The South Carolina Stingrays

Potter Seibels, Staff Writer
January 11, 2017

The South Carolina Stingrays: The State’s hidden professional minor league ice hockey team that hardly anyone knows about. The team practices at the Carolina Ice Palace in North Charleston, but plays all regular season games in the North Charleston Coliseum. The Stingrays play in the South Division of the ECHL’s Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1993, and has been owned by a group of local business owners since 1995. The team was affiliated with the Washington Capitols in the NHL in 2004 and ending in July of 2012. The Capitols then switched their affiliation to the ECHL’s Reading Royals. In June of 2014, the Capitols reaffirmed their agreement with the stingrays for the 2014-2017 season. The Stingrays have finished with the best record in the ECHL once, and qualified for the playoffs for every season except one. This year, the Stingrays are 22-1-12 going into their next game this Friday at 7:30 against the Florida Everblades away.

I was able to personally watch the team about a month ago on December 10th. The Rays took down the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in an easy 8-2 win. The Stingrays shut out Rabbits in the third period 3-0, sealing the game.

For those of you that do not know the basic rules of hockey, they can be found here: http://www.winnetkahockey.com/index.php/basic-rules-of-hockey

Here are some fun facts about hockey:

  1. The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded on November 22, 1917.
  2. The Montreal Canadiens have won the most Stanley Cups in league history, with 23. The most recent came in 1993.
  3. The diameter of a hockey puck is three inches.
  4. The fastest slapshot on record is Bobby Hull’s, which registered 118 miles per hour.
  5. The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario.
  6. Before games, hockey pucks are frozen to prevent them from bouncing during play.
  7. The last player in the NHL to play without a helmet was Craig MacTavish, who retired in 1997.
  8. Frank Zamboni invented the first self-propelled ice-clearing machine, in 1949.
  9. The original Stanley Cup was only seven inches high.
  10. Prior to the 1927-28 season, forward passes were not allowed in hockey.