Corpus Christi, Texas – Playing against the top team in the NAHL South Division on the road, a near perfect game was needed.
It may not have been perfect, but the Corpus Christi IceRays head their own in a tough 4-3 loss at the hands of the Lone Star Brahmas.
The IceRays took a 1-0 lead, fell behind 3-1 and battled back in a hostile environment.
Justin Kerr, Anthony Cappello, Bryce Ingles and Charlie Masek each scored for Lone Star.
Troy Pelton, Dylan Jensen and Wolfgang Govedaris scored the goals for the IceRays.
“Great hockey game,” IceRays Head Coach Sylvain Cloutier said. “The atmosphere was awesome today. We made two mistakes, and it killed us.”
Lone Star outshot the IceRays 45-39.
The Brahmas were 2-for-3 on the power play while the IceRays were 0-for-2.
Corpus Christi is now 3-7-0, 0SOL in its last nine contests and 6-9-0, 1SOL in its last 16 games.
Overall, the IceRays are now 15-27-1, 3SOL for 34 points, in eighth place in the NAHL South Division, eight points behind the Odessa Jackalopes for seventh, and 17 points behind the Oklahoma Warriors for sixth.
Lone Star is in first place in the NAHL South at 35-9-3, 3SOL with 76 points, 10 points ahead of the second-place Shreveport Mudbugs.
Pelton got the IceRays on the board on his third goal from Andrew Hayek and Derek Pietrzyk at 8:27 of the first period and Corpus Christi led 1-0 after one.
Kerr scored his 19th goal at 7:09 of the second to tie the game at 1-1.
Cappello netted his 10th goal at 10:09 to give Lone Star a 2-1 lead.
Ingles upped the Brahma lead to 3-1 with his sixth goal at 13:55.
Jensen pulled the IceRays within a goal from Nikia Konevych and Gage Parillo at 15:09 and the IceRays were down 3-2 heading into the final period.
Masek doubled the lead with his 13th goal at 4:30 of the third period and Govedaris collected his second goal from Zakhar Polshakov at 19:37 to close out the scoring.
Bryant Marks stopped 41 of the 45 shots he faced, while Jack Wieneke made 26 saves in 29 shots.
Marks was outstanding again,” Cloutier said.
The IceRays will be back home against the New Mexico Ice Wolves Friday and Saturday night at 7:05 CST at American Bank Center.
You can watch the games on NAHL TV and listen on Brewster Street Radio.
For more information, visit goicerays.com.
