CALLER-TIMES INTERACTIVE: NEWS

Friday, Oct. 23, 1998

'Rays win four in a row

Team dedicates jersey for Brower

By MARK BUTTON
Staff Writer

   The show went on.
   The icy insides of Memorial Coliseum seemed even colder than normal Thursday night, as pregame ceremonies honoring deceased IceRays director of ticketing Scott Brower sent chills through the bodies of the 3,292 in attendance. Brower was killed Wednesday in a head-on collision on the JFK Causeway. The team retired a No. 35 jersey, the number Brower wore as a goalie during his minor-league career and was to wear for the team during a planned return to the ice.
   Dedicating the game and the remainder of the IceRays' 1997-98 Western Professional Hockey League season to Brower's memory, right wing Pavel Evstigneev recorded a hat trick as Corpus Christi rallied from a three-goal deficit to defeat Shreveport, 10-6.
   "We could feel our friend Scotty in the building tonight," IceRays coach Taylor Hall said. "Most cases, when you're down three goals, you're not coming back. It was obvious that tonight was special."
   The victory was the IceRays' fourth consecutive against one loss. Shreveport fell to 1-3.
   Corpus Christi trailed, 5-2, with just more than 10 minutes to play in the second period when the IceRays rallied for six straight goals and took an 8-5 lead into the final 10 minutes of the game.
   "Right now, sometimes we're our own worst enemy," said defenseman Don Martin, who dished out three assists. "We're very emotional and tonight we were overzealous at first. But we're very reluctant to lose; we just don't settle for losing."
   Evstigneev made sure the IceRays won, answering Shreveport's sixth goal and a potential comeback by depositing his third goal of the night into the Mudbugs' net with 9:25 to play. Craig Coxe and Martin assisted on Evstigneev's third goal. It was the second IceRays' hat trick this season: Left wing Lorne Toews scored three goals in an 8-2 blowout of Alexandria on Oct. 15.
   The high-scoring, emotional affair saw Corpus Christi's Geoff Bumstead score two goals, dish an assist and deliver a lethal left hand to the jaw of Shreveport's Corey Bricknell that sent Bricknell to the ice. Bumstead has scored four goals in the last two games. Coxe had three assists, Chris Robertson a goal and two assists.
   "I'm starting to get really comfortable playing with Toews and Robo (Robertson)," Bumstead said. "Our line has just been on a tear. Lorne is scoring at will, and Robo just sets everything up so nicely. It was just my turn tonight."
   For the Mudbugs, Toby Burkitt scored three goals and two assists.
   Corpus Christi scored two power-play goals in less than two minutes to tie the game, 5-5, near the end of the second period. Shreveport's Darrin Kimble picked up a double-minor, four-minute penalty with 6:22 to play in the second and the IceRays took advantage.
   Evstigneev had scored his first goal to get Corpus Christi back in the game, 5-3, and Toews took feeds from Robertson and Bumstead to score just seconds into the extended power play to close within a goal of Shreveport, 5-4.
   Evsigtneev then scored the tying goal with 4:56 to play in the second, taking a passes from Coxe and Vadim Sharapov. The goal was Evstigneev's second of the night. Together, Evsigtneev and Sharapov are known as "The Russian Connection."
   "Pavel has great skills," Martin said. "Tonight he had a chance to exploit his one-on-one talents. He's mixing in real well with the blue-collar guys we have here."
   Shreveport scored three times in the first to take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission, the last of which was a Dale Henry rebound, power-play goal with just 1:10 to go before the break. The Mudbugs also out shot Corpus Christi in the first 20 minutes, 15-9, an obvious sign of distraction on the IceRays' part. In four games this season, no team has out shot Corpus Christi for an entire game.
   The final total showed 37 IceRays' shots to Shreveport's 36.
   All the IceRays wore black patches with the initials "S.B." and the number 35 on the right shoulder of their jerseys in memory of Brower.
   "It was tough out there tonight," Bumstead said. "To tell you the truth, I didn't really feel like playing at first. But I knew that's what Scotty would want. We wanted to win for him."
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