Patrick McNeill to miss series with Cincinnati
Posted 09:37 a.m., May 8, 2008
The Stingrays have been lucky as far as injuries are concerned during the first three rounds of the Kelly Cup playoffs.
It looks like their luck just ran out.
Rookie defenseman Patrick McNeill will miss the entire American Conference best-of-seven game series with Cincinnati and could be out for the remainder of the Kelly Cup playoffs with an undisclosed injury. (If you’re like me and you know the injury, don’t put them on the blog. Players and team trainer DJ Church are very sensitive about injuries during the playoffs).
Not having Patrick McNeill’s skating ability will certainly hurt the Stingrays against Cincinnati. The Cyclones are known around the league as a small, quick and excellent skating team and the rookie is one of the best skaters in the South Carolina lineup.
Rory Rawlyk will be taking McNeill’s spot in the lineup and I thought Rory had one of his best playoff performances in Game 4 up in Columbia. Rory played in Cincinnati last season and there’s no better incentive for a player than getting out there against his former teammates.
Also, Marty Guerin will likely miss Friday and Saturday’s games in Cincinnati. Guerin missed Game 5 against the Inferno after getting injured in Game 4 up in Columbia. Guerin is second on the Stingrays in scoring with 14 points. Guerin made the trip to Cincinnati, but will most likely not play until Game 3 back in Charleston on Wednesday.
A Stingray will hoist the Kelly Cup this season. Every team still in the playoffs has a current or ex-Stingrays on their roster.
Utah: Centerman – Micheal Haley (And yes, that’s the way Micheal spells his name).
Las Vegas: Defenseman – Aaron Power
Cincinnati: Goalie Maxime Daigneault and defenseman T.J. McElroy.
If you’re going to Cincinnati, drive safely and we’ll see you back at the North Charleston Coliseum Wednesday night.
See you at the Rink,
APM
Comments
Posted by borohockey8 on May 8 at 11:12 a.m.
Losing Patrick McNeil will be a big loss, but I look for Rory to step up big time in his place. He played well in Game 4 in the Columbia series, so lets hope he plays like that again.
Posted by Hockeyfan2629 on May 8 at 12:45 p.m.
Did Tim Judy make the trip? Just in case?
Posted by acharlestongirl on May 8 at 1:56 p.m.
Sucks to hear about McNeill, but I am glad that Rory is getting a chance to play. Good for him! :)
LET'S GO RAYS!
Posted by apmiller24 ( Andrew Miller ) on May 8 at 3:45 p.m.
hockeyfan2629,
Tim Judy did not make the trip as far as I know. I don't think he could miss that much work. I'm sure if someone got hurt Friday, the Rays would fly him up to Cincinnati.
APM
Posted by InformedSportsFanatic on May 8 at 11:09 p.m.
Okay....Something is wrong here. It is the day before a game and I have seen no projected line-ups nor predictions on who will be on the ice and who will watch from the cheap seats. I guess someone has to start it up so here I go:
Obviously the defense is set. No discussion needed except that I feel we are going to have to make sure our forwards and centers speed it up to get back and help. We do not have the fastest defenders and Cinn is full of speed. I love Nate, G. Mac, Rory, Romfo, and Collins but I think Scotty is the quickest of them all and I fear we will need to be faster than that.
On the forward/Center positions...with Marty out, this opens up some space for Griffith or Scherer to get some ice time. I have been impressed with Smith lately and would leave him in the lineup. He appears to gel with Gordon quite well. McElveen did not do anything great last game but he also did not screw up. His defense was actually pretty good.
Thoughts?
Posted by borohockey8 on May 8 at 11:24 p.m.
I would like to see Griffith in the lineup over McIlveen and I agree that Smith had one of his best games last game. I dont care who plays as long as the Rays win!
Posted by warpathaubbie on May 9 at 10:50 a.m.
LET'S PLAY HOCKEY!!!
Posted by bearslover on May 9 at 4:32 p.m.
Thanks to everyone who helped out by replying to my questions about hotels near the Coliseum, access to player's autographs, etc. I can't wait for my trip to Charleston! See you next week at the rink! :)
Go get 'em Stingrays!
Posted by RaysFan34 on May 9 at 5:32 p.m.
Hello from Cincinnati. We have seen some other Stingray fans and expect to see several more before the night is over.
Got a chance to see some of downtown today and tried the Skyline chili (let's just say, nothing competes with home cooking!) They say the area is famous for it, but I am thinking they should probably be more famous for their baseball team.
The boys looked great at practice yesterday and today. A little dicey getting in (this building must have something pretty important stored inside if the security is any indication), but we managed, as always.
The Cyclones front office has been great to make sure we have great seats and I cannot praise the hotel enough for how they have bent over backwards to take care of us and the team.
The boys are focused on bringing home a win or two with them when they return Sunday morning and I like their chances! Hopefully, we will have surprised some folks by the end of the day!
Everyone, cheer hard for the guys (I know you will) and listen for our cowbells WHEN we score. I think they have Josh sitting in the next State to call this game, but we will ring them as hard as we can!!
LET'S GO RAYS!!
P.S. ACG, no excuses if we have to come back here, so do not overbook!
Posted by Hockeyfan2629 on May 10 at 12:56 p.m.
I see Grant Mcneil got suspended for game 2 and also chad Starling. What did Grant do to get suspended he didnt get a penality called at the end of the game like kiser and Rory did. RaysFan 34 would you know what happen? So i guess will be playing 5 d-men tonight. Lets Go Rays
Posted by warpathaubbie on May 10 at 2:34 p.m.
Anyone know if Judy will fly up and help out with tonights game? We don't need to be down in the d-men catagory. Cincy can light up the place in a hurry and a tired "d" will not help.
Posted by InformedSportsFanatic on May 10 at 4:06 p.m.
Anyone know where we can see video of the end of last nights game? The details about the incident are sketchy and I would love to see what happened. Hopefully whatever it was will light a fire for our guys in game 2.
Posted by RaysRsharp on May 10 at 8:13 p.m.
I clipped out the last few seconds, and compressed the video some to get it on YouTube, but here ya go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buc-l6ebwEc
Posted by rayshockeynut on May 11 at 2:11 a.m.
Great video....wish I was there. Cant believe Kyser wasn't suspended for pulling the linesman around like a ragdoll. Actually even more suprising, cant believe the linesman was able to keep Kyser away from the Rory fight......lol
Game 3 coming up next!!!!
LETS GO RAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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