GHOST PIRATES TROUNCE STINGRAYS 5-1

BY: Cristiano Simonetta, Catherine Morrison

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC 一 Nick Granowicz scored his first two professional goals for the Savannah Ghost Pirates (29-32-6-1) in their 5-1 win over the South Carolina Stingrays (38-25-4-2) Friday night at North Charleston Coliseum.

The Stingrays scored their lone goal at 2:52 in the first period when Benton Maass scored his eighth goal of the season.

At 16:20, rookie forward Kyle Jeffers scored for the second night in a row and his fifth goal with the Ghost Pirates in 15 appearances to tie the game.

Savannah’s offense centered around rookie scoring, which continued with Granowicz’s first professional goal at 11:05 in the second period, giving Savannah a 2-1 lead.

Granowicz debuted with the Ghost Pirates on Thursday against South Carolina. The Macomb, MI, native played four years at the University of Michigan and this past year at UMass Lowell.

Pito Walton received the secondary assist on Granowicz’s goal for his first professional point in his debut with the Ghost Pirates. After a five-year career at Princeton and Northeastern, Walton was claimed off waivers yesterday from the Florida Everblades.

Under three minutes after Granowicz’s goal, Alex Gilmour ripped a feed from Matt Boudens past Mitchell Gibson at 13:42, propelling Savannah to a 3-1 lead. Gilmour’s 15th goal of the season was his third in two games against South Carolina.

In the third period, Boudens made it 4-1 Ghost Pirates following a Stingrays giveaway at 7:46. The captain’s goal was his sixth of the season; Boudens ended the night leading all players with three points.

Granowicz scored his second professional goal at 11:02 while crashing into the net and flipping the puck over Gibson’s left shoulder. Rookies Carter Long and Griffin Loughran each picked up an assist on the sequence. 

Jordan Papirny made 29 saves en route to his eighth win of the season. Papirny is 3-0-1 in his last four starts. 

Savannah went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-1 on the power play. The Ghost Pirates have set a franchise record with a six-game point streak (5-0-1) and tied a franchise record with four consecutive wins.

Savannah will wrap up their week on Saturday, April 6, at 7:00 p.m. when they face the Florida Everblades at Enmarket Arena. For ticket information, go to GhostPiratesHockey.com! 

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