Corpus Christi, Texas – It’s often been said, a season is a marathon and not a sprint.
After a long day of travel issues that saw the IceRays limp into Shreveport on gameday at 4:30 a.m., the Corpus Christi IceRays hit the ice and battled before falling 7-2 Friday night in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The IceRays bus broke down near Victoria and the team had some extra bonding together before arriving in the late morning.
There was no rest for the weary, however, as the team opened its preseason schedule.
Dylan Jensen and Gage Parillo netted the goals for the IceRays.
“We just need to build our team atmosphere,” Jensen said. “We need to make sure that we’re all picking each other up and making sure we have the right team mindset going into the year.”
Going into the year with a combination of returning players and newcomers, the IceRays went through some growing pains Friday night.
“For our first game we did some things really well, and obviously we did some things that we need to work on,” IceRays Head Coach Sylvain Cloutier said. “Overall, we can’t have an excuse and we can’t get outworked. Now we go tomorrow, and we have another group of guys coming in to play and then we’ll re-evaluate Sunday who we’re going to put together and go from there Sunday night.”
Jensen sees some things the team can work on Saturday and moving forward.
“I would say the main thing we need to clean up is the mistakes that lead to goals,” Jensen said. “We just need to play more as a team, clean up the neutral zone and make sure to get guys on their defensemen and pressuring hard.“
The IceRays will face the Mudbugs again today at 2 p.m. in Shreveport.
Corpus Christi will close the preseason in Oklahoma on Friday, September 8 at 7:10 p.m. before opening the regular season at the NAHL Showcase, on Wednesday, September 13 against Aberdeen at 4:30 p.m.
Season tickets for the 2023-24 season are on sale now.
For information, please contact Michelle Evans at 361-814-7825, Ext. 104.
