CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – The Corpus Christi IceRays despite piling 40 shots on net could not overcome two second period goals as the Wichita Falls Wildcats pulled out a 2-1 victory in front of 3,872 fans in the American Bank Center.
After no scoring in the first, the Wildcats got on the board in the second period off of a big scrum in front of goaltender Hayden Stewart. After two chances were denied, Ben Kucera picked up the loose puck and first it by Stewart for a 1-0 lead at 5:12 of the middle period. Assists were given to Matt Robinson and Sami Salminen.
With under a minute to go Wichita Falls went up 2-0 after Eliot Grauer took a pass through the neutral zone and let a quick snap shot go that found a way through Hayden Stewart with just 40 seconds left in the second period.
The IceRays almost split the lead in half with one second left in the period as Luke McDiarmid wired a wrist shot off the pipe as time came to a close.
In the third Caleb O’Brien split the Wildcat lead in half 2-1 for Corpus Christi on a shot from the point and found a way through a mass of players and Evan Cowley at 7:13 with assists from Brandon Smith and Rudy Sulmonte.
Corpus Christi piled 14 shots on net in the third period however could not tie the game with the net empty as Wichita Falls picked up the 2-1 road win and pulled within 1pt of the IceRays for the final playoff spot in the South Division.
Hayden Stewart stopped 30 of 32 shots in the loss.
The IceRays are home tomorrow night to finish out the season series in a must win game against Wichita Falls. Puck drops at 7:05PM, coverage begins at 6:50PM with the IceRays Pregame Show on sportsjuice.com, ustream.com, the TuneIn Radio APP, 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)
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