RAYS’ REPORT #19: ANOTHER SPLIT WITH AMARILLO

Mar 4, 2013

The Corpus Christi IceRays won the first game of the series over the Amarillo Bulls 4-1 making it two in a row over the NAHL’s best.  However, on Wednesday morning Amarillo rebounded with a 5-1 victory over the IceRays who welcome in the Wichita Falls Wildcats this Friday and Saturday night in a crucial series with playoff implications inside the American Bank Center.

GAME #49 – 2-26-13: Corpus Christi 4-1 Amarillo – The opening goal came off the stick of Mike Economos, his10th of the year after Rudy Sulmonte played the puck off the right leg pad of goaltender Collin Delia at 17:39 of the first frame to put the IceRays up 1-0.  Later, Hayden Stewart faced a two-on-none short-handed rush going post-to-post to stop the Bulls and keep the game at a 1-0 IceRay advantage.  In the middle period, Emil Romig took the puck at the top of the circle and wired it over the shoulder of Collin Delia just 2:!2 into the second assisted by Beau Walker and Eric Purcell to put the IceRays up 2-0.  The Bulls got on the board at 17:33 of the second period off a Matt Sieckhaus shot that beat Hayden Stewart over the left shoulder splitting the IceRays lead to 2-1.  To end the second period, Corpus Christi fired up the penalty-kill and stopped a two man advantage that Amarillo had to keep the 2-1 lead heading into the 2nd intermission.  In the third period, Sulmonte wired another shot off the right leg pad of Delia, this time on to the stick of Emil Romig who recorded his second goal of the game short-handed just 1:56 in and the Rays’ led 3-1.  To finish it off Romig found the empty net with 1:32 left in the game to cap off the hat-trick and a 4-1 IceRays win.

GAME #50 – 2-27-13: Corpus Christi 1-5 Amarillo – The Amarillo Bulls scored four goals in the final period of play as the IceRays dropped a 5-1 decision in front of 6,233 fans inside the American Bank Center on Wednesday morning.  Ben Myers stopped a penalty-shot in the first period but Amarillo got on the board early in the second frame.  Clint Carlisle walked in short-handed and beat Myers at 3:49 to put Amarillo ahead 1-0.  Corpus Christi responded with a power-play strike as Wayland Williams tapped the puck to Caleb O’Brien who one-timed it by Paul Berrafato at 7:13 of the second and the two teams went into the second intermission tied at one goal apiece.  In the third Amarillo came out swinging as Blake Roubos struck 62sec into the final period to put the Bulls up 2-1.  Dan McNamara responded 2:53 later off a great Clint Carlisle pass and the Bulls pulled out to a 3-1 lead.  Omar Mullan tacked on the third goal of the period assisted by Connor Frey and Carter Penzien at 11:27 and led 4-1.  To finish the scoring, Brady Ferguson added an empty netter with just 42sec left in regulation and Amarillo ended the two game losing streak with a 5-1 win.  Ben Myers denied 35 shots in the loss.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS:

Friday, March 8th vs. Wichita Falls Wildcats
TEEN NIGHT – presented by WHATABURGER.

Saturday, March 9th vs. Wichita Falls Wildcats
GRADES 4 BLADES – presented by Grande Communications & TAMUCC ROTC
CALLER TIMES 4-PACK NIGHT – 4 Tickets, 4 Hotdogs, 4 Sodas for $44!

AROUND THE SOUTH DIVISION:

TEAM

GP

W

L

OTL

PTS

PCT

GF

GA

PIM

HOME

AWAY

xAmarillo

52

39

7

6

84

.808

211

103

1043

21-2-3

18-5-3

xTopeka

51

32

13

6

70

.686

158

123

1139

14-9-4

18-4-2

xTexas

51

32

18

1

65

.637

186

138

951

15-10-1

17-8-0

Corpus Christi

50

22

22

6

50

.500

150

166

1200

10-13-1

12-9-5

Wichita Falls

51

22

26

3

47

.461

158

176

787

11-13-2

11-13-1

Odessa

49

6

40

3

15

.153

99

242

1023

2-19-2

4-21-1

CORPUS CHRISTI’S RECORD AGAINST OPPONENTS:

