ICERAYS ATTACK HUNGER FOR PACK THE HOUSE

Mar 30, 2017

The Corpus Christi IceRays annual Pack The House Weekend is set to return on April 7 & 8 at the American Bank Center, and the organization is not only preparing for the final weekend of the regular season but also to put their support behind a new beneficiary.

Pack The House is the team’s busiest weekend with over 10,000 fans annually throughout the weekend between both games culminating with the final game of the season, which has seen around 6,000 fans attend each season. On the team’s biggest evening, the IceRays continue their support for community initiatives and turn their attention to one close within the IceRays Family: No Kid Hungry, an initiative by Share Our Strength.

The idea to support No Kid Hungry was brought to Assistant GM Cassidy Lange by John and Connie Trask, the owners of Church’s Chicken in Corpus Christi and billets to current players Griffin Loughran and Matt Novo. The Trask family are large supporters of No Kid Hungry and donate their leftover food from their restaurants to the initiative. In the past, the IceRays have partnered with Corpus Christi Harley Davidson on the final weekend of the season, but with the blessing of Corpus Christi Harley Davidson and the support of many organizations in the Corpus Christi community, the IceRays were approved to take a slightly different direction.

“The community support has been great,” said Lange. “Our sponsors believe it’s a very worthy candidate to benefit and have really gotten behind the idea. Pat and I agreed to alter the direction of Pack The House to get behind a cause that can help benefit children both locally and around the world. We at the IceRays hope that the money we raise for No Kid Hungry can go a long way to assisting their fight to feed children in need.”

The IceRays have designed the Pack The House specialty jerseys around the new beneficiary, featuring No Kid Hungry as the primary focus but keeping the theme of orange, gray, black and white that has been present on previous seasons’ jerseys. Outside of the beneficiary and the new jersey design, the IceRays are bringing back many great features from previous seasons.

“Pack The House continues to be one of the most fun weekends offered by the IceRays each season, and much of the weekend will stay the same,” said Dunn. “We wanted to not only support a great non-profit organization but also support a strong member of the IceRays Family in the Trask family. Corpus Christi Harley Davidson has been gracious to let us turn our attention to No Kid Hungry, and we’re looking forward to a lot of the many things that makes Pack The House Weekend fun while helping a new organization meet their goals as well as our own goals.”

Pack The House Weekend begins on Friday, Apr. 7 with Alcohol & Drug Abuse Night, presented by The Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse Coastal Bend, to help continue the conversation and education with local children on the dangers and safety around alcohol and drugs. That game is also Whataburger Teen Night, welcoming the students of Texas SkillsUSA to the game and taking a break from their competition.

Pack The House Night, presented by AmSpec, Associated General Contractors of America, Buckeye Partners, L.P., the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Church’s Chicken, Harley Davidson, Laguna Wealth Services, Players Sports Bar, Sea Four Contracting, Stripes, and The Storage Place, returns on Saturday, Apr. 8 with many of the returning features from previous seasons. The IceRays will host a silent auction on the concourse through the second intermission as well as a 50/50 ticket raffle throughout the stands, and during the game the IceRays will feature many of the partners and beneficiaries the organization has supported throughout the season as a thanks for their work with the team. The specialty jerseys will be auctioned off to the public in the Eddie Jackson, New York Life Post-Game Jersey Auction in Section 112 & 113 of the arena.

Tride Rideshare Frosty Friday also makes its final appearance of the regular season with $1 beer and soda available throughout the night on Friday, and fans can receive $5 off their fare using promo code “icerays” on the Tride Passenger app. Saturday is a Corpus Christi Caller-Times Family 4-Pack Night, meaning fans can purchase four tickets and receive vouchers for four hot dogs and four sodas for just $48 at the arena box office. Both games will feature an IceRays Post-Game Skate, presented by Braselton Homes.

On top of all the happenings of the weekend, the IceRays have already clinched a spot in the 2017 Robertson Cup Playoffs, marking their third playoff berth in junior franchise history and second in the last three seasons. This is the earliest the IceRays have clinched a postseason spot, so with a little extra motivation on the ice, the spectacle off the ice is set to be one of anticipation and elation to close out the 2016-17 regular season.

“We are always very excited about Pack the House night no matter what,” said Dunn. “This year is even more exciting due to the fact that we are in the playoffs once again, and we are going into playoffs on an upswing compared to past attempts when the team has peaked right before playoffs. We are not getting our hopes up too high, but with the way the team is performing right now, there is a reason for us to get excited.”

Tickets for both games on April 7 & 8 are available at the American Bank Center Box Office or online at Ticketmaster.com. For group rates and suite packages, call the IceRays Front Office at 361-814-PUCK.

About Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry
Share Our Strength began in the basement of a row house on Capitol Hill in 1984, in response to the ‘84-‘85 famine in Ethiopia. Brother and sister Bill and Debbie Shore started the organization with the belief that everyone has a strength to share in the global fight against hunger and poverty, and that in these shared strengths lie sustainable solutions. Today we focus these strengths on making No Kid Hungry a reality in America. The No Kid Hungry campaign works to shine a national spotlight on the crisis of child hunger in America, creating a powerful movement of individuals committed to bold action. We build partnerships that enlist influential individuals in the cause and advocate policy changes needed to achieve our goals. For more information on No Kid Hungry, visit www.nokidhungry.org.

The IceRays begin their final road trip of the season on Friday, Mar. 31 at 7:11 p.m. to open a two-game weekend against the Shreveport Mudbugs from George’s Pond at Hirsch Coliseum. The IceRays host their final home weekend of the 2016-17 regular season on Friday, Apr. 7 at 7:05 p.m. to open a two-game weekend against the Wichita Falls Wildcats from the American Bank Center. The IceRays are heading to the postseason for the third time, and 2017 Robertson Cup Playoffs tickets will be announced in the coming weeks. For tickets to the final home weekend, call the IceRays Front Office at 361-814-PUCK. In addition, stay connected with the IceRays on Facebook (/CorpusChristiIceRays), Twitter (@goicerays), YouTube (IceRays TV), Instagram (CorpusChristiIceRays), Snapchat (@goicerays), and Periscope (@goicerays).