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Wednesday, February 7, 2001

Corpus Christi hockey nabs double win
Revenge is sweet as IceRays rally to drop El Paso in a 3-1 victory
By Javier Becerra
Caller-Times
As a coach, Taylor Hall said, you eventually forget about some games.
   Others you don't - such as Corpus Christi's nine-goal loss to El Paso on Jan. 5.
   "I won't be forgetting about that one any time soon," Hall said of the defeat, the worst in the IceRays' brief three-year history.
   Tuesday night's rematch between Corpus Christi and El Paso won't be haunting Hall and the IceRays, who rallied for a 3-1 win over the Buzzards at Memorial Coliseum.
   Corpus Christi trailed, 1-0, entering the third period, but Geoff Bumstead ignited a scoring frenzy with his first of two goals 10 seconds into the period.
   Bumstead then gave the IceRays the lead for good at 8:51 with his 16th goal of the season. Layne Roland sealed the win with a goal with three minutes left to play.
   "When our guys want it, they can really turn it up. This time, our guys took it to the next level," Hall said.
   The IceRays improved to 26-20-3 (55 points) and moved into a tie with idle Monroe for fourth place in the Western Professional Hockey League Eastern Division.
   With Corpus Christi netminder Eddy Skazyk stopping 27 of 28 shots, El Paso fell to 20-20-6 (46 points) in the Eastern Division.
   Corpus Christi hosts Fort Worth Friday before leaving for a six-game, 10-day road trip. Bumstead said a win against the Brahmas would be crucial in remaining in position for a playoff spot.
   "We need to get any points we can get, especially at home," Bumstead said. "Of course we have the advantage in our own building, but playing strong on the road is just as important."
   Neither team had much luck offensively in the first and second periods. The IceRays out shot El Paso, 28-18, through the first 40 minutes, but it was the Buzzards who struck first.
   El Paso finally broke open the scoring in the second period. The Buzzards took a 1-0 lead at the 9:30 mark on a goal by former IceRay Dave Shute.
   The first-period play physical, as both teams used hard checks to subdue any offensive surges.
   Midway through the first, Corpus Christi had worked the puck into the El Paso crease. Buzzards' goaltender Jeff Levy couldn't get a handle on the puck, which was being poked at by several players.
   Corpus Christi's Brad Wingfield made several attempts to flip the puck past Levy amid the crowd of players in front of the net. When play was stopped, Wingfield and Levy lunged at each other and it took linesmen Jaime Wing and Kevin Mighton several minutes to separate the two.
   Wingfield served two minutes for slashing and four minutes for roughing. Levy, who had dropped his arm pad and glove, was charged with cross checking and a roughing double minor. El Paso's Francois Bourdeau was sent to the penalty box for roughing for his involvement in the scuffle.

   ICERAYS 3, BUZZARDS 1
   El Paso 0 1 0-1
   Corpus Christi 0 0 3-3
   First Period - None. Penalties - Tidsbury, EP (roughing) 7:47; Cheeseman, CC (roughing) 7:47; Levy, EP (cross checking, roughing double minor) 11:44; Bourdeau, EP (roughing) 11:44; Wingfield, CC (slashing, roughing double minor) 11:44; Pool, CC (slashing) 15:24; Dumoulin, CC (slashing) 17:00.
   Second Period - 1, EP, Shute 26 (Dudley, Burgess) 9:30. Penalties-Van Parys, EP (tripping) 3:02; Van Parys, EP (high sticking) 14:10; Bourdeau, EP (high sticking from behind, game misconduct) 14:30; Roland, CC (holding) 14:47; Cheeseman, CC (elbowing) 16:56; Paluseo, CC (high sticking) 17:33.
   Third Period - 2, CC, Bumstead 15 (Wingfield, Dumoulin) :10; 3, CC, Bumstead 16 (Wingfield, Evans) 8:51; 4, CC, Roland 12 (Praznik, Hearn) 17:43. Penalties - Scott, EP (game misconduct) 17:43.
   Shots on goal -El Paso 7-11-10-28; Corpus Christi 17-11-15-43. Power-play opportunities - El Paso 0 of 3; Corpus Christi 0 of 4. Goalies - El Paso, Levy 17-11-12 (43 shots-40 saves); Corpus Christi, Skazyk 7-10-10 (28-27). Referee - Guy Pellerin. Linesmen - Jaime Wing, Kevin Mighton. A - 3,552.




Staff writer Javier Becerra can be reached at 886-3734 or by e-mail at becerraj@caller.com

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