From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South Carolina Stingrays
Founded	1993
Home ice	North Charleston Coliseum
Based in	North Charleston, South Carolina
Colors	Red, Navy Blue, White
League	ECHL
Head coach	Jason Fitzsimmons
Assistant Coach	Jared Bednar
Owners	Jerry Zucker (businessman), Edwin Pearlstine, Greenwald Family

The South Carolina Stingrays are an ECHL team based in North Charleston, South Carolina, a suburb of the metropolitan area of Charleston, South Carolina and have become one of the longest established teams in the ECHL. Since 2004, the team has been affiliated with the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League.

The Stingrays play their home games at the North Charleston Coliseum.

The ECHL team began in 1993 with an ownership group which included Marcel Dionne, but was sold shortly afterwards to a local investment group led by Edward Pearlstine, a Charleston businessman, and the team has won two ECHL Kelly Cup Championships, in 1997 and 2001. They are the first ECHL team in the 17-year history to win both a regular season and postseason championship in the same year. (Alaska, in 2006, is the other.)

There are three retired numbers:

12 - Mark Bavis, who played from 1994-96 when the Stingrays were an affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. Bavis, by then a Los Angeles Kings scout, was killed along with Kings Director of Pro Scouting Garnet Bailey on United Airlines Flight 175 when Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked the airliner, and steered it towards the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The Stingrays retired his jersey before the start of the 2001-02 season.

14 - David Seitz, who played from 1996-2004 and was a popular forward on the franchise with team records in goals, assists, and points, including over 200 goals and 500 points overall, fifth on the ECHL's all-time assists list, and two ECHL Kelly Cups. Seitz's retirement, caused by an ECHL restriction on experienced players on a roster after the Stingrays signed players for a road trip, sent shockwaves through the community.

24 - Brett Marietti. A popular player and former captain, Marietti retired after the 2002-03 season, and management promptly retired his jersey in 2003. Marietti's Tenure as captain ranks among the longest in ECHL history for a player to captain a single team.

Founded: 1993-1994

Arena: North Charleston Coliseum (capacity 10,429)

Uniform colors: red, white, navy blue

Logo design: A stingray eating a hockey stick.

Affiliates: Washington Capitals (NHL), Hershey Bears (AHL)

Division titles won: 4 (1994-95, 1996-97, 1997-98, 2000-01)

Regular season titles won: 1 (1996-97)

League championships won: 2 (1996-97, 2000-01)

• Online Home of the South Carolina Stingrays