CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – The Corpus Christi IceRays (23-7-2) finished off a sweep of the Amarillo Wranglers (13-18-3) with a 4-2 win on Saturday night at the American Bank Center. The IceRays scored two power-play goals in the contest for the fourth time this season and giving the IceRays back-to-back wins on home ice in one weekend for the first time since Dec. 7 and 8 versus the Warriors who the IceRays take on tomorrow afternoon to complete a the three game weekend.
The IceRays wasted no time putting the Wranglers on the defensive and Forward Billy Biedermann drew the games first penalty to send the IceRays to the man advantage. Corpus Christi made quick work of their first opportunity with a blast from Pierson Sobush off a pass from Cooper Conway that beat Wrangler Goalie Charles-Antoine Girard to give the IceRays a 1-0 lead. Sobush now has the team lead with 12 power play goals. Just over a minute later, Jake Boulanger scampered into the IceRays zone and fired a shot past Goalie Waylon Esche to tie the game at one. Esche made his second start for the IceRays and made 24 saves on 26 shots in his first win with Corpus Christi. The Wranglers would strike back with a power play goal of their own from Will Welburn who sent a slap shot off the glove of Esche and into the net to give the Wranglers a one goal lead after the 1st period.
Ten minutes flew by to open the middle frame and then we hit our turning point in tonight’s game. The captain for the Wranglers Morley Phillips received a five-minute major for Cross-Checking and sending the IceRays to another power play. It took 22 seconds for the IceRays to pot home their second power play goal of the night, this time it was Cody Kempf on the one timer to bring us back to level at two. The IceRays had plenty of looks the rest of the way on the man advantage but Girard and the Wranglers held on to keep it tied. It was only a matter of time before the IceRays would pulled through and it was the Defenseman Raymond Perrault with his 5th goal of the season to give the IceRays a 3-2 lead.
Corpus Christi would do a fine job in the final frame looking to put away the Wranglers. Past the halfway point in the period, Amarillo coughed it up in their own zone and Conway jumped on the loose puck and sent a shot on net that was kicked away to Carter Krenke who slammed it into an empty net to double the lead for the IceRays. That was all Corpus Christi would need to finish the sweep and now chance for a three game win streak tomorrow afternoon.
