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Saturday, Jan. 16, 1999

Aviators bomb IceRays, 4-1
Abiline goalie downs 41 of 42 shots from Corpus Christi
By MARK BUTTON
Staff Writer

   Too much Tony.
   Abilene Aviators goalie Tony Martino stood tall and wide against Corpus Christi Friday and provided proof as to why he is the Western Professional Hockey League's best netminder.

   Martino turned away 41 of 42 IceRays shots as his Aviators defeated Corpus Christi, 4-1, at Memorial Coliseum. The victory was Abilene's second in as many games against the IceRays. Martino and the Aviators beat Corpus Christi by the same score on Dec. 5.
   Owners of the best record in the WPHL, Western Division-leading Abilene improved to 27-11-1. Martino, the league's only 20-game winner, improved to 21-7. Corpus Christi fell to 21-15-4 and 3-7 against the Western Division.
   Abilene's Charles Poulin recorded a hat trick. However, his last two goals were empty-netters. Poulin was one of seven 1998-99 WPHL All-Stars who played in Friday's game.
   Corpus Christi began the game sluggish compared to Abilene, losing the first period, 2-0. The IceRays fought back and outskated the Aviators in the game's final 40 minutes, but Martino was too tough, too quick and too difficult for the IceRays to solve. The former New Mexico Scorpion blocked all 16 Corpus Christi shots in the third period.
   Chris Robertson scored the lone goal for the IceRays, who entertain Monroe at 7:05 p.m. today.
   Skating in a higher gear through the first 10 minutes, Abilene took the 2-0 lead. Aviator right winger Stephen Maltby put a backhand shot through a crowd in front of the Corpus Christi net and past IceRays goalie Scott Barber at the 4-minute, 46-second mark to start the scoring.
   Poulin then rocketed a wrist shot by Barber at the 7:01 mark. Poulin, who did not play in the All-Star game because of an injury, took a pass from fellow All-Star Jean-Francois Gregorie, held the puck on his stick for a couple of seconds before letting loose the shot from just inside the left face-off circle.
   Through one period, the visiting Avaitors did more hitting, skated faster, had more scoring chances and appeared more confident than did Corpus Christi. Not surprising, then, that the first period ended with Abilene leading, 2-0.
   Robertson got the IceRays to within a goal of Abilene at 2-1, when he stuffed a shot past Martino with 7:34 remaining in the second period. Standing on Martino's left, Robertson took a pass from Dave Shute, who received the puck from rookie defenseman Bob Quinnell, and simply outmuscled the Aviator goalie, forcing the puck past Martino.
   Corpus Christi came out of the first intermission spirited, checking harder and skating faster than it did in the first 20 minutes.
   The IceRays followed the lead of player/assistant coach Craig Coxe, who took advantage of every opportunity to put his stick, hands or body on an Abilene player. Aviators Eric Naud and Maltby, for example, were pestered constantly by Coxe, a 15-year veteran. Naud and Coxe, who played in his first game back from a thumb injury, nearly exchanged punches twice in the second period.
   Corpus Christi continued to dominate play in the third, but Martino's stinginess was the difference.
    Staff Writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613, through e-mail at buttonm@scripps.com or on the internet at www. caller.com.

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