CHARLESTON, SC – The Wichita Thunder made just their second trip in franchise history to South Carolina on Friday, but it was not a great opening night, as the team was routed by the Stingrays, 7-1. South Carolina scored three goals in both the second and third periods to put this game away. Jack Adams and Austin Magera each had a goal and two assists for the Stingrays. Jake Wahlin scored the lone goal for Wichita.

South Carolina scored the only goal of the first period when Ryan Leibold netted his fifth goal of the year. At 6:48, Bryce Montgomery took a shot that missed the net, however, the puck bounced off the boards to the opposite post where Leibold was able to tuck a shot past Beck Warm to make it 1-0.

The Stingrays outshot the Thunder 7-6 in the first, as this was a rather tentative game early on. However, play picked up in the second, as South Carolina outshot Wichita, 14-12. That helped the Stingrays to jump out to a three-goal advantage.

Colin Swoyer gave South Carolina a two-goal edge at 4:34, netting his first goal of the season. Swoyer led a 2-on-1 break into the Wichita end, opting to take the shot that beat Warm under the right arm.

Wahlin responded 42 seconds later, cutting the Thunder deficit to one. Jason Pineo set up the play, stealing the puck inside the Stingrays end, then passing it to Wahlin who beat Mitchell Gibson with a backhand shot for his fourth goal of the year.

From there, it was all South Carolina. Adams scored his 11th goal of the season with a little over six minutes left in the second. He took the puck around the net, tucking the wraparound attempt by Warm to make it 3-1.

A little less than three minutes later, Jarid Lukosevicius scored on the power-play to make it 4-1. Adams took a shot that Warm saved, but Lukosevicius put in the rebound for his first goal of the night.

South Carolina clung to the three-goal advantage for much of the third, but put this game away in the final 2:32, netting three additional goals. Magera scored his 15th goal of the season to extend the lead to four.

With 1:22 left, Lukosevicius scored his second goal of the night when he tipped an Ivan Lodnia shot past Warm. With 13 seconds left, Jackson Leppard scored on the power-play to finish off the South Carolina victory.

Warm had a tough night, stopping just 25 shots, but received very little support from his team. Gibson made 27 saves to earn the victory.

The Wichita Thunder (12-21-5) remain in South Carolina on Saturday, taking on the Stingrays (22-14-2) in the second game of this three-game set. The puck drops at 5:05 Wichita time.

Gamesheet

by Robert Pannier