RIO RANCHO, NM – Beau Walker scored a pair of goals and Payden Mielke recorded his first NAHL goal as the IceRays chalked up a much needed road win on Friday night 5-2 inside the Santa Ana Star Center.
Corpus Christi struck just 5:30 into the game as Jonathan Grebosky back-handed a shot on net that was stopped by Jake Stafford. The rebound went right to Beau Walker who scored his 10th of the year to give the IceRays a 1-0 lead.
Payden Mielke has been itching for his first NAHL goal and he checked that off his to do list tonight. Mielke picked up a pass from Phil Pietroniro at the 6:57 mark of the period, went in and rifled a shot top shelf on Jake Stafford for a two goal IceRays lead.
The Mustangs split the Corpus Christi lead in half just 2:46 later off the stick of Cody Walsh who notched his 15th goal of the season with the lone assist going to Nolan Culver as New Mexico trailed 2-1.
With only 28 seconds left in the first period a bad bounce forced the puck onto the stick of Beau Walker with Stafford out of the net. Walker buried his second goal of the game as the Mustang goaltender couldn’t get back to the crease in time and Corpus Christi led 3-1 after the first period.
The lone goal of the second period was credited to Eric Purcell. From the point, Greg Chapman fired a puck on net, it deflected off Purcell and beat Stafford. The goal was Purcell’s team leading 18th goal of the year and the IceRays led 4-1 after 40 minutes.
In the third New Mexico got a bounce of their own. Josh Bretner took a harmless shot just inside the blue line along the left wing wall. The shot found a way through Anthony Stolarz to pull the Mustangs within two goals.
Joe Smereck sealed the win for Corpus Christi after an Eric Purcell wrap-around attempt. The rebound went right to Smereck who went top-shelf to give the IceRays a 5-2 lead.
Anthony Stolarz stopped 27 of 29 shots in the win.
The IceRays are in action tomorrow night from New Mexico as well. Puck drops at 8:30PM CST, coverage begins at 8:15PM with the IceRays Pregame Show on ESPN Radio 1440AM.
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)
“THE NEW ICERAYS…TOMORROW’S STARS”
