AMARILLO, TX – The Corpus Christi IceRays (28-14-3) fall to the Amarillo Wranglers (17-23-3) on Saturday night at the Budweiser Bull Pen in the Texas Panhandle by a final score of 6-3. Amarillo made the IceRays pay on special teams scoring two power play goals in the win and held on in the final period to force the spit on the weekend.
Corpus Christi was rewarded three power plays in the opening period after having three in the entire game yesterday, but failed to convert on their opportunities as Wranglers Goalie Matt Schoephoerter stood tall in net. The IceRays fired 10 shots his way and all 10 were turned aside as they went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage. It took nearly the entire period before the game’s first goal as Amarillo would find themselves on a two man-advantage with under 20 seconds to go in the period and Cole Saterdalen was able to out wait IceRays Goalie Benji Motew and slide the puck into the back of the net with eight seconds remaining in the period to give the Wranglers a 1-0 lead heading into the 1st intermission.
A track meet opened up in the 2nd period as both sides traded chance after chance rushing up and down the sheet looking for the next tally. Just past the halfway mark Carter Krenke poked the puck away from a Wrangler and galloped his way up the ice on an odd man rush with Caden Morgan. Krenke slid a pass across to Morgan who one timed the puck through the five-hole of Schoephoster for his first goal as an IceRays to tie the game at one. The tie would not last long as Amarillo responded immediately as Morley Phillips snuck behind the IceRays defense and wired a wrist shot upstairs to give the Wranglers a 2-1 advantage. Later in the frame Amarillo would go back to the power play and would strike again in the final minute of a period as a shot from Jacob Miller bounced off Motew into the air falling in the crease and bouncing into the net for a massive third goal sending the IceRays to the final period trailing by two.
The IceRays hopes of a come back in the final 20 minutes were quickly dashed by a wrist shot from Daniel Rassega and extending the Wranglers lead to 4-1 inside the opening five minutes of the frame. Corpus Christi continued to fight back and got one back off a deflection from Michael Valdez to cut the lead to two with under eight minutes to play. The IceRays would pull Motew for the extra attacker hoping to make things interesting late, but Phillips got loose in behind the IceRays and deposited the empty netter putting it out of reach with just a few minutes to go. Carter Krenke would score a power play goal late for the IceRays making it three straight games with a goal for the forward. Unfortunately, it was too late for the IceRays as Amarillo added a second empty netter in the dying seconds of regulation in a 6-3 Wranglers win.
