Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Injuries could make IceRays' hole even deeper

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Friday, October 15, 1999

Injuries could make IceRays' hole even deeper

By Mark Button
Caller-Times

Robertson Bumstead

It was bad enough that the Corpus Christi IceRays lost their home opener by an embarrassing six goals. Now the second-year hockey team may have to try and find the win column today without three key players.
   Questionable for tonight's 7:05 p.m. game with Arkansas (0-0) are veterans Chris Robertson and Greg MacEachern, both of whom sustained knee injuries in the IceRays' 8-2 loss to Austin Wednesday night.
   Veteran forward Geoff Bumstead's availability also remains as a question mark for Corpus Christi. Bumstead received a match penalty in Wednesday's game for kneeing Austin's Ryan Pisiak in the head three times after a fight. The Western Professional Hockey League automatically reviews the tape of any match penalty, and league officials said Thursday that a ruling on a Bumstead suspension would be made early today.
   Robertson, last season's WPHL Most Valuable Player, underwent an MRI on his right knee Thursday afternoon. Results of the tests are to be made available today.
   MacEachern's availability will be a game-time decision.
   Forwards Brent Hoiness and Jade Kersey are still practicing with Corpus Christi despite being released after training camp. Either or both could be signed to short contracts if IceRays coach Taylor Hall decides he needs healthy players.
   "I don't know what we're going to do yet," Hall said. "Everything depends on the severity of the injuries."
   Regardless of who plays today, Hall's team has plenty to worry about after the debacle that was opening night. Austin forwards found wide open spaces in the slot early and often Wednesday, giving the Ice Bats several point-blank shots at rookie goalie Jason Genik. Six of those shots found the back of net in the first period Wednesday to put the game out of reach by the initial intermission.
   At Thursday's two-hour practice, Hall took his team back to the basics of hockey.
   All the way back.
   He had players team skate for the first hour without any pucks.
   Hall ran drills that had players skating around all four circles, laps around both nets, up and down the rink and back-and-forth between the painted lines.
   "Shifts are supposed to last 30 seconds," he said. "I wanted them to see how it felt to skate for two minutes and then what it's like to go hard for 30 seconds. We had guys out there (Wednesday) who didn't even know how long their shifts were."
   Towards the end of the practice, Hall made the team split up into pairs and play "keep away" from each other with the puck.
   "I went over as much as I could, step by step," Hall said. "A lot of these guys are playing their first pro season, so there is going to be some teaching to be done. Patience is what you need at this point. What we need to do is keep things simple and take care of the defensive end and the goals will follow."



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

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