NAHL Corpus Christi IceRays

IceRays Quarterly Report

Published on January 1, 2015 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Corpus Christi IceRays News Release


Through suspensions, injuries, and illnesses, the Corpus Christi IceRays took advantage of a crucial stretch of their 2014-15 season.

The IceRays pushed through the second quarter of the season with a 10-5-0 record to earn themselves a 16-10-4 record for the season. The IceRays are nestled securely in fourth place at 36 points, just six points behind the Wichita Falls Wildcats for third place, the position that they found themselves in after the first quarter tied with the Wildcats.

"At 10-5-0, it's hard to say you weren't successful," said IceRays Head Coach John Becanic. "But you say, "˜what if we won a couple of those [on the road]?' Geez, 12-3-0 looks pretty darn good."

The three teams above them have all earned records over .700 over the second quarter of the season, and the IceRays hit .667. Had the team earned 12 wins in their last 15 games, they would own one of the best percentages in the NAHL over that span of time (.800) and within two points of Wichita Falls. Nevertheless, Coach Becanic hoped for 17 wins at this point of the year, and they've come very close to that mark.

"We wanted to be within four to six points of the top four teams, and we're in it," said Becanic. "Topeka and Wichita Falls have shown that they're going to be very difficult to catch from anybody in the standings, but I think from third on down it's going to be a dog fight for the rest of the year."

A large benefactor has been the amount of time spent at home this season, most recently playing 11 of their last 15 games from the American Bank Center. The IceRays won ten of those games and helped themselves to a 16-2-0 home record. Heading into the second quarter, the focus for the team was to take care of home business to help themselves for the upcoming quarter, and in that sense the frame was largely successful.

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SECOND QUARTER RECAP

The most recent quarter began with seven-straight games at the American Bank Center including a two-game set on Halloween weekend against the Wichita Falls Wildcats. The first night was a strong bounce back from a sweep the previous weekend, scoring a season-high seven goals in the win, 7-4. Their luck wouldn't follow into the next night, splitting the weekend after a 3-1 loss.

The next five games have been arguably the best stretch this season. The IceRays finished out that home stand on a five-game win streak, winning four games against the Odessa Jackalopes and one against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. They outscored their opposition 22-9, did not score fewer than three goals each game and kept their opposition to at most two goals. The series of ended on a high note with a 4-3 overtime win against the Jackalopes on a penalty shot by Wes Michaud.

The luck would run out in their first road trip in just over a month. The Killer Bees hosted the IceRays for two games the following weekend and kept the red hot IceRays at bay, sweeping them 1-0 and 5-3 while seeing captain Joe Chitwood earn a four-game suspension in his first game back from his previous 10-game suspension. That ended a strong 5-2-0 month of November on a sour note before returning home for one game to start December against Rio Grande Valley. The team kept the home win streak alive with a 4-2 win.

But the taste of victory was bittersweet.

Defenseman Logan Gestro suffered an upper body injury that kept him out of the next four games. Both sides combined for 160 penalty minutes, the highest in an IceRays game this season. Multiple players came away from that game banged up in a short week. Not only that, the flu bug caught the team just before departing the next day to Wichita Falls for an important road stretch, and along with a lingering injury to Brendan Murphy and Pierre Crinon's departure for the World Junior Championship with Team France, the IceRays had only six defensemen available for each game.

The above setbacks coupled with heading straight into the belly of one of the best teams in the NAHL, the weekend was not to their liking: losses 7-1 and 8-2.

"We've had to deal with a lot," said Becanic. "We lost our captain for 10 out of the 15 games played due to suspension, so you're losing your leader and a guy that plays a big role on the ice. Through the injuries and suspensions, the players, health wise, really affected us on the road as a result. I don't think anyone was proud of the results in Wichita Falls during that stand."

That left two games before the holiday break at home against the Amarillo Bulls. The flu was at its worst that week. Near the end of the week, only a small handful of players were fully healthy. The first time the team had enough players on the ice to field a full lineup came in Thursday's morning skate before the opening game.

Those two games were almost out of a storybook. On Thursday, the IceRays set a new season-high in goals during their 8-4 opening night win to avenge their opening two losses to the Bulls. On Friday, the IceRays fell behind 2-0 early in the game. Before that night, the IceRays were 0-7-2 when trailing after the first period and 0-9-2 when trailing after two periods. After a goal in the second period sparked life back in the team, the IceRays tied the game early in the third period to eventually force overtime. In a thrilling end, defenseman Anthony Cortese scored with one second remaining in the overtime period to help claim a 3-2 win thanks to the latest goal in a regular season game in IceRays franchise history.

