Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - IceRays roll in exhibition opener, 10-4

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Thursday, October 5, 2000

IceRays roll in exhibition opener, 10-4

By Matt Young
Caller-Times
Apparently, three days of practice are more than enough.
   Just three days after beginning preseason drills, the Corpus Christi IceRays played their first exhibition game like the result meant something.
   The IceRays smoked the Wichita Thunder, a Central Hockey League team, 10-4 Wednesday at Memorial Coliseum. The two teams meet up again at 7:05 p.m. Friday at the coliseum.
   The IceRays' Dallas Anderson showed he belongs in professional hockey in his pro debut. The 21-year-old rookie registered a hat trick, scoring three goals before the game was even two periods old. The 6-foot-7 Anderson also showed his physical side when he got in two fights later in the game.
   "I don't expect to get hat tricks too often," Anderson said. "I just wanted to get out there get in some hits, maybe get in a couple of fights, and I did that so I was happy. Somehow, I lucked into three goals, I guess."
   Last year's team MVP, Kurt Wickenheiser, added two goals and two assists for the IceRays. IceRays defenseman Jamie Hearn also had two goals.
   The game looked like anything but an exhibition for the IceRays in the first period, as they poured in five goals in the opening 20 minutes.
   Hearn got things started early with a goal on a wrister off a pass from Bill Monkman at the 18:30 mark in the first period. Two minutes later, Anderson took a face-off and went the length of the ice, beating Thunder goalie Dale Masson one-on-one to give the IceRays a 2-0 lead just four minutes into the game.
   Anderson came back with his second goal five minutes later when he found Quinten Van Horlick's ricocheted shot and deposited in the net for a 3-0 lead.
   After a Steve Brown goal, Hearn scored again ending a dominant period for the IceRays.
   "I thought we played very well," IceRays coach Taylor Hall said. "You don't want to get carried away, because it's just one game, but we looked real good. It's an exhibition, so we got to see a lot of kids play, and we liked what we saw."
   Eddie Skazyk held up his end of the bargain in the first period as well, stopping all nine shots he faced in the first period. Before being pulled midway through the second period, Skazyk stopped 15 of Wichita's 17 shots. Mike Szkodzinski, who replaced Skazyk, stopped 10 of 12 shots.
   With the IceRays holding a commanding lead almost from the start, the game turned physical quickly. There were 11 fights in the contest with several more confrontations that were stopped before the players threw any punches.
   According to the Western Professional Hockey League's preseason rules, a player is ejected if he gets into more than one fight in a game. IceRays' Dustin McArthur, Cory Evans and Matt Van Horlick were all ejected in the second period. Anderson and Wichita's Troy Yarosh got the boot in the third period.
   "That's typical of an exhibition, because all these kids never know how long they'll get to be here, so they want to do something to get noticed," Hall said. "I'm proud of our guys' character. Wichita has a lot of really big guys, and our guys stood in there toe to toe with them."


Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-3702 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com

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