Division 2nd of 4 teams South 2010-11 record 37–29–3–3 Road record 17–17–1–1 | League 9th of 19 teams ECHL Home record 20–12–2–2 | |
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Conference 5th of 11 teams Eastern | ||
The 2010–11 South Carolina Stingrays season was the 18th season for the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL. Cail MacLean returned for his second season as South Carolina's head coach and Director of Hockey Operations. Former Stingray Rob Concannon began his first season as the franchise's president.
Contents
- May
- June
- July
- August
- September
- Conference standings
- Playoffs
- In state rivalry
- Skaters
- Goaltenders
- Transactions
- References
The season opened on October 22, 2010 with a 2–6 loss to the Gwinnett Gladiators at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. The Stingrays closed the regular season on April 2, 2011 with a 2–1 shootout victory over the Florida Everblades at Germain Arena. The team posted a regular season record of 37 wins, 29 losses, and 6 overtime/shootout losses for 80 points.
The Stingrays were eliminated in the first round of the 2011 Kelly Cup playoffs, falling three games to one to the Eastern Conference's fourth-seed Wheeling Nailers.
May
The Stingrays announced in May 2010 that the North Charleston Coliseum would begin major renovations that summer. The renovations would include additions to the north and south entrance areas of the coliseum that would allow concession areas to be moved off of the concourse and would facilitate expansion of the arena's box seating. Additional work would include upgrades to the arena's audio system and overhead rigging. The first phase, on which construction would occur during the upcoming season, would be the south side addition, dubbed "Montague Terrace."
June
The Stingrays' AHL affiliate Hershey Bears won the Calder Cup in a 4–0 victory over the Texas Stars on June 14, 2010. Five Stingrays (Braden Holtby, Dylan Yeo, Johann Kroll, Patrick Wellar and Michael Dubuc) who played during the 2009–10 season saw playoff action with the Bears and one (Travis Morin) skated with the Stars.
The next day, the St. Louis Blues announced that former Stingrays head coach Jared Bednar had been named the head coach of their AHL affiliate Peoria Rivermen. Bednar became the second Stingrays head coach to achieve an AHL head coaching position after Rick Vaive, who coached the Saint John Flames from 1998–2000.
July
On July 2, the Stingrays extended qualifying offers to six players from the previous season's roster. Offers were extended to forwards Nikita Kashirsky, Matt Fornotaro and Keith Johnson, defensemen Zach Tarkir and Johann Kroll and goaltender Todd Ford. Johnson, Kashirsky, Tarkir and Kroll were all members of the 2009 Kelly Cup championship team. Fornotaro skated with the Stingrays in 33 games and accumulated 18 goals and 18 assists during the 2009–10 season. Ford backstopped the Stingrays in 28 games the previous season with a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 2.79 and a .910 save percentage. He was named to the ECHL First All-Star Team and was the ECHL Goaltender of the Year for 2009–10.
The team signed their first three players July 15, re-signing defensemen Derek Keller, Jeff Caister, and Zach Jones. Keller and Caister both played four regular season games and multiple playoff games the previous season. Jones returned to the team after playing 18 regular season games in 2009 and then sitting out the remainder of the season due to an injury.
August
In August 2010, the Stingrays announced the renewal of their affiliation with the Washington Capitals of the NHL and the Hershey Bears of the AHL, marking the sixth consecutive season of affiliation for the three teams. Due to a scheduling conflict with the North Charleston Coliseum, the team was forced to reschedule several games, resulting in opening night being moved from October 15 to November 5. On August 30, the Stingrays announced that former Stingrays forward Spencer Carbery had been named the team's assistant coach.
September
On September 8, South Carolina announced that its pre-season schedule would consist of one game against the Greenville Road Warriors. The sole pre-season game took place at the Bi-Lo Center on October 12. The Stingrays suffered a 2–3 overtime loss to Greenville.
Conference standings
x - clinched playoff spot, y - clinched division title, z - clinched best conference record, e - eliminated from playoff contention
* – division leader
Playoffs
The Stingrays were eliminated in the first round of the 2011 Kelly Cup playoffs by the fourth-seed Wheeling Nailers in 4 games.
In-state rivalry
The Stingrays faced an in-state rival for the first time since the Columbia Inferno suspended operations in 2008. The Stingrays and the Greenville Road Warriors opened their new rivalry in a pre-season meeting that the Stingrays lost 2–3 in OT. Their regular season rivalry was dubbed the "Battle of the Palmetto State." The two teams met in seventeen regular season contests with the final decision going to the Road Warriors in a 4–3 overtime victory in the teams' final meeting of the season.
Skaters
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/Shootout Losses; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots Against; GA = Goals Against; SV% = Save Percentage
Transactions
The Stingrays have been involved in the following transactions during the 2010–11 season.