After a week at home, the IceRays hit the road once again for their first matchups against the Amarillo Wranglers. This matchup with the second place Wranglers comes after a split with the El Paso Rhinos.
The IceRays have never faced off against the Amarillo Wranglers who enter the league this season. Amarillo’s former team, the Bulls, moved to Iowa this past offseason and became the North Iowa Bulls. The matchup in Amarillo will be the first for both of the teams.
The IceRays come into the weekend following a split with the El Paso Rhinos. The IceRays entered and left last weekend in the same position in the standings, sixth. The split comes a lot thanks to the crowd at American Bank Center on Saturday night. Over 4,500 people were in attendance to watch the IceRays take down the Rhinos on Saturday.
While the crowd backed the IceRays, the team on the ice performed with Damon Beaver leading the way in net for Corpus Christi on Saturday night stopping 34/35 Rhino shots. His efforts on Saturday earned him an honorable mention for NAHL South Star of the Week.
Beaver wasn’t the only one who earned that honor last weekend with Stepan Kuznetsov earning the same honor. Kuznetsov had a two point night on Saturday against his former team, which resulted in a three point weekend for the Mississippi born skater.
For Amarillo, the brand new team to the league got off to a hot start going 3-1 in the NAHL Showcase. Since the showcase, the Wranglers have continued their winning ways going 9-4 since Blaine. A ton of Amarillo’s success comes in games where they score more than four goals with a record of 9-0 in those games. When they scored three or less, their record is 3-5.
Amarillo comes back home following a 3-game road trip where the team went 1-2-0 in games against the other teams that sit atop the South Division. This skid follows a six game winning streak that propelled the Wranglers toward the top of the division.
The Wranglers scored nine goals in the series vs. Odessa last weekend. The team left with a series split in Odessa due to scoring eight in game one and only one in game two. Scoring goals is not something that they’ve struggled with as Amarillo has scored four or more goals nine times in their 17 games played. In those 9 games, they are undefeated going a perfect 9-0. In the games where they don’t achieve the four goal mark, they are 3-5.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 pm both nights. Coverage can be found on Brewster Street Radio and HockeyTV.
