Elmira, New York

Sunday, October 28, 2007

After attending the first Jackals ECHL game, we thought maybe Michael would like to see them play as well, so we grabbed up some tickets for this matinee game against the South Carolina Stingrays. After the game, we rented some skates for Michael and he was able to go out and skate with the team. Then it was on to Pudgies for dinner! (we really miss having a Pudgies in Binghamton, so we take advantage of going to one whenever we go to Elmira or Cortland).

South Carolina Stingrays 4, Elmira Jackals 1

Defenseman Patrick McNeill’s power play goal midway through the second period put South Carolina ahead to stay Sunday in a 4-1 win over Elmira in front of 3,378 fans at First Arena.

McNeill’s game-winner was set up when the Jackals’ Benoit Doucet was whistled for cross checking at 9:16 of the second period, sending the Stingrays on their third man advantage of the game.

Walking in untouched from the left point, McNeill snapped a low backhander past the blocker arm of Elmira goaltender Dan LaCosta (21 saves) for his second of the year, broke a 1-1 tie and send the Stingrays on their way.

Paul McIlveen opened the scoring with the first period’s only goal, shoving home a low shot 8:16 into the contest.

The Jackals countered 3:46 into the middle frame on a great effort at both ends of the ice from Chaz Johnson.

Johnson poked an attempted pass around a South Carolina defender at the blue line and streaked to the loose puck at center ice. Speeding down the right wing, Johnson fired a low drive on the long side to beat Josh Johnson (16 saves) for his first goal of the year.

The visitors, wrapping up four road games in five nights, sealed the game with another power play strike from Marty Guerin 11:17 in to the final period before getting an empty-net shorthanded goal from Travis Morin with 2:25 left in the game.

South Carolina held the shots advantage overall 25-17 and limited the Jackals to just three shots in the final period, nullifying any chance to build a comeback.

Special teams were integral in the end result as the Stingrays were 2-for-8 on the power play and added a shorthanded goal while the Jackals took the collar in eight man-ups and went 0-for-15 on the weekend in a pair of losses.

Elmira continues its four-game home stand as Cincinnati visits for a pair of games this week, Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. Friday at 7:35 p.m. Tickets for these and all remaining home games are available on-line at www.ticketmaster.com, charge-by-phone at 722-3711, or at the Gray Street box office at First Arena open Monday – Friday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Trip Notes:

Our seats for the Jackals game were Section 102, Row L, Seats 1-2-3.