ICERAYS SILENCE LEAGUE LEADING WILDCATS WITH 4-1 WIN

Oct 25, 2013

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – The Corpus Christi IceRays, despite being banged up, finally found some offense and Forbes Ploszaj made 26 saves on Saturday night taking out the NAHL leading Wichita Falls Wildcats with a 4-1 victory in front of 3,718 fans at the American Bank Center.

With Malo Ville and Mikkel Hojbjerg out with injuries, someone needed to step up, and Nick Felan did so.  With both sides going back and forth on scoring chances, Felan broke down the right wing wall and fired a wrist shot by Wichita Falls goaltender Chase Munroe at the 7:36 mark of the first period.  The goal was Felan’s first as an IceRay and assists were credited to Lucas Bennett and Jesse Shelton.

In the second period the IceRays struck on the power-play.  Nick Monfils sent a pass to Tony Roisum who one-timed it by goaltender Chase Munroe at 5:03 of the second period to give Corpus Christi a 2-0 lead.  The goal was Roisum’s 4th on the season with the other assist going to Caleb O’Brien.  After the goal, Wichita Falls pulled Munroe and replaced him with last night’s starter David Zevnik.

The Wildcats responded with a power-play goal of their own.  After two penalties at the same time were called to put the IceRays down two skaters, the ‘Cats took advantage and Colin Staub picked up a rebound after a Forbes Ploszaj save and wristed it into net for his 4th of the year to split the IceRays lead in half at 2-1.

In the third period the ‘Rays caught a break off the stick of Eric Purcell and increased their lead.  Just 46 seconds in, Purcell took a pass from Jake Durflinger inside the left wing circle and sent a low puck to the net that changed direction, finding a way through the legs of David Zevnik for a 3-1 lead.

With the ‘Cats goaltender pulled, Martin Hojbjerg forced a turnover and scored an empty net goal, his 4th on the year and Corpus Christi led 4-1, which ended up being the final. 

Forbes Ploszaj was brilliant in net denying 26 of 27 shots he faced in the win.

The IceRays are right back in action on Tuesday night inside the American Bank Center as they host the Odessa Jackalopes.  Puck drops at 7:05PM, coverage begins at 6:50PM with the IceRays Pregame Show on 91.1FM KSGR, ksgr.org, ustream.com, and fasthockey.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 the team’s Youtube channel ICERAYS TV (@goicerays)