CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – The Corpus Christi IceRays were tallied for four misconducts in their weekend finale against the Wichita Falls Wildcats, 3-1, from the American Bank Center. The IceRays are now 0-1-0 on Halloween games and 1-5-0 in the second game of two-straight this season.
The first period was a scoreless battle that saw a lot of extended time in the IceRays defensive zone, and the Wildcats had every golden opportunity taken away by netminder Andrew Lindgren, stopping 16 shots in the opening frame. The Wildcats had an open chance late in the period to take the lead, but Lindgren made an impeccable save ranging to his left to cut out the attempt.
The Wildcats once again started off the scoring, this one coming at 4:57 of the second period by forward Jeff Baum to push ahead, 1-0. Just 1:02 seconds later, the Wildcats notched another goal off the stick of forward Shane Kuzmeski at 5:59 to double the lead, 2-0. The IceRays would answer back late in the period at 17:50. Forward Nathan Bryer found a loose puck feed coming from forwards Nate Colwell and Nic LaBurn to grab the lone tally of the game and cut the deficit in half, 2-1.
The IceRays became a bit unglued in the third period. While defenseman Pierre Crinon served a ten-minute misconduct tacked on at the end of the second period, Wildcats defenseman Cam Knight capitalized on a chance in front of Lindgren to spread the lead again, 3-1, at 8:31 of the third period. Later on, defenseman Travis Howe got into a shoving match with Wildcats forward Kevin Charyszyn, tossing them both with their coincidental misconducts. Not even a minute later, IceRays forward Joe Chitwood took down Baum behind the Wichita Falls net, serving a five-minute major for cross checking and a game misconduct. The IceRays would kill it off, and Colwell added one more misconduct just before the end of the period while the Wildcats skated away with the 3-1 victory.
Wildcats goaltender Austin Shaw (7-1-0) picked up the win, stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced, and Lindgren (6-3-2) received the loss, stopping 42 of 45 shots in a strong effort in net.
The IceRays will remain at home in their next game on Friday, November 7 at 7:05 p.m. as they open a 12-game set against the Odessa Jackalopes on Pink in the Rink weekend. Coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. on SportsJuice.com, FASTHockey.com, and on 87.7 FM in-arena. Call the front office at 361-814-7825 for season and individual ticket details or check out the pricing and seating chart online at www.goicerays.com. Stay current with the latest team news by visiting www.goicerays.com. In addition, stay connected with the IceRays on Facebook (/CorpusChristiIceRays), Twitter (@goicerays), and YouTube (IceRays TV).
