CALLER-TIMES INTERACTIVE: NEWS

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1998

IceRays nail Scorpions, 7-6

CC rallies twice to overcome New Mexico, take shootout, 3-2

By MARK BUTTON
Staff Writer

   It will go into the books as just another Western Professional Hockey League regular-season game, but Tuesday's 7-6 Corpus Christi victory over the New Mexico Scorpions had all the fervor and intensity of a playoff contest.
   Corpus Christi overcame two-goal deficits twice and forced a shootout, where the IceRays outscored the Scorpions, 3-2.
   "It was definitely a playoff atmosphere," Corpus Christi coach Taylor Hall said. "It was sold out again, that's three nights in a row. It was so loud, my players can't even hear me. There's no better atmosphere in this league."
   Corpus Christi goalie Frank Caprice stopped three shots in the shootout, the final and decisive save coming as he fell backward to the ice. Pavel Evstigneev, Chris Robertson and Vadim Sharapov all scored for Corpus Christi in the shootout. Evstigneev's goal was the game-winner.
   Robertson had two assists, a goal and the overtime goal in the game as he was named the game's the No. 1 star. Geoff Bumstead had two goals. Both IceRays are former Scorpions, having played the 1996-97 WPHL season in New Mexico along with four other IceRays.
   "It doesn't get much more fun than that," Robertson said. "This was a huge win for our organization."
   Trailing 6-4, Corpus Christi scored two goals in the final 7 minutes to tie the score and force overtime.
   Left wing Lorne Toews put the IceRays within a goal of a tie in the third when he slapped a short-handed goal with 6:29 to play. Bumstead then tied the game, 6-6, with 4:14 remaining to send the game to overtime.
   The third-period comeback was the IceRays' second of the game.
   Corpus Christi trailed New Mexico, 4-2, in the second when Robertson ignited a rally in the final three minutes of the period. First, Robertson dug the puck out of the left corner and sent a smooth pass to teammate Lorne Toews, who blasted a shot past the glove of New Mexico goalie Chris Sharland. With 2:50 to play in the second, Robertson had his second assist of the night - his fifth of the season - and the New Mexico lead was trimmed to 4-3.
   Robertson then collected a loose puck with just seconds remaining in the period and sent it past a sprawling Sharland as time expired. As the IceRays skated off the ice at the end of the second period the game was tied, 4-4.
   "I knew the puck went in before the buzzer went off," Robertson said.
   New Mexico took the lead in the second off goals by Kelly Morel and George Dupont.
   As has been their pattern, the IceRays got off to a fast start. For the third consecutive contest, Corpus Christi scored the game's first goal.
   Just 2:36 had expired in the first when right wing Pavel Evstigneev took a pass from team captain Jody Praznik and sent it past Sharland. The Praznik pass deflected off Evstigneev's right skate and Evstigneev batted the puck out of the air and into the net for the 1-0 Corpus Christi lead.
   Corpus Christi right wing Geoff Bumstead put the IceRays ahead, 2-0, when he took a pass from Robertson and slid the puck by Sharland with 15:58 to play in the first.
   New Mexico came back with two goals in the first to leave the score tied, 2-2, after 20 minutes. Scorpions' center Jeff Mancini scored on a one-timer from Mike Sanderson with 12:22 to play in the first, and New Mexico's Derek Crawford slapped a power-play wrist shot past Corpus Christi goalie Frank Caprice with just more than six minutes to play before the first intermission.
   Corpus Christi outshot the Scorpions, 16-11, in the first period. The IceRays had scored twice before New Mexico registered a shot on goal. Corpus Christi out shot New Mexico, 51-36, for the game.
   

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