Cover Photo: Cody Wooten
WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS – The Corpus Christi IceRays (1-1-0-0) couldn’t keep up in the midway game of the weekend series, dropping 6-1 at the hands of the Wichita Falls Wildcats (1-0-2-0) on Friday night at the Kay Yeager Coliseum.
The Wildcats wasted little time getting ahead starting at 3:51 when forward Ilya Skvortsov pushed in a multi-attempt play that netted him the game’s first goal and a 1-0 lead. An IceRays turnover in the offensive zone while on the power play led directly to Wildcats forward Ryan Burnett scoring on a breakaway with a wrist shot from the right circle at 4:57 to double the lead, 2-0. Scoring subsided for a while until Wildcats forward Ricky Carballo was fed with a cross-ice pass for a semi-breakaway that he capitalized on at 12:34 to triple the lead, 3-0. On a near identical play at 19:33, Burnett added his second of the night for the Wildcats to take a commanding 4-0 lead into the first intermission.
In the second period, the Wildcats tacked on another. Just 1:51 into the frame, forward Aleksi Poikola re-directed a shot coming from the left point to sneak by the netminder and increase the home side’s lead to 5-0. They would add another in the third period to own a 6-0 lead when forward Isaac Kobienia worked with linemate C.J. Regula to be set up to notch another Wildcats tally. IceRays forward Andy McGlynn broke the shutout with a neutral zone takeaway and a wrist shot from the left circle at 12:08 to muzzle the shutout and move the score to its final resting place, 6-1.
Wildcats netminder Evan Moyse (1-0-2) earned his first win of the season, halting 20 of 21 shots, while IceRays netminder Tomáš Vomáčka (1-1-0) picked up the loss, saving 25 of 31 shots. The IceRays finish up their three-in-three series against the Wildcats on Saturday, Sep. 17 at 7:05 p.m. from the Kay Yeager Coliseum. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. exclusively on FASTHockey.com.
The IceRays open the 2016-17 home schedule on Friday, Oct. 14 against the Odessa Jackalopes at the American Bank Center. Purchase your 2016-17 season ticket membership ahead of opening night! Reserve yours by contacting the IceRays Front Office at 361-814-PUCK. In addition, stay connected with the IceRays on Facebook (/CorpusChristiIceRays), Twitter (@goicerays), YouTube (IceRays TV), Instagram (CorpusChristiIceRays), Vine (@goicerays), and Periscope (@goicerays).