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Friday, April 6, 2001
IceRays haven’t given up quite yet
Team has positive outlook going into series on the road
By Javier Becerra
Caller-Times
TUPELO, Miss. - Kurt Wickenheiser has a message for the Tupelo T-Rex.
"If they think they've got this thing won, they better start thinking differently," the forward said of Corpus Christi's best-of-7 playoff series against Tupelo. "This thing isn't over until somebody wins four."
After playing the first three games in Corpus Christi, the T-Rex lead the Western Professional Hockey League Eastern Division series, 2-1. The teams will meet for Game 4 tonight at 7:07 at the BancorpSouth Center. Game 5 is scheduled for Saturday night, with Games 6 and 7 set for Sunday and Tuesday, if needed.
Corpus Christi, which had posted three wins over Tupelo in five regular-season meetings, took a 1-0 series advantage with a 7-3 victory in Game 1. A combination of both offensive and defensive letdowns by the IceRays led to 7-1 and 4-3 losses, and allowed the T-Rex to take command of the series.
"The mood (after last Sunday's loss), well, we were definitely down," Wickenheiser said. "(Thursday) we had a good practice and you could tell there was a total mood change. The guys are happy to be back on the road and we're all feeling positive."
Wickenheiser, who has one goal and two assists in the series, missed last Sunday's game after being suspended by the league for a high sticking penalty in Game 2.
Now the IceRays must do without forward Brad Wingfield, who last Tuesday was suspended for three games after pushing an official in Sunday's 4-3 loss.
While losing Wingfield does leave the IceRays without one of their most physical players, Wickenheiser said the team must not dwell on the negatives.
``One player doesn’t make a team,'' Wickenheiser said of Wingfield, who scored a goal in Game 1. ``It’s a little hindrance, but we’ve got other guys who can do the job. We’re definitely going to miss Brad, but that’s the way it is. We just have to suck it up.''
Layne Roland agreed.
``Not having Brad takes a little bit of our toughness away,'' said Roland, who has one goal and three assists in the playoffs for the IceRays. ``Brad threw some big hits. I’m sure they’ll like that’s he’s out. We’ll have other guys on them, guys that have been waiting for the chance to show what they can do.''
The IceRays certainly know what Tupelo is capable of.
Though Corpus Christi has outshot Tupelo, 112-71, the T-Rex have connected on 20 percent of their attempts, led by Jason Firth’s 3-for-6 shooting. With five assists, the forward remains the league’s No. 1 scorer in the postseason with eight points.
Containing Firth and the rest of Tupelo’s offense will continue to be a challenge.
``They have so much power,'' Wickenheiser said. ``We know who we have to key on, but we haven’t done a good job of doing that. We have to make sure we watch Firth and (Brant) Blackned and be aware of where they are.''
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© 2001,
a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.
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