GHOST PIRATES WIN 6-1 ON TEDDY BEAR TOSS AFTERNOON

BY: Cristiano Simonetta, Catherine Morrison

SAVANNAH, GA  –  The Savannah Ghost Pirates (9-12-3-1) scored a season-high six goals in a 6-1 victory over the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (19-6-0-0) on Sunday afternoon at Enmarket Arena.

On Savannah’s Teddy Bear Toss Afternoon, presented by Memorial Health, Alex Swetlikoff scored on a delayed penalty and let the teddy bears rain down at 12:51. It was Swetlikoff’s third goal in four games with the Ghost Pirates this season.

“It’s a cool experience, and it’s for a good cause,” Swetlikoff said. “I’m happy I could score it this year; I just found the back of the net, and it just trickled through, but it’s cool having all the teddy bears thrown on top of you and your teammates.” 

After the stuffed animals were cleared off the ice, Savannah returned to work 14 seconds later as Logan Drevitch scored his sixth goal of the year at 13:05.

Savannah carried a 2-0 lead into the second period, where Drevitch added another goal, this time on the power play at 2:31.

“I think it started last year, the responsibility for me to produce for the team,” Drevitch said. “We have a really solid lineup; anyone can score; it doesn’t matter what line you’re on, anyone can put the puck in the net.”

Simon Pinard was next to join the scoring fray, ripping a shot from the left circle under the crossbar at 11:44. Pinard’s 10th goal of the season extended his point streak to three games. Vince Marleau collected an assist on the play, recording a point in his fourth consecutive appearance.

Joe Leahy finally answered for Greenville at 14:40, scoring his third goal in four games to cut the deficit to three.

In the third period, Jordan Kaplan bolstered Savannah’s lead with his third goal of the season at 7:24. Pinard capped things off with an empty-net goal for his second tally of the afternoon, extending Savannah’s advantage to 6-1.

“We didn’t want to be satisfied,” Ghost Pirates head coach Rick Bennett said. “We have a goal here before we get to Christmas break, and in order to get there, we need the points.” 

Savannah went 1-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

“[A] big thing is special teams. I thought we did a good job staying out of the box tonight,” Drevitch said. “I know we only had two power plays, but we scored on the one. That’s our job when we go out there … to score a goal.” 

Bullion made 34 saves in his seventh victory of the season, extending his personal win streak to three games with a 1.33 goals-against average over that stretch. The 26-year-old is 4-1 in his last five decisions.

Savannah will be back at Enmarket Arena on Thursday, December 21, to play the Orlando Solar Bears at 7:00 p.m. For ticket information, go to GhostPiratesHockey.com.

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