In a game that featured 173 penalty minutes and a goalie fight, the South Carolina Stingrays finished off a season series sweep over the Greensboro Gargoyles with a 4-2 victory on Jan. 4 at the North Charleston Coliseum in front of 5,367 fans.
In their final meeting of the regular season, South Carolina (20-11-1-0) struck early. Josh Wilkins punched home a rebound 4:39 into the first period while on the power play to put the Stingrays ahead, 1-0.
Trailing by one, Greensboro (7-15-5-1) was called for a game misconduct after Wade Murphy elbowed Kaden Bohlsen in the first of six game misconducts on the day. The Stingrays did not capitalize on the power play but extended the lead shortly after. Patrick Guzzo tapped home his third goal of the season with 3:19 left in the frame to give the Stingrays a 2-0 lead.
South Carolina took that lead to the second period, but the Gargoyles started to chip into the deficit. Zach Faremouth scored 7:39 into the period to make it a one-goal game. Over a minute later, Greensboro forward Patrick Kyte committed a major boarding penalty on Jalen Luypen, delivering the game’s second game misconduct. With tensions high, the game reached a boiling point with just under 5½ minutes remaining in the frame.
Ryan Hofer drove the net after the whistle and the Gargoyles took exception, leading to everyone on the ice tying up. With the officials trying to break up the scrum, Stingrays goaltender Garin Bjorklund and Greensboro netminder Nikita Quapp skated to center ice and delivered a fight that sent all 5,367 fans into a frenzy.
Bjorklund, Quapp and Hofer were given game misconducts while Greensboro went to a five-minute power play and tied the game shortly after, sending the two sides to the third period tied at 2.