BACK AT HOME
After a week on the road, the IceRays come home to American Bank Center to face off against the Amarillo Wranglers this Thursday and Friday. This is the second series against these two teams this season with Amarillo sweeping the first in November.
PROMOTIONS
On Thursday night, it’s the first Thirsty Thursday of the season. This means that select beers and sodas will be $3 at the game. Thursday night also includes a holiday ticket pricing special with $7 tickets.
Friday night is the team’s annual Teddy Bear toss where we invite fans to throw stuffed animals onto the ice following the first IceRays goal of the evening. The Teddy Bears thrown will benefit local charities. Friday is also Ugly Christmas Sweater night with the team wearing a special jersey to be auctioned off following the game. As always, it will also be Frosty Friday presented by L&F Distributing meaning $4 16 oz draft beers.
LAST TIME OUT
The IceRays traveled to Wichita Falls to face off against the Warriors. On Friday, the IceRays won in a shootout by a score of 5-4. The same score on Saturday led the IceRays to their fourth straight victory in overtime.
MATCHUP HISTORY
The IceRays will face off against the second place Wranglers this weekend. In mid-November, the two teams faced off at the Budweiser Bull Pen in Amarillo. The Wranglers shutout the IceRays 3-0 in game one, and pulled a 4-2 victory out in game two.
AMARILLO BREAKDOWN
The Wranglers come into this weekend’s games in second place in the south division. This is after going into last weekend with a three point lead in the division. Shreveport did not allow the Wranglers to score a goal last weekend, which allowed New Mexico to slide up into first place in the division. The Wranglers still have a game in hand on the Ice Wolves and two in hand over most the rest of the division.
ABC ADVANTAGE
The IceRays look to return to their NAHL leading crowd to root them onto victory this weekend. Corpus Christi is 7-4-0 at home this season, and 6-1 with Damon Beaver in net. Beaver also has a 1.85 GAA and a .946 save percentage at ABC this season.
BIG WEEKEND FOR ROURKE
Going into last weekend’s games in Wichita Falls, no IceRay player had recorded a hat trick on the season. Rourke changed that with a three goal performance in the overtime victory on Saturday night. The defenseman also found the back of the net while recording an assist on Friday as well.
KUZY’S HOT STREAK
After a bit of a slow start in Corpus Christi, Kuznetsov has really started to find his footing for the IceRays. He has averaged over a point per game over his last six games played, which includes a spectacular last three games for the forward. In the last three games, Kuznetsov has recorded four goals and five total points. Those four goals include two game winners and two power play goals.
DAZZLING DEBUT FOR WILDE
The IceRays acquired Dhillon Wilde last week as he joined the team for the first time in Wichita Falls. In his first game for the Rays, he scored six minutes in to give the Rays the lead. It is the first IceRays debut goal since Danny Nekhamiyev did the same on October 10th against Odessa. Wilde added an assist in the game on Friday as well.
WANDMACHER’S BREAK OUT NOVEMBER
IceRays forward Jack Wandmacher entered the month of November with only three points to his name. All three of those points came in the last two weeks of October. In November, the Minnesotan broke out leading the team in points to propel him to now ten on the season. He is one of seven IceRays in double digit points this season.
FOLLOW THE ICERAYS THIS WEEKEND
IceRays fans can watch this weekend’s games against the Rhinos on HockeyTV or listen to the games on Brewster Street Radio. Drew Steele will provide play-by-play coverage of the games. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 both Thursday and Friday.