CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – A freeze has hit the Coastal Bend just in time as the action is sure to heat up with the top of the South Division clashing this weekend at the American Bank Center. The #2 Corpus Christi IceRays (25-9-3) and #1 Lone Star Brahmas (28-6-3) are kicking off a stretch of five straight games against one another spanning the next two weeks in what could very well decide who reigns in the South this season. The IceRays have taken two out of the first three meetings in the eight game season series.
BROADCAST / GAME INFORMATION
The IceRays will host a pair of games against the South’s top seed on Friday, January 24 and the series finale taking place on Sunday, January 26. Puck drop for Friday is scheduled for 7:35 PM while Sunday will be an afternoon start at 3:05 PM. Single game tickets for each game can be found HERE or by going to the box office at the American Bank Center.
Retro Night will take place on Sunday afternoon and we want you to wear your vintage IceRays sweaters! The IceRays will be dawning a specialty jersey themselves all weekend long that you can bid on by clicking HERE!
Fans can catch the games on NATV or listen on Retro Radio Corpus Christi by downloading the Retro Radio Corpus Christi app on your smartphone and hear the “Voice of the IceRays” Joey Erickson all weekend long. The pregame show on NATV and Retro Radio CC will begin 30 minutes prior to puck drop. Friday night’s game will also be available on KDF-TV Corpus Christi starting at 7:30 PM.
MILESTONE WATCH
IceRays Forward Stephan Kuznetsov is set to hit an impressive milestone this weekend that dates back to his debut with the IceRays on October 8, 2021. When Kuznetsov takes his first shift on Sunday afternoon he will officially have played the most games in franchise history setting a new mark of 176 games played. He will pass Defenseman Trevor Heuser who played 175 games with the IceRays from 2012-2017. Kuznetsov has already hit one milestone this season when he scored twice in the season opener against Shreveport making him the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.
SHOOTOUT SPECIALISTS
Corpus Christi’s latest win was a shootout victory over the El Paso Rhinos lifting the IceRays to their third shootout victory of the season. All three victories in the skills competition for Corpus Christi has come on home ice and has not gone past two rounds. Defenseman Matteus Soderbom has the highest completion percentage on the IceRays at 75% after his goal last Saturday bringing his season total to 3-for-4. Kuznetsov is 3-for-5 this season and all three of his shootout goals have been the game winning goal. The IceRays are a total of 6-for-12 in the shootout this season with all six goals coming off the stick of either Soderbom or Kuznetsov.
WHAT’S ON THE LINE
The IceRays enter the weekend four points behind the Brahmas in first place with both teams playing a total of 37 games. The next five games are crucial if Corpus Christi wants to take back the top seed and three of the games take place the following week in North Richland Hills. The Brahmas and IceRays rank as the top two teams in the South in in Goals Against and Goals For. The Brahmas are the stingiest team in all of the NAHL having only allowed a total of 54 goals this season including a league high 10 shutouts.
