got back to the locker room, they were all really excited for me,” Bogosian said. “A lot of the guys were patting me on the back. It’s good to know that they were showing the excitement that I did fight one of the tougher guys.”
The fight lasted all of 13 seconds. Bogosian really never had a chance to win it. He bumped [Steckel] into the half-boards and then got run by Brashear. After getting up, he tried to find the puck again, but Brashear punched him twice in the back. Bogosian turned around and was face-to-face with the League’s leading pugilist, who has 18 years, 3 inches and 40 pounds on the teenage defenseman.
“I knew what was going on,” Bogosian said. “I knew who it was. The way I play, I usually end up fighting somehow. I figure I might as well start it off with that guy. I wasn’t looking for it, but I wasn’t going to back down.”
Looks like we’ll see a much more confident Bogosian come Thanksgiving Eve. (That is, if he isn’t sent down prior to Thrashers’ game 10, thereby preserving year one of his entry-level status and delaying his ultimate free agency.)
In four games thus far, he’s a +1, with an average of 13:47 in ice time per game.
