JACKSONVILLE — The South Carolina Stingrays’ season got off to a shaky start against the Jacksonville Icemen on Oct. 16.

It didn’t last long.

The Stingrays allowed the opening goal just over a minute into the game, then scored five unanswered goals in a dominant performance, giving new coach Jesse Kallechy his first victory with South Carolina in a 5-1 rout of the Icemen at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.

South Carolina hosts Greenville on Oct. 17 at 6:05 p.m. in the home opener at the North Charleston Coliseum.

On Friday, South Carolina (1-0-0-0, 2 points) outshot Jacksonville by a 2-1 margin with four players recording multi-point nights.

The Icemen took advantage of an early Stingrays turnover, with Colby Ambrosio netting the game’s first goal one minute, 3 seconds into the contest. But South Carolina settled in and had 13 of the first 14 shots, though the Stingrays could not find an answer in the first period.

With three minutes left in the opening period, Zach Andrusiak dropped the gloves with Jacksonville’s Jaden Condotta, resulting in a penalty that the Stingrays killed off.

With just over five minutes left in the second period, Jérémie Biakabutuka ripped a slap shot past Icemen goalie Chase Wutzke, netting South Carolina’s first goal of the season and tying the game.

Tyler Weiss then connected with Ryan Sandelin on a cross-ice pass that led to the go-ahead goal in the dying seconds of the middle period, pushing the Stingrays ahead 2-1 heading to the third.

The Stingrays extended their lead on the power play early in the third period. Kyle Jackson found Josh Wilkins open in front of the net, doubling South Carolina’s lead to 3-1. Minutes later, the lead grew to three when a defensive zone breakout led to Alex Gaffney connecting with Cam Morrison for his first goal as a Stingray.

The goals kept pouring in for South Carolina, with Tyler Kopff cashing in against his former team midway through the final frame, sealing the victory.