Rays Cruise to Victory in Topeka, Sweep RoadRunners

Nov 5, 2017

Sunday, 11.05.17 / 7:42 pm CT

All four players who scored on Saturday did so again on Sunday as the IceRays sunk the RoadRunners by a 6-1 decision. The victory brought the team to the .500 mark throughout their ten-game road stretch.

CJ Regula and Rylee St. Onge had gone a number games without scoring their first goals, and had been off the scoresheet for longer than they’d liked. On Saturday, they each broke the ice and got the first goal under their belts. They carried their confidence into Sunday’s contest.

Regula struck first 5:21 into the game. Jayson Dimizio sprung Angus Scott down the left wing with a nice chip off the side boards in the neutral zone. Scott fed Regula a pass in-stride, and the IceRays center sniped a shot past Emil Gransøe to open the scoring. Just two and a half minutes later, St. Onge buried his second goal in as many nights after Gransøe lost sight of the puck in his crease.

Topeka struck back early in the second period when their leading scorer Nick Granowicz drove down the slot and smashed the puck past Chad Veltri to bring some life back to the RoadRunners bench. However, their excitement was short-lived.

At 28:06, at the end of three consecutive failed odd-man rushes, Noah Roofe brought the puck down the right wing and hammered a slap shot from above the circle. He beat Gransøe low-blocker side and regained a two-goal IceRays lead. Roofe ended the Danish goaltender’s night with his strike, and Connor Murphy entered the game in an effort to slow down the IceRays’ offense. He could not.

Garrett Hallford scored his second of the weekend in the waning seconds of a 4-on-4, following a surge of Topeka chances. He was set up in the slot beautifully by St. Onge, who’d notched his second point on the night with the assist.

Larry Jungwirth remained the only IceRay to have scored on Saturday who hadn’t yet scored Sunday, but he changed that late in the second period. Topeka Head Coach Josh Kamrass was ejected from the game after arguing a penalty called against Max Finner. Jungwirth tallied on the ensuing 5-on-3.

The veteran would tally another goal late in regulation for his third point of the game, which could also be said of St. Onge, who assisted on the play.

For the third straight game, Chad Veltri stopped all but one shot. He improved to 5-5-1 on the season, making 41 of a possible 42 saves. Gransøe was given his eighth defeat, stopping 15 of 18 before being pulled for Murphy, who stopped 13 of 16 in relief. The IceRays will return to the American Bank Center on Friday, November 10th, to host Topeka at 7:05 pm CT. The first 1000 fans through the doors will receive a free team magnet schedule. For tickets, visit the IceRays website at goicerays.com/tickets, or call (361) 814-PUCK.