CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – Ben Myers stopped 36 shots on 38 attempts but Kyle Gattelaro scored twice and Cody Gylling picked up the game winning goal on the power-play in the first period as the Amarillo Bulls shut out the Corpus Christi IceRays with a 3-0 win in front of 4,011 fans at the American Bank Center on Saturday night.
Amarillo came into the game with the top ranked power-play unit in the entire North American Hockey League but gave up a short-handed breakaway to Joe Chitwood and he was denied by Bulls goaltender Paul Berrafato to keep the game scoreless. After that, the strength of their power-play showed. On their first, and only man advantage of the period, the Bulls took a 1-0 lead off a great shot by Cody Gylling. Tyler Gernhofer hit Gylling with a pass in the right wing circle and the forward ripped a shot on the short side of goaltender Ben Myers for the lead at 5:31 of the game. Gernhofer had the only assist.
Under five minutes later Amarillo took their lead to a pair of goals. Roman Ammirato fed Kyle Gattelaro with a pass down the right wing wall. Gattelaro went around IceRays defender Kyle Froese who got his stick in the way and took down Gattelaro who slid into Ben Myers and pushed the puck into the net for a 2-0 lead at 10:04 of the opening frame.
Gattelaro added to his goal total in the second period at the 7:53 mark of the middle frame. Former IceRays forward Eric Purcell intercepted a puck in the ‘Rays defensive zone and sent it right to Gattelaro who cut across the top of the crease and backhanded the puck by the left leg pad of Ben Myers for a 3-0 lead with his second goal of the night and 13th overall.
That was all the scoring the Bulls needed as they held on for a 3-0 shutout win over the IceRays. It’s the eighth time this season that Corpus Christi has been held scoreless in a game. Ben Myers denied 35 of 38 shots in the loss.
The IceRays return home tomorrow afternoon as they face the Amarillo Bulls for the final time this season. Puck drops at 3:05PM, coverage begins at 2:50PM with the IceRays Pregame Show on sportsjuice.com, ustream.com, and fasthockey.com.
Stay current with the latest team news by visiting www.goicerays.com. In addition stay connected with the IceRays on Facebook (/corpuschristiicerays), Twitter (@goicerays), and the team’s Youtube channel ICERAYS TV (@goicerays)
