Corpus Christi, Texas – Play for a full 60 minutes.
It’s a theme that Corpus Christi IceRays head coach Sylvain Cloutier preaches daily.
Saturday night’s game against the Shreveport Mudbugs would go over 60 minutes, and it didn’t end the way the IceRays would have preferred.
Shreveport came back from a 2-0 deficit with a goal in the third period and scored again in overtime to down the IceRays 3-2 in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Will Murphy tied the game at 2-2 at 15:40 of the third period and Brayden Cook got free in front and put a shot past IceRays goaltender Vilgot Holm at 3:34 of overtime to avoid a sweep.
There was a silver lining to the OT loss as the IceRays collected a point on the night and finished the weekend with three out of four points.
“It was a great hockey game,” IceRays head coach Sylvain Cloutier said. “You know what, if you told us at the start of the week, we we’re going to get three points out of four on the road here in that building against a good hockey team, I’d take it. We’re happy with our weekend.”
Anthony Cafarelli and Billy Biedermann scored for Corpus Christi, 4-6-1, 1SOL for 10 points and in seventh place in the NAHL South Division.
Nick Marino also scored for Shreveport, 7-4-0, 1SOL for 15 points and in fourth place.
Cloutier had nothing but praise for his netminder.
“Vilgot was fantastic again,” Cloutier said. “We had to weather the storm there for a good 12 minutes in the second period.”
Holm once again was busy, stopping 33 of 36 shots after making 37 saves on 39 shots Friday night.
“I really felt like I got in the zone the first game,” Holm said. “Obviously we were a bit nervous and hadn’t won in a couple of games, but then I just feel like I got into it and had a couple of really good saves and kind of rolled from there.”
The power play was kind to the IceRays in the first period.
Cafarelli netted his sixth goal of the season with the man advantage off an assist by Zakhar Polshakov at 14:49 of the first period.
Biedermann scored his third of the year with the extra man at 19:08 of the period and the IceRays led 2-0 after one.
It didn’t take long for Shreveport to get on the board as Marino scored 50 seconds into the second period to cut the IceRays lead in half at 2-1.
The second period was marred by 12 total penalties between the two teams as neither team was able to light the lamp and it remained 2-1 IceRays after two periods.
“I felt like we could win both games, but obviously it’s three huge points,” Holm said. “Shreveport’s a really tough place to go. The fans get on you and it’s really fun, so yeah, really happy with the three points.”
The IceRays will continue their long road trip with two games in Albuquerque, New Mexico against the New Mexico Ice Wolves, Friday, and Saturday night at 7:30 CT.
“Nothing’s going to be easy this year in our division, there’s no easy games,” Cloutier said. “All the teams are well coached and. It’s not gonna be different in New Mexico.”
You can watch the games on NAHLTV.com and can also catch them on Brewster Street Radio.
Gallo added to Roster: Winger Luke Gallo was brought into Shreveport and was inserted into the lineup Saturday.
Gallo was brought in last year when the IceRays had a skills camp.
“We tried to get him earlier to get them here and finally convinced him to come,” Cloutier said. “He’s a good addition to our group. He’s a young kid and he can play and he’s going to bring energy to our group.”
For more info on the IceRays visit goicerays.com.
