WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS – The Corpus Christi IceRays were battered early and often by the Wichita Falls Wildcats, who claimed a 7-1 victory and force the IceRays to a 0-7-4 record on the road. The loss is their largest margin of defeat of the 2014-15 season.
The IceRays began the game on a rocky start. The Wildcats struck first at 2:28 with a second chance effort from forward Max Reisinger to jump out to a 1-0 lead. The IceRays tried to answer, but once again the Wildcats would add another at 5:15 when forward Paul Soubry found open ice at the blue line to double the lead, 2-0. One more would trail across for the Wildcats in the period at 10:36 when forward Colin Staub threw a puck toward the net from behind the goal line extended and bounced off an IceRays player into their own goal to claim a 3-0 lead. Head Coach John Becanic would pull netminder Andrew Lindgren for backup Luke Pickar following that goal. After Wildcats forward Konstantin Chernyuk was sent to the penalty box for tripping, the IceRays converted their first of the night at 12:25. Forwards Ryan Cusin and Nic LaBurn attempted to stuff the puck through Wildcats netminder David Zevnik, but it was forward Tanner Lomsnes to find twine and cut the lead to two, 3-1.
The Wildcats couldn’t be stopped in the second period. When defenseman Anthony Cortese was called for hooking, the Wildcats sent numbers up and crashed the net, with forward Kevin Charyszyn gaining the tally at 2:10 on another second chance goal to spread the lead back to three, 4-1. The IceRays would stave off the offensive surge for the a majority of the period until 15:23 when Reisinger batted in his second of the night to take a commanding 5-1 lead. In a final rush of the second period, defenseman Matt Koch sent a puck toward net and found a way through Pickar at 20:00 to increase the lead, 6-1, heading into the second intermission.
The Wildcats would tally one final goal in the third period thanks to the help of forward Jonathan Lazarus at 2:51 of the frame to settle the scoreline at 7-1. Shots favored Wichita Falls 38-22 through the contest with each side earning a power play goal. Zevnik (7-4-0) earned the win, stopping 21 of 22 shots against, while Lindgren (10-5-2) picked up the loss, saving eight of 11 shots in 10:36. Pickar turned aside 23 of 27 shots in his 49:24 of play.
The IceRays finishes their two-game set against the Wichita Falls Wildcats Saturday, December 6 at 7:05 p.m. from Kay Yeager Coliseum. Coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. with Countdown to Faceoff on SportsRadio Corpus Christi and FASTHockey.com. 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 (IceRays TV).
