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TRENTON, N.J., (February 21, 2009) -- An offensive barrage led by a Brad Snetsinger hat trick catapulted the Trenton Devils to a 9-7 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays Saturday night in front of 6,013 at Sovereign Bank Arena. The Devils honored Scott Bertoli by raising his No. 19 jersey to the rafters in a 40-minute pre-game ceremony.

Jeff Prough started the scoring 9:30 into the game by picking up the loose puck from the far half-boards and ripping a shot between the legs of Stingrays goaltender Jonathan Boutin.

Snetsinger scored the first of his three goals at 11:38 by taking a feed from Eric Castonguay across the puck and slamming it home for his 14^th goal of the season.

Prough added another tally on the power play at 15:47 by whacking at a loose puck in the crease, eventually putting it into the net. The Devils took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Stingrays came out storming in the second period with two goals of their own, making it a one-goal game 3:42 into the stanza. However, Castonguay started the Devils' next flurry of goals by roofing a shot from the far circle at 4:49, his 15^th goal of the season.

Kevin Cormier even got into the act, scoring his first goal as a Trenton Devil at 6:02. Snetsinger dangled the puck next to the net and centered it to Cormier, who banked it in to give the Devils their three-goal cushion back.

Snetsinger continued his good play with his second goal and fourth point of the night at 10:02. After serving a penalty for hooking, Snetsinger streaked out the box and took a drop pass from Prough, firing the puck past Boutin.

The Stingrays came back with three straight goals of their own, getting back within a goal 3:43 into the third period.

Jeremy Akeson would score his 12^th goal of the season at 6:04 to answer back and make it a 7-5 Trenton lead. Akeson managed to find open real estate past Boutin for the strange goal from the near corner.

Snetsinger completed his first career hat trick at 9:10, taking a cross-ice feed from Dan Eves and slamming the puck home to capitalize on the Devils' second power play goal of the night.

Still, South Carolina would not go away, as they scored twice to make it an 8-7 game with 1:55 left in regulation. It would take a goal from a former teammate of Bertoli to put the game out of reach.

Jim Henkel, who played with Bertoli for two seasons in Trenton, streaked in on the left wing into the Stingrays zone and slipped the puck past Boutin to ice the game for Trenton with 57 seconds left, a memorable 9-7 win on the night that "The Franchise" was honored.

The game set a Trenton record for most goals between two teams at 16. The previous record was 15, recorded in an 8-7 shootout loss to Greenville on March 4, 2005.

The nine goals scored by Trenton marked the fifth time in team history that nine-plus goals were scored in a game, the last being a 9-1 win over the Dayton Bombers on November 11, 2006.

Snetsinger recorded five points in the game, the first time that a Trenton player accomplished the feat since Colin Pepperall registered five assists in a 5-2 win against the Bombers on January 19, 2008.

In addition to Snetsinger's terrific night, Jeff Prough (2g, 2a) and Eric Castonguay (1g, 3a) recorded four-point nights. Four other Devils had multiple-point nights. The Devils finished the game 2-for-4 on the power play.

The Devils return to the ice Sunday evening against the Wheeling Nailers, with the puck drop set for 6:00 p.m. Tickets are available by logging onto the Devils' official website, www.trentondevils.com.

TRENTON DEVILS  - The Trenton Devils are a member of the ECHL -- North America's Premier "AA" Hockey League.  The Trenton Devils are owned and operated by the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League.

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