After 580 days away from home, the IceRays returned to the American Bank Center to face off against the Lone Star Brahmas. The Coastal Bend was thrilled to have hockey back and showed up in numbers.
The IceRays went onto the ice one by one as they were introduced to the ABC faithful. Early on the Brahmas were taking advantage of a power play when Jude Kurtas poked the puck free from a Lone Star defender. Kurtas would go down on a breakaway and find a spot above the goaltender’s blocker. Shorthanded in numbers on the ice, the IceRays held the upper hand on the scoreboard as they would take that lead into the locker room.
In the second, Lone Star came out firing scoring three goals in a span of four minutes and change forcing head coach Mike Lysyj to call time out. After the timeout, the team came back out playing physically, which led to Konner Lundeen opportunity. The puck popped to Zach Dill, who buried his second of the season past the Lone Star.
The first part of the third period had the IceRays playing on their heels and in the penalty box. As soon as the team killed off a Merkley minor penalty, Nathan Butler and Grady Friedman were sparked on a two on one. Butler decided to shoot instead of forcing a pass to Friedman. It seemed to be the right decision as he was able to tie it up at three aside.
The rest of the game went back and forth for the rest of regulation and the teams each were awarded a point. The battle for a second point was decided after Jude Kurtas was sparked out on a breakaway. Kurtas found the back of the net and the building went wild.
The two teams will battle it out again tomorrow night with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 pm. You can catch game two of Corpus Christi and Lone Star live on HockeyTV and on the Brewster Street Icehouse App!
