Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Unlike last year, IceRays will get it right

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Tuesday, March 28, 2000

Unlike last year, IceRays will get it right
CC will escape first round, despite trouble
By Mark Button
Caller-Times
This year, the IceRays don't have a first-round bye to use as an excuse.
   Doesn't matter. They won't need excuses this time.
   Tonight, Corpus Christi's hockey team begins its second attempt at winning its first playoff series. For coach Taylor Hall, it's the third try at winning a postseason series. His career playoff record is 3-6, but this is the year for both the IceRays and Hall to advance.
   But it won't happen like most fans expect.
   Last year, after earning a first-round bye with the Western Professional Hockey League's fourth-best record, the IceRays gave up quick goals to Lake Charles in Game 1 of the best-of-five games series and lost, 4-3, in overtime.
   Corpus Christi never fully recovered and was bounced from the postseason by the Ice Pirates, three games to one.
   Unpleasant memories
   When the team got back from Lake Charles and cleaned out its locker room, many spoke of the rust that had formed during the week off that accompanied the first-round bye. Hall and players such as Geoff Bumstead (who should have won this season's MVP award) and Chris Robertson (who now plays for the hated Ice Pirates) said the team was sluggish in the early going of Game 1 and that was the difference in the series.
   "If we would have come out sharp from the get-go in Game 1," Bumstead said a year ago, "we would have won the series, no problem."
   Melting down
   Having played 16 games in the last 26 days, there is no sign of rust this year. The IceRays did, however, appear to melt down in the two-game series against Austin last week when forward Quinten Van Horlick - who isn't on the playoff roster - ran Austin goalie Bryan McMullen late in the second period.
   Whether the act was premeditated or not, the scene looked awfully similar to Game 3 of Corpus Christi's playoff series against Lake Charles.
   That night, there was a line brawl in the second and third periods. Former IceRays forward Tyler Boucher was tagged with a 15-game suspension for butt-ending a Lake Charles player in the forehead. Defenseman Bob Quinnell missed two games for throwing the stick of an Ice Pirates player into the stands.
   Five power-play goals later, Corpus Christi lost, 9-0.
   What Van Horlick did was not as bad as the Game 3 debacle last year, but it shows that the team is still prone to falling apart when its back is against the boards. This time, though, the IceRays got their tendency to crumble out of their system.
   Hall won't let it happen again. At least not in this series.
   The Crystal Ball
   El Paso will put Corpus Christi in that all-too-familiar "desperate" situation with a one-goal victory tonight. But veterans Bumstead, Kurt Wickenheiser and Darryl Olsen along with the Praznik brothers, Jody and Tobin, will not allow the team to crumble in Game 2.
   With set ups from Bumstead, Tobin Praznik records a hat trick in Game 2 and Wickenheiser scores the game-winner in Game 3 as the IceRays move on to the quarterfinals.
   Here are my predictions for the rest of the first round:
   Western Bracket
   A Odessa (6) vs. Lubbock (3)
   The Cotton Kings ruled the WPHL Western Division throughout the first half of the season.
   They struggled in the second half, though, posting 17 losses in 32 games, including four- and seven-game losing streaks in February (interesting that the losing began right after Lubbock traded forward Cory Johnson to Corpus Christi on Jan 22.) But coach Alan May's team turned it around in March, winning seven of eight games since March 10, including its last five straight.
   When Odessa played the IceRays, the Jackalopes always looked better than their record indicated.
   But Lubbock is not Corpus Christi.
   Odessa limped into the postseason having lost its last six games. Add two more losses to the streak, Lubbock sweeps, 2-0.
   Eastern Bracket
   A TUPELO (6) VS. LAKE CHARLES (3)
   Tupelo's second-half surge was the best story in the WPHL this year.
   After losing 27 of 39 games before the Jan. 14 all-star break, the T-Rex went 19-10-2 down the stretch.
   But it all ends here.
   After winning 11 straight, Tupelo lost five of its last six games. Further, the Ice Pirates sent a message to the T-Rex with a 10-2 thumping on March 19. Lake Charles forward Bill Lund, who killed Corpus Christi in the playoffs last year, has racked up 19 points in the last 10 games and he and defenseman Doug Johnson are +19s during the same stretch.
   Lake Charles wins in three, 2-1.
   A ARKANSAS (5) VS. MONROE (4)
   Neither team impressed me this season, and the series does not look to be sexy.
   Arkansas edged Monroe in the season series, 5-4-1, and both teams are 5-5 in their last 10 regular-season games. Look for three close games, with the home team prevailing each time. The Moccasins score a late goal in Game 3 to prevail in the end.
   Monroe wins in three, 2-1.



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

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