Weis Scores 6 Points In Return As Rays Rout Norfolk

The South Carolina Stingrays (35-10-3-1) had their highest offensive output in seven years Wednesday night, blowing by the Norfolk Admirals (12-32-5-0) by a final score of 9-1 on the road at the Norfolk Scope.

Matthew Weis led the way with six points (two goals, four assists) in his first game back with SC after being reassigned by the Hershey Bears on Tuesday, while Branden Troock had his first hat trick of the season as well as an assist.BOX SCORE

Stingrays forward Cole Ully also had a big night with five points on a goal and four assists, while goaltender Parker Milner stopped 18 shots to earn his 16th win of the season. South Carolina outshot the Admirals 40-19 in the lopsided win.

It was the first time the Stingrays have scored nine goals in a game since January 26, 2013, when they knocked off the Orlando Solar Bears 9-3 in front of 10,385 fans on Pack The House Night.

Troock got the Rays out in front with two tallies in the opening frame. His first came off an offensive zone face-off won by Weis. After a touch of the puck from defender Kristofers Bindulis, the Edmonton, Alberta native unloaded a shot past goaltender Sean Romeo to make it 1-0 at 7:39.

Then at 16:34, Troock scored his second of the night by converting a centering pass from Weis during a 2-on-1 to extend the Stingrays early lead to 2-0.

The second period was dominated by South Carolina, who outshot the Admirals by an 18-5 margin. Just 19 seconds in, captain Andrew Cherniwchan knocked in a rebound from the side of the net to make it 3-0 after an initial shot by defender Neal Goff was stopped. Cherniwchan leads all Stingrays skaters with 21 goals on the season.

Later in the frame, Mark Cooper scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle at 9:23 with assists from Max Novak and Tariq Hammond and the Rays had a 4-0 lead.

Weis made it 5-0 with a blast from the left side of the offensive zone at 11:00 of the second after an initial chance by defender Tom Parisi was stopped. Cole Ully started the play in the defensive zone by breaking up a pass and getting the puck to Parisi.

Troock completed his first hat trick of the year 4:14 into the third off a centering feed from Ully in the offensive zone. Weis also picked up a helper on the play, which pushed the South Carolina lead to 6-0.

At 11:41 of the final period, Ully scored his eighth goal of the year from Weis to give the Rays their seventh goal of the evening.

The Admirals scored their only tally of the game with just 2:52 to go when Alex Rodriguez netted a power play goal to make it 7-1.

But Weis responded immediately for SC, scoring his second goal of the night and ninth of the year from Ully and Troock to put the Stingrays back on top by seven at 8-1.

Finally, Bindulis capped off the team’s big night with his fourth goal of the season at 18:39 with assists by Dylan Steman and Tim Harrison.

The Stingrays did not get awarded a power play opportunity in the game and scored all of their goals at even strength on the night. Norfolk finished 1-for-3 on the man-advantage. Romeo made 31 saves in a losing effort for the Admirals.

NEXT GAMESouth Carolina returns home for a pair of games this weekend beginning Friday night against the Adirondack Thunder at 7:05 p.m.

—Tickets for all of South Carolina’s upcoming 2019-20 home contests are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

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