Corpus Christi, Texas – Battling has become the norm for the Corpus Christi IceRays.
Friday’s game on the road against the Amarillo Wranglers was a prime example.
The IceRays lost a 2-0 lead but battled from behind to force overtime before eventually falling 5-4 to the Wranglers in a shootout in Amarillo.
Nils Forselius, while Billy Biedermann, Anthony Cafarelli and Wolfgang Govedaris each scored a goal in regulation for Corpus Christi (2-4-1SOL).
Topi Puikkonen Ben Ivey, Jack Ivey and Jack McDonald each netted goals for Amarillo (4-1).
“Obviously we’ll take the point on the road in their home opener, but we’ve got to stop giving up two-goal leads,” IceRays head coach Sylvain Cloutier said. “It’s nice that we can fight back but we’ve got to learn to put our foot on the pedal here and finish it.”
Forselius netted the goal in the shootout for the IceRays, while Puikkonen and Connor McNaughton got the goals for the Wranglers.
“Hockey’s a game of momentum so when we’re up, we’ve got to keep going and staying up and keep the energy high,” IceRays defenseman Connor Brust said. “When it gets down, we’ve gotta ride the storm and figure out ways to turn it around.”
Biedermann gave Corpus Christi a 1-0 lead in the first period with his second goal of the season.
Cafarelli, the IceRays captain, notched his fourth goal of the season and the IceRays led 2-0 after one period.
Trailing in the third period, the IceRays got goals from Forselius and Govedaris to send the game to overtime.
“At the end of the day, it’s still early and we’re learning,” Cloutier said. “The positive is that we came back in the third and we got a point.”
Brust added on the comeback.
“It’s just playing hard and playing physical I think,” Brust said. “When that happens you just have to keep working and eventually it will come. You could see that in our game-tying goal, it was just hard work with Wolfgang going down and getting it on net.”
The two teams go at it again tonight (Saturday) at 7:15 p.m. CT.
“The shootout can go 50-50 and they had their luck on their side in the shootout and now we regroup and get ready for tomorrow,” Cloutier said.
You can watch the game on NAHLTV.com and catch it on Brewster Street Radio.
