Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Hall axes seven to bring Rays roster to 23 players

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Thursday, October 7, 1999

Hall axes seven to bring Rays roster to 23 players
Rookie Bernes displeased with preseason playing time
By Mark Button
Caller-Times

John Kennedy/Caller-Times

Kevin Holliday (32), here being checked by Joe Middlestadt of the Lake Charles Ice Pirates, survived the IceRays' cut day to make coach Taylor Hall's roster.

Wednesday was "D-Day" for Corpus Christi IceRays coach Taylor Hall.
   With 28 players invited to training camp, and with forward Tobin Praznik and reigning Western Professional Hockey League Most Valuable Player Chris Robertson on the way in, Hall had to trim his roster to a "workable number," he said.
   That number became 23 as Hall released defensemen Dustin Bernes, Brent Currie and Corey Fletcher, goalies Eli Wilson and Varian Kirst and forwards Jason Pellerin and Geordan Clark.
   "I'm pretty disappointed," said Bernes, participating in his first camp as a professional. "I really don't think I had a fair shot at making the team."
   Bernes played in Game 2 of the Caller-Times Best of the Best exhibition series against Lake Charles. He played just seven shifts in the game, he said.
   A typical night for a defenseman consists of between 30-50 shifts, Bernes said.
   "I was told we were going to rotate seven defensemen Tuesday night, which means you sit out every third shift, and shifts last 30 seconds," Bernes said. "I wound up sitting there for 10 minutes without a shift.
   "If you only get seven shifts, it's hard to prove what you can do."
   Hall said he knew he couldn't please everyone, but that the exhibition games were not the only venue in which evaluation took place.
   "Some guys got a lot of shifts, some guys played in both games, some played in none," Hall said. "But I also watched guys during the week (in practice and scrimmages), all week long."
   Hall said he was pleased with everyone in camp, but that he needed to begin the process of shaping his final roster. He has said he wants to keep about 18 players.
   "Now I have some really tough decisions, decisions that will make some fans say, 'Geez, why is he getting rid of this guy?' " Hall said. "But I think they'll see the results once we get the whole team together."
   IceCubes
   A REVENGE, PART I: IceRays forward Brad Wingfield has begun wreaking his revenge upon Lake Charles' Joe Middlestadt, the tough defenseman who cross-checked Wingfield into the metal-piped frame of the goal during a late-season game last year. Wingfield fractured his right tibia and shattered his right fibula on the play, ending his season. Though Wingfield knows Middlestadt did not intend to injure his leg, he has not forgotten the pain.
   The two dropped gloves midway through the third period in Tuesday night's exhibition game - won by Corpus Christi, 5-3 - and Wingfield opened a deep cut over Middlestadt's left eye with a strong right fist.
   "There was so much blood I had to put hydrogen peroxide on my jersey because they didn't want it to stain," Wingfield said.
   Middlestadt was helped off the ice and received six to eight stitches.
   If Wingfield has his way, the war is far from over.
   "This was just the start," he said. "I'll do the same thing every time we play."



Staff writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com

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