The second season in the North American Hockey League has come to a halt for the Corpus Christi IceRays who missed out on the NAHL playoffs by just two points. Their fate wasn’t determined until the final weekend of the regular season with a loss on Friday night to Texas, and an Odessa win in Wichita Falls, the IceRays finished in 5th place in the South Division.
GAME #1 – 03-30-12: Corpus Christi 1-3 Texas – Friday night was a must win for Corpus Christi and the IceRays had to fend off a barrage of attempts by the Tornado in the opening ten minutes of the first period. With just 3:03 left in the first period, Jack Prince hit Jordan Greenberg with a pass from the goal-line. Greenberg walked right out to the hash marks and wristed the puck through the legs of Anthony Stolarz for a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. After no scoring in the second period, Marc Biggs lifted Texas out to a 2-0 lead on the power-play. Jordan Greenberg centered a pass to Biggs who notched his 18th goal of the year just 6:01 into the final period. The IceRays responded with a strike of their own. AJ Jarosz forced a turnover at the blue line, skated in all alone and backhanded his 13th goal of the year past the glove of Texas goaltender Frederick Leisner with only 4:55 left in the game. Corpus Christi had two big opportunities in the final minutes of the game with an extra skater on the ice, Jarosz and Eric Purcell broke in on a two-on-one rush but could not convert. Then with under a minute to go, a pile in front of the net had the puck sitting right on the goal line, however, Corpus Christi could not get the puck to cross over the line. With this loss, and an Odessa win, the IceRays were eliminated from playoff contention.
GAME #2 – 03-31-12: Corpus Christi 1-6 Texas – In the final game of the year for Corpus Christi it was the Tornado who struck first. Taylor Herndon skated the puck down the right wing wall and centered a pass that banked into the net off of Anthony Stolarz. The fluke goal gave Texas a 1-0 lead 10:06 into the game. Just 48 seconds into the second period, Eric Purcell rifled a shot from the right wing circle and beat Frederick Leisner on the short side to tie the game at one goal a side. That would be all the scoring by the IceRays as Texas put in the next five goals, including four of those, in the second period starting with Jackson Leef’s 8th goal of the year. Leef struck again in the second period after a Marc Biggs and Ondrej Kopta goal to give Texas a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes. In the final period, Jordan Lovick completed the scoring at the 12:12 mark to increase the lead to 6-1.
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS:
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4TH @ 6PM
– IceRays Year End Banquet – Season Ticket Holders & Corporate
Sponsors ONLY!
AROUND THE SOUTH DIVISION:
|
Team |
HOME |
AWAY |
|||||||||
|
60 |
46 |
7 |
7 |
99 |
.825 |
263 |
136 |
1550 |
22-4-4 |
24-3-3 |
|
|
60 |
38 |
18 |
4 |
80 |
.667 |
197 |
152 |
1247 |
21-8-1 |
17-10-3 |
|
|
60 |
36 |
16 |
8 |
80 |
.667 |
215 |
159 |
1190 |
21-5-4 |
15-11-4 |
|
|
60 |
27 |
28 |
5 |
59 |
.492 |
153 |
176 |
1036 |
16-13-1 |
11-15-4 |
|
|
60 |
26 |
29 |
5 |
57 |
.475 |
169 |
199 |
1170 |
17-10-3 |
9-19-2 |
|
|
60 |
20 |
35 |
5 |
45 |
.375 |
149 |
204 |
1134 |
14-14-2 |
6-21-3 |
|
|
60 |
18 |
39 |
3 |
39 |
.325 |
166 |
269 |
947 |
11-17-2 |
7-22-1 |
FINAL CORPUS CHRISTI’S RECORDS AGAINST THE SOUTH:
AMARILLO: 2-6-0
NEW MEXICO: 7-2-1
TEXAS: 6-5-1
TOPEKA: 0-4-0
WICHITA FALLS: 5-6-1
ODESSA: 4-5-1
ICERAYS LEADERS:
GOALS: Eric Purcell – 22
ASSISTS: Beau Walker – 33
POINTS: Beau Walker – 45
PLUS/MINUS: Greg Chapman – +2
PENALTY MINUTES: Michael Dery – 91min
SHOTS: Beau Walker – 181
WINS: Anthony Stolarz – 23
GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE: Anthony Stolarz, 2.84
SAVE PERCENTAGE: Anthony Stolarz, .920
JUST MISSED…The Corpus Christi IceRays missed out on the 2012 NAHL Playoffs by just two points. It came down to the final weekend of the regular season but the IceRays fell out of the playoffs by just two points.
BEAU COMMITS…Beau Walker has committed to play college hockey next year at (D1) Sacred Heart University in the AHA.
COMMITMENTS
2011-2012
– Anthony Stolarz – University of Nebraska-Omaha
– Frank Misuraca – University of Alabama-Huntsville
– Beau Walker – Sacred Heart University
– Matthew Weis – Ohio State University
– Brandon Adams – Holy Cross
– Pheonix Copley – Michigan Tech
– Mychal Monteith – Mercyhurst College
– Colton Saucerman – Northeastern University
ALUMNI REPORT
NCAA D-III…
– Luc Neitenbach (Worcester State) – Luc had (1g, 1a) in 20 games as a
Freshman.
– Kevin Crowe (Wentworth College) – Kevin finished 5th on the team in
points for Wentworth with (12g, 11a).
– Derrek Shartz (Tufts University) – As a freshman, Derrek had (3g, 2a)
in 25 games.
NCAA D-I…
– Michael Benedict (Niagara University) – Michael has (2g, 4a) in 37
games for the Purple Eagles.
USHL…
– Matthew Weis (Green Bay) – in 29 games, Weis has (6g, 8a) for the
Gamblers.
– Colton Saucerman (Lincoln) – Saucerman has recorded (3g, 11a) for
Lincoln in 24 games.
– Pheonix Copley (Des-Moines) – After being traded to Des-Moines,
Copley has a GAA of 2.87 and save percentage of .914.
WHAT’S ON TAP… The regular season has come to a close for the IceRays. Next season, fans can listen to all the action with the voice of the IceRays, Rob Lippolis, beginning 15 minutes prior to the games on the Rays flagship station, ESPN Radio 1440AM. The game is available for free online at www.espncorpus.comor on the league’s pay-per-view website, www.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.
“THE NEW ICERAYS…TOMORROW’S STARS”