AMARILLO: 5-5-0
TEXAS: 1-7-0

TOPEKA: 1-3-0

WICHITA FALLS: 1-2-3
ODESSA: 7-1-0
FAIRBANKS: 1-1-2
KENAI RIVER: 4-0-0

ICERAYS LEADERS:

GOALS: Rudy Sulmonte – 21
ASSISTS: Emil Romig – 30
POINTS: Rudy Sulmonte – 49
PLUS/MINUS: Andrew Paras – +7
PENALTY MINUTES: Mike Economos – 122min
SHOTS: Rudy Sulmonte – 162
WINS: Ben Myers & Hayden Stewart – 10
GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE: Ben Myers – 2.89
SAVE PERCENTAGE: Ben Myers – .913

STOLARZ SIGNS WITH PHILLY…  Former IceRays goaltender Anthony Stolarz signed an entry level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers.  The contract starts at the beginning of the 2013-2014 season.

ECONOMOS COMMITS… IceRays forward Mike Economos will play college hockey at (D3) Plymouth State University starting next season!

EVEN WITH AMARILLO… Corpus Christi picked up another split with the Amarillo Bulls last Tuesday and Wednesday. 

OVER 6,000 WATCH ICERAYS… The IceRays had over 6,000 students attend Wednesday morning’s game with Amarillo.  They learned about the dangers of tobacco usage!

PLAYOFF RACE… Corpus Christi is now just 3pts in front of Wichita Falls after a split with Amarillo and Wichita Falls swept Topeka. 

INJURY UPDATE… Perry D’Arrisso and Trevor Heuser sat out this past weekend’s games with injuries.

COMMITMENTS

2013-2014
Beau Walker – (D3) University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Dmitry Ermakov – (D3) Norwich University
Mike Economos – (D3) Plymouth State University

2014-2015
Matthew Weis – (D1) Ohio State University

ALUMNI REPORT

NCAA D-I…
           – Michael Benedict (Niagara University) – (6G, 3A) – 30GP
           – Frank Misuraca (U. of Alabama-Huntsville) – (2g, 4a) – 20GP
           – Pheonix Copley (Michigan Tech) – (7-13-1, 3.10GAA, .903%) – 21GP
           – Mychal Monteith (Mercyhurst) – (0g, 2a) – 20GP
           – Colton Saucerman (Northeastern) – (3g, 8a) – 29GP

NCAA D-III…
           – Greg Chapman (St. Mary’s U.) – (0g, 1a) – 19GP
           – Luc Neitenbach (Worcester State) – (0g, 0a) – 15GP
            – Jake Diamond (Wentworth College) – (0g, 0a) – 7GP
           – Kevin Crowe (Wentworth College) – (10g, 11a) – 26GP
            – Derrek Schartz (Tufts University) – (2g, 1a) – 16GP
           – Josh Obregon (Johnson & Wales U.) – (12g, 11a) – 27GP
           – Anton Olsson (Lawrence College) – (0-1, 6.00GAA, .838%)
           – Navarone Copley (St. Mary’s U.) – (0g, 0a) – 9GP
           – Jonathan Sdao (Colby College) – (4g, 4a) – 23GP

USHL…
           Matthew Weis (Green Bay Gamblers) – (10g, 19a) – 43GP
            Danny Fetzer (Chicago Steel) – (5g, 6a) – 41GP
           – Roman Uchyn (Des Moines) – (4g, 4a) – 24GP

OHL…
           Anthony Stolarz (London) – (11-2-1, 2.14GAA, .927%) – 16GP

QMJHL…
           Phil Pietroniro (Shawinigan) – (5g, 4a) – 37GP

WHAT’S ON TAP…  The IceRays are home this weekend against Wichita Falls.  Pregame show starts 15 minutes prior to ALL IceRays home games on sportsjuice.com, the TuneIn Radio APP, ustream.com, and fasthockey.com.  Be sure to get your tickets now by calling the IceRays front office at 361.814.PUCK (7825) or crash the net at www.goicerays.com.

FOLLOW US… 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)

“THE NEW ICERAYS…TOMORROW’S STARS”