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Tuesday, Jan. 12, 1999
Road Worriers
Schedule snag could force Rays to play away
By BRENT SCHROTENBOER
Staff Writer

   A spring scheduling conflict at Memorial Coliseum is likely to eliminate several potential home playoff games for the Corpus Christi IceRays, probably forcing the team to play all of its "home" playoff games on the road during a crucial three-week stretch between April 9 and May 2.
   According to general manager James Garino, the team is "not planning on playing hockey at the Coliseum" then because of previously scheduled events at the Coliseum including the rodeo and several other activities surrounding the 61st annual Buccaneer Days festival.
   "As far as I'm concerned, anything can happen," Garino said. "But I'm not counting on playing hockey at the Coliseum (during Buc Days)."
   After they play their last regular-season game March 21, the IceRays are expected to become one of 12 teams to earn playoff berths in the 17-team Western Professional Hockey League. A best-of-three-game, first-round playoff format will then begin as early as March 23, with four of the 12 teams getting byes until the start of second-round action March 27.
   Though the league has not been able to set concrete playoff dates yet because of rodeo scheduling conflicts with several other buildings around the WPHL, the best-of-seven-game semifinal round could begin sometime in mid-April.
   The finals - another best-of-7 format - should be finished by the first week of May, depending on the availability of buildings for participating teams.
   "We've had ongoing communication with the IceRays about this for some time," said Joe Ochoa, executive director of the Buccaneer Commission. "We even looked at the cost of moving our events, but it was too much. It's next to impossible to move these events during that time"
   Ochoa added that the IceRays have been aware of the situation as early as June 1997 when the commission received a letter from team management stating that the city would be assured of the removal of the building's ice surface no later than April 9, 1999.
   Under the terms of a recently signed 10-year contract between the Coliseum and the Buc Commission, Ochoa also said that unless the city builds a new building for sports events before then, the IceRays might be forced to play most of their late-round playoff games on the road through 2008.
   "There's still people to talk to, and things we need to do," said Garino, whose team ranks first in the Central Division with a 20-14 record. "It may come down to dollars and cents. The Buc Commission and my organization have worked together to see what we can do, and there haven't been a lot of good options. We'd like to see their event, and they'd like to see ours. There will also be a lot of fans wondering why there can't be any sort of concessions to make this happen."
   Part of a league that plays in several Texas rodeo venues, such conflicts have become commonplace at several buildings around the WPHL. The New Mexico Scorpions, for example, would have been forced to play on their practice rink last season if they had reached the championship series of the WPHL. Scheduling conflicts with rodeo events also hamper the playoff schedule for other teams in April, often making it difficult to nail down dates or home-and-away formats more than a short while in advance for the teams that manage to advance that far.
   "The onus is on the team to free up dates for playoff games," said Steve Cherwonak, media relations director for the league. "You just try to lock up as many dates as you can."

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