CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – The Texas Tornado proved to be too much for the Corpus Christi IceRays as the defending national champions, backed by two goals from CJ Reuschlein, picked up a 7-2 win inside the American Bank Center.
After an evenly played first ten minutes of the game, Reuschlein scored his first of the night on a double deflection that went off goaltender Hayden Stewart, then off the shoulder of Jackson Leef, onto the blade of Reuschlein for the easy goal 12:40 into the game giving Texas a 1-0 lead.
The Tornado moved out to a 2-0 lead off the stick of Louie Rowe, unassisted, at 15:12 of the first frame.
The score would end up 3-0 after the first period when Jordan Paine snuck a puck on the short-side of Hayden Stewart with 3:47 left in the opening stanza. After that, Ben Myers replaced Stewart in net.
Corpus Christi showed life to start the second when Emil Romig buried a power-play strike just 2:22 in pulling the IceRays within two goals. Assists were given to Roisum and Sulmonte.
Reuschlein picked up his second goal of the evening after beating Myers just 1:12 after the Romig power-play goal to regain the three goal lead.
Brandon Hawkins scored his leading 23rd goal of the season on a pass from below the goal-line, which Hawkins quickly released over the shoulder of Myers for a 5-1 Texas lead at 5:54 of the second.
Corpus Christi got a good bounce at the 6:06 mark when Charles Baldwin centered a pass that banked off a skate and passed Tornado goalie Hunter Leisner pulling the IceRays to a three goal deficit.
The scoring the second period was over after Justin Greenberg notched his 13th of the year assisted by Jason Eddy at 7:19 of the middle period. Making it a 6-1 lead for Texas.
Only one goal was recorded in the third and was credited to Andrew Mayer on the power-play on a big scrum in front of the net. Myers made the original save but Mayar jammed the puck under his pads for a 7-2 lead.
Hayden Stewart stopped 14 of 17 and Ben Myers put aside 24 of 28 in the loss.
The IceRays are home tomorrow night against Texas for Grades 4 Blades night presented by Grande Communications, and Bikes 4 Kids fundraiser night! Puck drops at 7:05PM, coverage begins at 6:50PM with the IceRays Pregame Show on ustream.com, sportsjuice.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)
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