Corpus Christi, Texas – A week after a year-ending home sweep, the Corpus Christi IceRays begin the 2024 portion of the season on the road against a familiar opponent.
The IceRays will play on the road against the Shreveport Mudbugs Friday and Saturday night at the Georges Pond Hirsch Coliseum at 7:11 p.m. CST.
After dropping five straight games, the IceRays swept the weekend series against the Odessa Jackalopes, 3-2 on December 29 and 4-3 on December 30 at the American Bank Center.
Corpus Christi has won two straight games and enters the weekend and new year 11-18-1, 2 OTL for 25 points and pull within five points of Odessa for seventh place in the NAHL South Division.
“Every weekend is big for us the rest of the way,” IceRays head coach Sylvain Cloutier said. “We can’t afford a night off.”
Shreveport is in second place in the South Division at 22-7-0, 2 SOL. The Mudbugs have won seven straight and are 11-0-1 in its last 12 contests, with the lone glitch a 6-5 shootout loss on December 2.
The IceRays are 2-2-1, 0 SOL against the Mudbugs this season, posting a 3-2 win in Shreveport on October 13, and a 6-5 shootout victory on December 2 at the American Bank Center.
Shreveport won in OT, 3-2 on October 14 in Shreveport and collected 7-2 and 3-0 victories at the American Bank Center December 1 and December 3.
Pierson Sobush leads the IceRays with 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists).
Anthony Cafarelli continues to pace the team with 13 goals, while adding 12 assists for 25 points.
Mathieu Bourgault is third on the IceRays in scoring with 23 points (six goals and 17 assists).
Billy Biedermann has 19 points on seven goals and 12 assists, while Stepan Kuznetsov is third on the team in goals with 10 to go along with seven assists for 17 points.
Hayden Nichol has 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) to lead Shreveport.
Kyan Haldenby has a team-high 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points.
Nick Marino has 25 points with 10 goals and 15 assists.
“We are playing a very good hockey team,” Cloutier said. “We will need to play a full 120 minutes to have a chance.”
You can watch the games over the weekend on NAHLTV.
For more info on the IceRays visit goicerays.com.
