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Monday, Jan. 25, 1999
Outlaws outshoot aching IceRays, 4-1
CC loses seventh straight road game
By MARK BUTTON
Staff Writer

   SAN ANGELO - The pain was obvious.
   An injured Chris Robertson sat restlessly in his chair high above the ice surface at the San Angelo Coliseum Sunday afternoon. Corpus Christi's leading scorer fidgeted, squirmed and contorted his face in various frowns of frustration as he watched his teammates lose another game.
   For the 10th time in 13 contests, the IceRays left the ice in defeat.
   This time, it was the Outlaws who took advantage of Corpus Christi defensive miscues and scored a 4-1 victory. The Outlaws scoring line of Carl Boudreau, Jean Blouin and Ross Harris - known as the Three Amigos - produced all four goals and improved their collective goal total to 72.
   "Watching this is much more painful than my injury," Robertson said.
   A strong statement, as tendentious stretching the length of his right thigh preempts the score-happy center from walking without pain. Robertson will head back to Corpus Christi today. The IceRays press on to Tupelo, Miss., for a Tuesday night affair.
   The IceRays fell to 21-18-4 and have lost seven straight road games and eight against Western Professional Hockey League Western Division teams. San Angelo improved to 27-12-3 and 19-3-3 at home.
   "This is unbelievable," IceRays coach Taylor Hall said. "They have one line and our game plan coming in was to stop them from scoring. We blew the game plan right off the start."
   A habitual problem of late, the IceRays once again spotted their opponents a first-period lead. Since the Jan. 8-10 all star break, Corpus Christi foes have scored first in each of the IceRays' five contests. Four of the five deficits were the two-goal variety, including Sunday's game.
   Corpus Christi is 1-4 since the break.
   Hall matched his checking line - Mike Tomlinson, Tyler Boucher and Roger Lewis - against the Three Amigos for as much of the game as possible. The potent San Angelo line did not score against the Corpus Christi checking line.
   "Mike, Tyler and Roger did what I asked them to do to a T," Hall said. "But with us on the road, I couldn't get those guys out there against that line enough."
   San Angelo notched the first goal off an IceRays giveaway by recently signed IceRays defenseman Shawn Snesar. Attempting to clear the puck to his forwards, Snesar failed to see Blouin lurking at the blue line. The Outlaw right winger stole the pass and ripped off a wrist shot in a single fluid motion. The shot beat Corpus Christi goalie Frank Caprice 6 minutes, 35 seconds into the first period and gave San Angelo an early 1-0 lead.
   "Right now, we're making fewer mistakes than they are, but the ones we do make are bigger," Corpus Christi's Geoff Bumstead said. "It seems like all our mistakes end up in the back of the net."
   The Three Amigos struck for a second time in the first period's final minute.
   Blouin fed Boudreau a one-time pass on a two-on-one breakaway immediately after Corpus Christi's Vadim Sharapov and Bumstead were denied, point blank, by San Angelo goalie Chad Erickson. IceRays defenseman Regan Harper dropped to the ice in an attempt to block the Blouin pass, but it squeaked through. Boudreau then buried the puck in the back of the net and the Outlaws led, 2-0.
   Blouin scored the Outlaws' third goal and he and Boudreau set up the fourth.
   Corpus Christi scored its first goal in two games when Lorne Toews redirected a Jody Praznik slapper from the blue line.
   Hall pulled Caprice at the 10 minute mark and replaced him with rookie Jason Genik, who blocked all 12 shots he faced.
   "I thought Jason was solid," Hall said. "He'll be back in the net on Tuesday."

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