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Alex Suzdalev plays on first line and records first ECHL point in Stingrays 3-0 win

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Alex Suzdalev made his ECHL debut for the South Carolina Stingrays on Friday night. The 20-year-old winger was re-assigned to South Carolina from the Hershey Bears by the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

The game against the Florida Everblades was just Suzdalev’s second as a professional in North America, as all of his previous pro experience (18 games) came in the second tier of Sweden. Stingrays head coach Jared Nightingale immediately placed the 2022 third-round draft pick on his team’s first line with Grant Cruikshank and Micah Miller.

The new trio paid early dividends. Just 21 seconds into the second period, Suzdalev, wearing number 21, earned the primary assist on Miller’s fourth goal of the season in four games.

The assist was Suzdalev’s first point of the 2024-25 season after he went scoreless in his AHL debut game for Hershey last week. South Carolina would end up 3-0 victors, with goaltender Seth Eisele posting a 36-save shutout.

The Stingrays are 3-1 to start the year. This season is the team’s first under the direction of Nightingale, an assistant coach with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs for two years before taking the lead in South Carolina.

“Looking forward to [adding Suzdalev],” Nightingale said pregame. “He’s one of the guys that’s been in Hershey practicing the last 3-4 weeks. Good kid, highly skilled. He’s just starting off his journey, so part of our job is to get him off and running and coach him as he goes. But, yeah, it’s nice, and looking forward to seeing him out there.”

Suzdalev will see more ice time in the ECHL than he would have with a stacked Bears roster looking to three-peat as Calder Cup champions. Last year, the Russian-born, Swedish-raised forward split time between the Bears, Mora IK in Sweden, and the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.

The Stingrays and Suzdalev will be back on the ice on Saturday night, hosting the Everblades at North Charleston Coliseum again.

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