CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – The Corpus Christi IceRays (23-7-3) begin a stretch of nine straight games against opponents within the top four of the South Division this weekend on the road versus the Shreveport Mudbugs (19-14-1). In the last three meetings at the American Bank Center, Shreveport took two of three against Corpus Christi including a 2-0 shutout in the series finale. The IceRays are looking for a launching part to the second half of their season after an up and down start.
BROADCAST / GAME INFORMATION
Puck drop for Friday and Saturday at George’s Pond at Hirsch Coliseum is scheduled for 7:11 CT. Single game tickets for each game can be found 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.
THE CONWAY GALAXY
IceRays Forward Cooper Conway received the NAHL South Division 1st Star of the Week after his impressive seven point performance in three games last weekend against the Wranglers and Warriors. Conway posted multi-point efforts in each of the three games consisting of three assists on Saturday night and a two goal and one assist on Sunday bringing his total to three goals and four assists in three games. Since arriving in Corpus Christi the Minnesotan has put up a team high 21 points in 17 games.
NEW HEIGHTS
Verona, Wisconsin native Cody Kempf in his third season with the IceRays just 33 games into the season has set and will smash career highs. His 20 points already set a new mark that was previously set at 16 points a season ago. With a goal this past weekend he has reached double digit goal totals for the second straight season and his next tally will set another career mark. Kempf has played a total of 127 games for the IceRays which is 10th all time in franchise history, the only active player with more games is Stephan Kuznetsov who is on track to set a new franchise record with 171.
BUCKLE UP
Four of the first five meetings between the Mudbugs and IceRays have been decided by two or less goals this season including an overtime win for Shreveport on home ice. The only meeting that saw a larger deficit was the IceRays 5-1 at George’s Pond in the season opener on September 14. Friday night will mark one of seven more games left on the schedule against one another that will span all the way to the last series of the season in April. Corpus Christi is 2-2-1 this season against the Mudbugs and 1-0-1 at George’s Pond at Hirsch Coliseum.
