On Thursday September 17th, the South Carolina Stingrays announced the signing of Canadian forward Darien Craighead. The two sides agreed to terms on a standard player contract for the upcoming season. The Surrey, B.C. native joins the Stingrays for his rookie season after completing four years with the Michigan Wildcats. While playing at Northern Michigan last season, Craighead recorded 15 goals along with 16 assists for 31 points. He did so in 36 games.
During his collegiate career, Craighead tallied 49 goals along with 60 assists for 109 points. He amassed these totals in 153 games. To go along with these statistics, Craighead added 100 penalty minutes and a Plus/Minus rating of +6 to his resume.
In a statement on Thursday from Ryan Blair, head coach of the Stingrays hockey club, he said of the team’s latest signing, “Darien comes to the Stingrays after a great four years at Northern Michigan University. I’m excited to see how his game will translate into our lineup and I think he’ll be a contributor from day one. Darien plays with intensity, he’s powerful and he has a great shot so we can’t wait to welcome him to the Low country.”
Craighead won’t be a stranger to the team in 2020-21 as he is the fourth alumnus of Northern Michigan to sign with the Stingrays for the upcoming season. In doing so, he joins captain Andrew Cherniwchan, Justin Florek and Jordan Klimek. The team hopes Craighead will bound off his skillset and thus, being able to contribute offensively this season.