Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - IceRays take out T-Rex, 3-2

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Saturday, January 13, 2001

IceRays take out T-Rex, 3-2
High-scoring Tupelo slowed at Coliseum
By Javier Becerra
Caller-Times
With as potent an offense as Tupelo has had this season, the question hasn't been whether if the T-Rex will score, but rather how many times.
   Friday night's effort against Corpus Christi wasn't enough as the IceRays notched a 3-2 over the Western Professional Hockey League's No. 1 scoring team at Memorial Coliseum.
   Tupelo, which leads the WPHL with 169 goals and boasts the league's top two scorers in Jason Firth (77 points) and Brant Blackned (61 points), was tied with Austin for first place in the league's Eastern Division standings entering the game. The win continued Corpus Christi's climb up the WPHL Eastern Division standings, improving to 21-18-2 (44 points). The T-Rex fell to 25-15-3 (53 points).
   Both of Corpus Christi's two goals in the second period were shorthanded and came within 56 seconds of each other during the same power play. The first by defenseman Ray Bourque gave the IceRays a 2-0 lead. Layne Roland followed with his fifth goal of the season, which proved to be the game winner.
   "(Alex) Kholomeyev made a nice play (on the pass)," said Roland, who has nine goals and four assists (nine points) in 11 games with the IceRays. "He drew two guys out and the goalie followed me. I played (the puck) off my toe and had an open net."
   Corpus Christi has won five of its last six games and three of four against Tupelp this season. The IceRays travel to Austin today to battle the IceBats at 7:30 p.m. at the Travis County Exposition Center.
   Austin has dominated Corpus Christi this season, winning five of the six meetings, including two 8-1 victories. Roland said the team's three-game winning streak, the last two against two of the league's top teams, should provide some momentum.
   "Now we're on a little bit of a role after the (10-1) loss in El Paso. We've turned things around here against Odessa and Tupelo," said Roland, who had two assists in a 6-2 win over the Jackalopes last Wednesday. "(A win over Austin) would be unbelievable. We're not going to let down our guns and say we can't do this. We're going to go in there with a lot of jump and try to get the win."
   Dave Szabo brought Tupelo to within one goal, 3-2, midway through the final period, but Corpus Christi goaltender Eddy Skazyk held strong in front of the net. Skazyk finished with 29 saves on 31 shots, just two coming from Firth.
   "Eddy was just huge tonight, especially tonight when they started turning it on in the third period," Corpus Christi coach Taylor Hall said.
   Corpus Christi's Cory Evans and Tupelo's Dave Ambler drew the game's first penalties when they collided against the boards near the left circle in the T-Rex zone. Evans was penalized two minutes for roughing and five minutes for fighting, while Ambler drew an elbowing minor and the same fighting major.
   The game was even through the first five minutes in shots on goal (four each) and penalty minutes until an interference call on Shawn Frappier gave Tupelo a man advantage at the 5:26 mark.
   Tupelo didn't spend much time in the Corpus Christi zone and managed just one shot that sailed wide to the right of the goal. Twice the shorthanded IceRays pushed the puck up the ice for two shots on Dunn, who stopped both with his glove.
   Two minutes later, the IceRays were back in front of the Tupelp net, crowding Dunn as players from both teams battled for control of the puck in the crease. After touches by Corpus Christi's Bourque and Geoff Bumstead, Dustin McArthur was finally able to slide the puck past Dunn to give the IceRays a 1-0 lead.
   With 6:22 left in the opening period, Corpus Christi cleared the puck out of its zone with a long pass down ice. Just as Tupelo defenseman Allen Roulette chased the puck down, he was knocked hard into the boards by Jeff Cheeseman.
   Roulette crumpled to the ice after the hit and remained down as the other nine players skated down the ice on the delayed call. The 6-foot, 185-pound Roulette skated off after trainers examined his left leg. Cheeseman was sent to the penalty box two minutes for boarding.
   During the power play, Tupelo's Brant Blackned blasted a shot from the right cirle through the Corpus Christi defense, but Skazyk made a glove save and ended up on his back sprawled across the crease.
   Eleven seconds remained on the power play when Shawn Frappier was called for obstruction tripping, giving the T-Rex a man advantage for another two minutes. The IceRays were able to effectively contain Tupelo's power play unit and did not allow a shot on goal.
   The aggressive play of the first period was non-existant in the second until Tupelo's Jason Dexter was called for highsticking against Cheeseman. However, Corpus Christi didn't find many scoring opportunities against Dunn.
   At the 5:12 mark of the second, Jeff Paluseo called for hooking. But the IceRays' offense was even more productive while one man short on the ice.
   Only 17 seconds of penalty time had expired when Corpus Christi scored the first of two shorthanded goals during the power play.
   An initial shot by Cheeseman was deflected by Dunn, who fallen out of the crease to his left while diving for the puck, which had bouced off to the right. Bourque was trailing the play with Cheeseman and found the net open for his first goal with the IceRays, who extended their lead to 2-0.
   Fifty-six seconds later and still a man down, Roland gave Corpus Christi a 3-0 lead off a pass across the slot from Alex Kholomeyev at 6:23 in the second period.
   Skazyk nearly held Tupelo scoreless through the second, but Mike Van Volsen cut into Corpus Christi's lead with a goal with less than three minutes left before the second intermission.
   Staff writer Javier Becerra can be reached at 886-3734 or by e-mail at becerraj@caller.com

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