ALBUQUERQUE, NM – The Corpus Christi IceRays (33-15-5) fought till the very end but fall short against the New Mexico Ice Wolves (28-20-6) on Wednesday night at the Outpost Ice Arena by a final score of 7-4. Despite the loss the IceRays won six of the eight games against the IceRays and both losses came on the road.
Both teams had their legs early as the opening 10 minutes flew by with multiple scoring chances finding their way on IceRays Goalie Benji Motew who turned away two looks in tight to keep the game scoreless. Corpus Christi delivered the first blow and no surprise the hottest IceRays Stepan Kuznetsov redirected a pass from Carter Krenke past Ice Wolves Goalie Gavin Schahn to open the scoring. Krenke extended his point streak too 11 games with the assist and Kuznetzov ties Pierson Sobush with the team lead in goals at 20. The Ice Wolves punched back a few minutes later with the game tying goal from Johhny Johannson followed by a go ahead goal from Jake Kasay in the span of three minutes New Mexico had a 2-1 lead heading into the 1st intermission.
New Mexico picked up where they left off in the 1st period and made it three unanswered off the stick of Sean Gibbons who was left all alone in front of the IceRays net to make it 3-1. With all the momentum New Mexico drew two penalties and converted on both power plays thanks to Ethan Hull and Francois De Vevlliers and just like that the Ice Wolves had a 5-1 lead with just over half a game remaining. The IceRays were not out of it yet as they made a strong push in the second half of the frame and got a power play goal from Pierson Sobush to stop the bleeding. Sobush snapped an 11 game drought without a goal with his tally. Just over a minute later Kuznetsov would finish off a highlight reel play with a low shot through the five hole of Schahn to make it 5-3 and put the IceRays within striking distance going into the 3rd period.
In the opening two minutes Corpus Christi went to their fourth power play of the night with a chance to pull themselves within one. Instead, New Mexico forced a turnover and Hull slapped his second of the game past Motew for a shorthanded goal. The IceRays continued to fight and got another power play goal from Michael Valdez in the frame but it was too little too late. New Mexico would ice the game with an empty net goal and take down the IceRays for the second time in the season series with a 7-4 win.
Corpus Christi continues the road trip this weekend with a two game series in Odessa against the Jackalopes starting on Friday night.
