The Corpus Christi IceRays are coming off arguably one of their best weekends of the year taking four of a possible six points from two of the best teams in the entire NAHL. The IceRays beat Texas on Thursday 6-1, and rebounded on Saturday night defeating league leading Amarillo in comeback fashion in a shootout 3-2. This weekend is pivotal for Corpus Christi as they host the Odessa Jackalopes, who are just four points behind the IceRays for the final playoff position.
GAME #1 – 01-05-12: Corpus Christi 6-1 Texas – Corpus Christi dominated this game from the drop of the puck scoring four goals in the first period on route to a 6-1 victory inside the Dr. Pepper Arena on Thursday night. The scoring started 2:55 into the game when AJ Jarosz took a breakaway pass from Frank Misuraca and beat Joakim Jutras for a 1-0 lead. Beau Walker scored two goals in the first period, goal number one came at the 9:50 mark with assists from Joe Smereck and Greg Chapman to give Corpus Christi a 2-0 lead. Michael Dery extended his point streak with two assists in a row. Dery assisted Joe Ginley with 6:36 left to go in the first period, and with 2:35 left in the period on Walker’s second of the game. Joe Ginley and AJ Jarosz each scored again recording their second goals of the game propelling the IceRays to a 6-1 victory.
GAME #2 – 01-06-12: Corpus Christi 3-10 Amarillo – The Amarillo Bulls had one of their best games of the year taking down the IceRays inside the Amarillo Civic center 10-3 on Friday night. Corpus Christi did have the lead off the stick of Michael Dery 9:37 into the game off a nice pass from Brandon Smith to take a 1-0 lead. However, Amarillo scored five consecutive goals to take a 5-1 lead after two periods. Joe Ginley pulled the IceRays within three goals with his third goal in two games at the 4:45 mark of the middle period. Amarillo then scored five of the next six goals to defeat Corpus Christi 10-3.
GAME #3 – 01-07-12: Corpus Christi 3-2 (SO) Amarillo– Corpus Christi came out taking it to the Bulls on Saturday night. After back and forth action in the first period Chris Taff snagged a pass from Joe Smereck and beat Gregg Gruehl with only 2:48 left to go in the first period to give the IceRays a 1-0 lead after the first period. Corpus Christi held the 1-0 lead through two periods and in the third Amarillo tied the game on the power-play when Karl Beckman fired a one-timer past Anthony Stolarz to even the scoring. Just 0:34 seconds later the Bulls took the lead courtesy of Brooks Behling to beat Stolarz on a rebound for a 2-1 advantage. Travis Maxwell forced overtime with only 2:08 left in the game beating Gruehl from the right point. After no scoring in overtime, Danny Fetzer started the shootout with a goal in round one. In round four Omar Mullan tied it, forcing a sudden death shootout. In the eighth round Dmitry Ermakov beat Gregg Gruehl, and Anthony Stolarz followed up with a save that secured a win for the IceRays along with two points.
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS:
Thursday January 12th
– Buy One Get One Free – Buy one ticket, get another for free!
Friday January 13th
– Junior Achievement Night
– Frosty Friday – Half off 20-ounce domestic beer and 24-ounce soda.
Sunday January 15th
– Girl Scout Night
– City/County Day
– Dollar Day – $1 Hotdogs, Popcorn, Soda.
AROUND THE SOUTH DIVISION:
|
Team |
HOME |
AWAY |
|||||||||
|
38 |
30 |
3 |
5 |
65 |
.855 |
168 |
86 |
855 |
13-1-2 |
17-2-3 |
|
|
37 |
22 |
9 |
6 |
50 |
.676 |
135 |
101 |
797 |
12-4-3 |
10-5-3 |
|
|
36 |
23 |
11 |
2 |
48 |
.667 |
119 |
92 |
733 |
12-5-1 |
11-6-1 |
|
|
33 |
15 |
16 |
2 |
32 |
.485 |
98 |
105 |
731 |
9-6-2 |
6-10-0 |
|
|
32 |
12 |
16 |
4 |
28 |
.438 |
68 |
97 |
636 |
9-10-1 |
3-6-3 |
|
|
35 |
12 |
21 |
2 |
26 |
.371 |
87 |
115 |
632 |
7-7-1 |
5-14-1 |
|
|
35 |
10 |
23 |
2 |
22 |
.314 |
94 |
162 |
622 |
7-11-1 |
3-12-1 |
CORPUS CHRISTI’S RECORDS AGAINST THE SOUTH:
AMARILLO: 2-3-0
NEW MEXICO: 4-2-0
TEXAS: 4-2-0
TOPEKA: 0-2-0
WICHITA FALLS: 2-4-0
ODESSA: 1-2-0
ICERAYS LEADERS:
GOALS: Eric Purcell – 13
ASSISTS: Beau Walker – 17
POINTS: Beau Walker – 23
PLUS/MINUS: Payden Mielke – +5
PENALTY MINUTES: Ladislav Hruska – 72min
SHOTS: Beau Walker – 106
WINS: Anthony Stolarz – 12
GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE: Anthony Stolarz, 2.61
SAVE PERCENTAGE: Anthony Stolarz, .922
SIX GAME POINT STREAK…Michael Dery had his point streak come to an end Saturday night at six games. In that time, Dery scored six goals and four assists.
BIG REBOUND…Anthony Stolarz came back on Saturday night after being pulled on Friday and put aside 39 of 41 shots in the shootout win.
BEAT THE BEST…Corpus Christi took down two of the best teams in the league this past weekend. Thursday the IceRays beat Texas 6-1, and on Saturday rebounded for a 3-2 shootout victory over Amarillo, the best team in the NAHL 3-2.
WEIS MAKING AN IMPRESSION…IceRays forward Matthew Weis, who was traded to the Green Bay Gamblers scored two goals and added two assist against Chicago in only his second game with the Gamblers.
WHAT’S ON TAP… The IceRays have one of the biggest weekend of hockey to this point coming up. Thursday and Friday Corpus Christi hosts the Odessa Jackalopes at 7:05PM. On Sunday, the Texas Tornado come into town for a 3:05PM faceoff. Fans can listen to all the action with the voice of the IceRays, Rob Lippolis, beginning 15 minutes prior to the games on the Rays flagship station, ESPN Radio 1440AM. The game is available for free online at www.espncorpus.comor on the league’s pay-per-view website, www.fasthockey.com. Be sure to get your tickets now by calling the IceRays front office at 361.814.PUCK (7825) or crash the net at www.goicerays.com.
“THE NEW ICERAYS…TOMORROW’S STARS”
