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Wednesday, Jan. 6, 1999
IceRays' road woes continue
Combined with Fort Worth's shootout defeat, loss drops CC into first-place tie
From staff and correspondent reports

   LITTLE ROCK -- Tuesday night's Western Professional Hockey League game turned into a statistical war for the IceRays after Arkansas scored first in the opening period.
   And the IceRays had trouble overcoming the effects of a telling statistic for Arkansas this season -- the GlacierCats' 9-0 home record when leading after the first period.
   Make that 10-0 after the GlacierCats skated to a 4-1 victory Tuesday against the IceRays at Barton Coliseum.
   Corpus Christi (19-14-4, 42 points), which is now tied with Fort Worth (19-16-4, 42 points) for the Central Division lead, continued its struggles on the road. The IceRays have posted just one victory in their last 11 road games and have one win in their last seven games overall.
   The IceRays -- who trailed 3-0 entering the period -- dominated the third period outshooting Arkansas 26-6 but scored just once against the GlacierCats' crafty goalie Brian Leitza.
   The IceRays posted 15 shots in the first 10 minutes of the period and had 49 shots on goal during the game against the busy Leitza but managed just a lone tally to cut the deficit to 3-1.
   That came on IceRays winger Geoff Bumstead's power play goal 5 minutes, 20 seconds into the final frame. Chris Robertson and Bob Quinnell assisted on Bumstead's 14th goal of the season.
   Arkansas right wing Brian Pellerin scored a late goal into an empty net to ice the victory.
   Arkansas (22-13-1, 45 points) broke a scoreless tie nearly 15 minutes into the first period when winger Darin Kimble patiently scored past IceRays goalie Scott Barber on a 2 on 1 opportunity.
   Arkansas later stuck for two goals in a 2 minute, 1 second span of the second period to boost its lead.
   The first goal came nearly five minutes into the second period, when an open Mike Lankshear retrieved his own missed shot and slipped the puck into the open net.
   Jason Rushton added his first goal of the season 2:01 later on the power play, to pad the GlacierCats' lead to 3-0.
   The IceRays will take to the ice again Thursday at 7:05 p.m. when they oppose Lake Charles at Memorial Coliseum.
   TUESDAY'S SUMMARY
   Corpus Christi, 0 0 1-1
   Arkansas, 1 2 1-4
   FIRST PERIOD -- 1. Arkansas, Darin Kimble (Brian Pellerin, Mike Lankshear), 14:57.
   SECOND PERIOD -- 2. Arkansas, Lankshear, (Tim Findlay), 4:48. 3. Arkansas, Jason Rushton, (Dean Tiltgan, Findlay), 6:49, (pp).
   THIRD PERIOD -- 4. Corpus Christi, Geoff Bumstead, (Chris Robertson, Bob Quinnell), 5:20, (pp). 5. Arkansas, Pellerin (Eric Anderson, Brian Leitza).
   SHOTS ON GOAL -- Corpus Christi 12-11-26-49. Arkansas 6-16-6-28. POWER PLAY OPPORTUNITIES -- Corpus Christi 1 of 5. Arkansas 1 of 4. GOALIES -- Corpus Christi, Scott Barber 8-8-2 (28 shots, 24 saves). Arkansas, Brian Leitza 5-5-0 (49 shots, 48 saves).

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