CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Corpus Christi IceRays lost to the Shreveport Mudbugs by a 5-1 final Friday at American Bank Center. In a heavy-hitting, fast-paced contest, the Mudbugs (24-11-0-0, 48 pts.) jumped out to a 5-0 lead, including four goals in the second period, to pick up the victory and pad their lead to 16 points ahead of the IceRays (13-18-3-3, 32pts.) for the final playoff spot in the NAHL’s South Division.
Stephen Kyrkostas scored the IceRays’ lone goal of the game. Cal Sandquist and Jeremy Forman combined to make 20 saves.
Shreveport’s Jacob Smith opened the scoring at 12:13 of the first period, striking just four seconds into a power-play opportunity.
In the second period, Carson Nichols (3:00), Gio Procopio (7:31), Tim Khokhlachev (9:12) and Dawson Sciarrino (11:41) increased the visitors’ lead to five before Kyrkostas buried a rebound on the backhand at 16:30. The goal was assisted by Alexander Tertyshny and Sacha Guillemain.
Neither team found the back of the net in a physical third period. The IceRays outshot the Mudbugs by a 27-25 margin. The game was the first behind the bench for Nate Weossner, who was hired by the IceRays as Interim Head Coach Thursday.
The game was Pro Wrestling Night presented by Bud Light, featuring appearances by wrestling stars Luke Harper and Sammy Guevara, who each dropped ceremonial first pucks, signed autographs for fans and joined the IceRays broadcast on color analysis. Gulf Coast Wrestling Alliance (“GCWA”) presented pre-game wrestling matches in a ring outside of the American Bank Center Arena entrance on Resaca St.
The two teams rematch Saturday (7:05 p.m.) and Sunday (3:05 p.m.) to close their 12-game season series.
Tickets for all 2019-20 IceRays games are on sale at the American Bank Center Box Office and all Ticketmaster outlets. IceRays games, home and away, can be heard live on Sports Radio Corpus Christi 1230 AM-95.1 FM-96.1 FM (KSIX-AM/FM) and mixlr.com/icerays, and can be viewed on HockeyTV (HD iPPV). For more information on the IceRays, or to purchase tickets, visit goicerays.com or call 361-814-PUCK (7825). Stay connected with the IceRays on Facebook (/CorpusChristiIceRays), Twitter (@goicerays) and Instagram (CorpusChristiIceRays).
