Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Lake Charles delivers another loss to CC

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Sunday, October 24, 1999

Lake Charles delivers another loss to CC
Regular season result the same as last year's postseason as Lake Charles wins, 8-6
By Mark Button
Caller-Times

John Kennedy/Caller-Times

Lake Charles' Tracey Katelnikoff (right) attempts to stuff home a shot Saturday as Corpus Christi's Ryan Esselmont (left) and Jason Genik defend.

Ghosts of nightmares past haunted Corpus Christi Saturday night as the Lake Charles Ice Pirates beat the IceRays again, 8-6, in a Western Professional Hockey League game at Memorial Coliseum.
   Just as the Ice Pirates did in three of the four playoff games against the IceRays last year, the scrappy team from Louisiana built an early lead and fought off repeated IceRays comebacks with timely goals to break the collective hearts of the Corpus Christi faithful.
   Ice Pirates forward Tracey Katelnikoff scored three times in the second period to help Lake Charles construct an insurmountable 7-4 lead and added a fourth goal to set a Lake Charles single-game scoring record.
   Corpus Christi (3-2) got a goal from rookie forward Jade Kersey - his first as a professional - in the third period, and another from Brad Wingfield, his second, to keep it close.
   Lake Charles victories over Corpus Christi have become a regular occurrence. Including the three-games-to-one season-ending playoff series won by Lake Charles, the Ice Pirates (2-2) hold a 7-1 record against Corpus Christi in regular season and postseason play.
   Lake Charles forward Bill Lund denounced the notion that his Ice Pirates have some magical hold over the IceRays.
   "No, I don't think we think about it that way," said Lund, who scored a goals and had an assist. "We just played well tonight. This little barn is a lot like our place, and we just play well on smaller ice surfaces."
   Saturday's loss snapped Corpus Christi's three-game winning streak. The IceRays host Waco today at 3:05 p.m.
   IceRays coach Taylor Hall kept his locker room closed for more than an hour after the game and was unavailable for comment.
   IceRays rookie Dave Gilmore scored his third and fourth goals of the year and Mike Tomlinson and Alain Savage each recorded a goal and an assist in the loss. Defenseman Jody Praznik improved his season assist total to eight, with three Saturday.
   From the start, it looked to be a long, frustrating night for Corpus Christi.
   Behind a power-play goal by Ryan Rintoul and an even-strength goal by Bill Lund, Lake Charles jumped to a 2-0 lead 6:56 into the game. The momentary silence inside Memorial Coliseum suggested the conjuring of memories from Lake Charles' 9-0 victory in Game 3 of the WPHL playoff quarterfinals.
   No matter, Gilmore and Tomlinson wanted no part in revisiting past IceRays' embarrassments. The two forwards scored back-to-back goals to tie the game, 2-2, with 6:06 remaining in the first period. Tomlinson's goal, his third, came on a power play, assisted by brothers Tobin and Jody Praznik. Gilmore's goal, a hammered one-timer feathered through the crease by Savage, was his third of the year as well. Genik recorded his first assist on the Gilmore goal by pushing the puck up ice to Savage.
   Late in the first period, Troy Kennedy put the pressure back on Corpus Christi with his second goal of the young season. He beat a sprawling Genik to give the Ice Pirates a 3-2 lead, which Lake Charles protected for the remainder of the period.
   Further memories of former Lake Charles beatings resurfaced early in the second period. Ice Pirates forward Justin Van Parys scored 2:12 into the period, followed by a Katelnikoff power-play goal to push the lead to 5-2 with 16:53 to play before the second intermission.
   Gilmore wasn't around last season, however, and he obviously wasn't interested in the two teams' history. The rookie forward's unassisted goal 6:24 into the second period kept the IceRays within striking distance at 5-3. Savage took Gilmore's lead and scored his third goal of the year to narrow the Lake Charles advantage to 5-4 with 11:46 to go in the second period.
   The Ice Pirates, in turn, were not interested in a one-goal game as Katelnikoff lit the lamp twice in less than four minutes to record Lake Charles' first hat trick of the season to give Lake Charles a commanding the 7-4 lead.
   Kersey notched his first pro goal 6:22 into the third period.


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

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