HIDALGO, TX – The Corpus Christi IceRays failed to score on Saturday night as the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees picked up two goals in the second period and three goals in the third en route to a 5-0 decisive win over the ‘Rays inside State Farm Arena.
After no scoring in the first period it didn’t take long for a goal in the second to be scored. Early on, RJ Burns moved quickly down the right wing side of the ice after receiving a pass from Sean Mostrom. Burns worked the puck to the front of the net and beat goaltender Forbes Ploszaj on his right side just 37 seconds into the stanza for the first goal of the game on either side and a 1-0 Killer Bee’s lead. The lone assist wen to Mostrom who had the pass to Burns.
After scoring his first NAHL goal last night, Brenden Dunning added to the total at 15:05 of the second period after a shot by Sean Mostrom it was Dunning who was waiting in the low slot. Ploszaj made the original save however the rebound went right to an awaiting Dunning who buried his second goal in as many games for a 2-0 Rio Grande Valley lead.
The Bees put three goals in during the final period of play and it started early on when Marcus Ericsson fired a shot from the left point that got deflected by Jared Dedenbach and over the right shoulder of Forbes Ploszaj for a 3-0 Rio Grande Valley lead just 1:28 into the final period of regulation.
An odd man rush gave the Killer Bees a four goal lead when three forwards for Corpus Christi got stuck in the offensive zone on a turnover that created a four on two rush back the other way. Kevin Antipov took the pass and one-touched it over to Dan Kucerovy who fired home his second goal in as many games for a 4-0 lead at 13:27 of the third frame. Antipov and Matt McArdle picked up the assists.
Under a minute later the lead increased to five goals as Anthony Croston went down the right wall and wristed a shot by Forbes Ploszaj to make it 5-0 with 5:43 left to go in the game. Evan Schmidbauer and Jared Dedenbach notched the assists.
Forbes Ploszaj stopped 24 of 30 shots in the loss.
The IceRays return home next Saturday night and Sunday afternoon as they host the defending National Champion Amarillo Bulls. Puck drops at 7:05PM, coverage begins at 6:50PM with the IceRays Pregame Show on sportsjuice.com, ustream.com, and fasthockey.com. Click LISTEN LIVE on the IceRays website for more information!
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)
