Corpus Christi, Texas – The Corpus Christi IceRays continue their long stretch of away games this weekend in a two-game series against the Oklahoma Warriors Friday and Saturday night at 7:15 p.m. CDT at the Blazers Ice Centre.
The IceRays are coming off a road two-game sweep against the Odessa Jackalopes last weekend.
Corpus Christi is 4-6-0, 0SOL in its last ten games, 5-11-0, 0SOL in its last 16 contests and 9-14-0, 1SOL in its last 24 games.
Overall, the IceRays are 18-31-2, 3SOL for 41 points, in eighth place in the NAHL South Division, eight points behind the Jackalopes for seventh, and 17 points behind the Warriors for sixth.
Oklahoma is 26-22-4, 2SOL and in sixth place in the NAHL South, six points behind the New Mexico Ice Wolves and eight points behind the Amarillo Wranglers.
It will be a reunion for the IceRays against their former leader Anthony Cafarelli, who was traded to the Warriors after two years in Corpus Christi.
“It will definitely be an interesting weekend,” IceRays Head Coach Sylvain Cloutier said. “He definitely looks weird in that jersey. We saw Caf yesterday and it was like he never left.
Letting Cafarelli leave was an extremely difficult decision for Cloutier.
“When the trade happened, it was a really hard decision,” Cloutier said. “We sat down and talked about it. He didn’t want to leave and he loved being an IceRay.”
At the end of the day, it was more about the future for Cafarelli.
“Obviously with him trying to get committed to D1, he and his family felt it was better to go to a team that had a better chance to play in the playoffs,” Cloutier said. “That’s why Caf was traded. He was with us for two years so obviously you build a strong relationship with the player.”
Pierson Sobush leads the IceRays with 37 points, 18 goals and 19 assists.
Stepan Kuznetsov has scored 16 goals and added 18 assists for 26 points.
Billy Biedermann has 21 points (eight points and 13 assists).
Drew Sutton paces Oklahoma with 51 points, 18 goals and 33 assists.
Kaden Nelson has notched 22 goals and 25 assists for 47 points.
Cafarelli has posted 40 points with 18 goals and 22 assists.
“It should be a great weekend of hockey,” Cloutier said. “Hopefully we will keep playing the way we played last week up in Odessa.”
You can watch the games this weekend on NAHL TV.
For more information, visit goicerays.com.
