Hounds squeak past Rayz 4-3 in shootout

November 22, 2006 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Corpus Christi IceRays News Release


In the first of three straight meetings between the Corpus Christi Rayz and Youngstown Steelhounds, the clubs put together quite an opening act. Sixty minutes of regulation, five minutes of overtime and nine rounds of a shootout were needed before Wednesday Night's contest at the Chevrolet Center was decided. Brian Patterson finally ended it in the final round of the shootout as the Steelhounds topped the Rayz 4-3. Corpus Christi put together a strong comeback effort to earn a point and now has points in four straight games. The series will continue on Friday and Saturday night as the team's wrap up their three-game set.

John Neal scored the only goal of the opening stanza when he rushed the Puck fro the Youngstown blue line to the Corpus Christi blue line. As he entered the Rayz zone, Neal wound up and ripped a slapshot through the pads of Rayz goaltender, Ron Vogel. Neal's unassisted goal was his second tally of the season and gave the Steelhounds a 1-0 lead at the end of one period. In the first period, the Hounds outshot the Rayz 10-5.

The Hounds added to their lead with the first goal of the middle period. At 6:08 of the frame, John Wheaton was on a breakaway and tripped from behind by Rayz defenseman Steve Pelletier. Referee Adam West awarded Wheaton a penalty shot. The Hounds forward moved in on Vogel and beat him between his left arm and body to up the Hounds lead to 2-0. Corpus Christi cut the lead in half when they got on the board with a power play goal at 12:52. Geno Parrish and Jason Baird worked the puck to the bottom of the left circle, where Justin Quenneville was placed to beat Hounds netminder David Currie. Quenneville's tally gave him his team leading ninth goal and 19th point. The Rayz went into the third period trailing 2-1. The Rayz outshot the Steelhounds 14-11 in the period.

In the third period, the Rayz power play once again stepped up for the Rayz. At 2:44, Geno Parrish rocketed a one-timer past Currie for his second goal of the year and to tie the game at 2-2. The Hounds came back to take the lead once more when Tab Lardner slid a shot from the bottom of the right circle underneath Vogel for his fourth goal of the year on the power play at 9:18 of the third. As they did all night, Corpus Christi showed their resiliency and tied the game 68 seconds later when Jason Baird scored on a rebound for his third goal of the season. The teams finished regulation tied at three. The Rayz outshot the Hounds 11-8 in the period.

After a scoreless overtime, the clubs went to a shootout. The shootout took nine rounds to decide a winner. Derrick McIver and Todd Paul scored for the Rayz and Jeff Christian and Mark Johnson scored for the Hounds through eight rounds. Then Brad Patterson scored in the ninth round of the shootout, and Currie stopped Matt Turek to give the Hounds the 4-3 win.

The Rayz took their first overtime loss of the season, but upped their point total to 15 with a record of 7-6-1. The Steelhounds improved their record to 7-3-3. Vogel took the shootout loss and moved to 5-4-1, while Currie won his second of the year improving to 2-3-2. Youngstown outshot Corpus Christi 34-32. The Rayz scored multiple power play goals for the third straight game going 2-5 and Youngstown went 1-7. Jeff Christian had his nine-game point streak snapped for the Hounds. Jason Baird and Justin Quenneville both had a goal and two assists for the Rayz.

Corpus Christi will continue their week in Ohio after Thanksgiving with Friday and Saturday Night contests versus the Steelhounds. The Rayz will return to the American Bank Center on Tuesday Night, November 28th when they host the Amarillo Gorillas on Z-95 College Night at 7:05pm. College students will receive discounted tickets starting at $6 with their valid school ID. The Rayz will then have their second FJO and Planet Ladies Night of the season on Saturday, December 2nd. The Rayz will host the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees and it's another installment of the FJO Great Diamond Giveaway, Presented by Planet 102.3FM. The Rayz will give away a $6,000 diamond at the game, guaranteed. Simply register at FJO for your chance to win. Plus, the Rayz will welcome, Latin sensation Gabriel Soto to the game where fans can meet and take photographs with the world renowned model, actor and singer. Tickets are available for both games. For more information, please call the Rayz at (361) 814-PUCK.



Central Hockey League Stories from November 22, 2006


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