"That Amarillo series before the break was just the gutsiest effort out of our guys for what they were dealing with," said Becanic. "You hope you can draw back on that somewhere down the road and resort back to that."

With a healthy lineup returning after the two-week holiday break, the IceRays finished off the calendar year with another thrilling overtime victory, this one a 2-1 win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. The return of a healthy lineup is a strong positive to end the first half of the season along with a three-game win streak and nine-straight wins at home.

"It's hard to explain to people just how sick our team really was unless you were around us. We didn't lose any ground on the top of the pack, and nobody caught us from the bottom. The fact that we got through that virtually unscathed in the standings is the most important. I will tell you that it's nice these last seven days since the break having everyone healthy and being able to go hard in practice for more than 15 or 20 minutes."

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SECOND QUARTER REPORT CARD

With some changes in grades from the first quarter, let's award grades for the second 15 games completed.

OFFENSE: A

After struggling to find success on the scoring front during their first quarter, the IceRays found their legs with a surge of scoring. In their last 15 games, the IceRays scored 53 goals compared to just 39 in the previous quarter. The team scored three goals or more in 11 games, recording a 10-1-0 record in those games. Wes Michaud ranks third in the NAHL in points, and five different players have at least ten goals. Only one other team has that many players over the decade mark: Fairbanks Ice Dogs, defending Robertson Cup Champions.

Coach's Take: "We have a top-three scorer overall in the league and the top scoring defenseman. You've mentioned Mason Krueger on the fourth line, Brad LeLievre, and Connor Bucsis. It seems like every night someone gets a couple goals or a multi-point game that isn't named Michaud, Lomsnes or Cusin. It's hard to say that is not a good thing."

DEFENSE: C

While the offense took a step forward, the defensive side took a step backward. The IceRays gave up just about the same amount of goals as well as shots as in the first quarter of the season, but the issue has been the number of quality chances allowed by opposing teams. Though a large factor has to be the health of the blue line during the most recent stretch, the intensity to block shots and make the strong plays in their own zone took a back seat in the pursuit for wins.

Coach's Take: "Our willingness to block shots has to get better, and the space and time that we allow the opposition to play with has to improve. Those things are the most critical. When we work hard and we skate, we're much better defensively. With that being said, it does have to be a bit of a weighted scale because of the health of our team and we just tried to survive through five or six games."

GOALTENDING: B+

There is no doubt that the tandem of Andrew Lindgren and Luke Pickar is a strong asset for this team. Neither one of them were able to record a shutout during the last 15 games, but their combined play has been a large part in the team's recent successes. With the assertion of Luke Pickar, the back end continues to keep strong.

Coach's Take: "Their numbers don't dictate how well they've played for us. I wish their numbers were better because I think they deserve better. I do think it's one of the more consistent opponents of our game. We know they're going to give us a chance to win most nights, and that's all you can ask for."

SPECIAL TEAMS: A

When a team's power play and penalty kill have been ranked in the top-five through most of the second quarter, it becomes very hard not to take notice. Despite a recent drop off in penalty kill numbers, the IceRays have largely kept pace with the precedent set during the opening quarter of the season. And the strength doesn't come in a few players but in a wide array of players serving various roles on either side.

Coach's Take: That top power play unit has been one of the most potent. It's unrealistic for us to continue at the clip we were going when we were scoring one or two goals a game. The penalty kill has dropped off as of recent but I think that has to more with the injuries to certain guys, having Pierre Crinon gone to the world juniors, and Joe Chitwood, who is a key penalty killing guy, being gone for ten games. You can't start pulling three and four guys out of a penalty kill group and expect your numbers to be the same."

MOST SURPRISING: Ryan Cusin (F) & Luke Pickar (G)

Two players have turned around their seasons in the second quarter, and we'll start on the offensive side. The start of the season was rather frustrating for forward Ryan Cusin, but he took a five-game point streak into the second quarter as well as joined a new line with Wes Michaud and Tanner Lomsnes. Cusin scored 17 points, the second-most points on the team with nine goals and eight assists. He also added a seven-game point streak, in which he recorded six goals and five assists for 11 points. He now ranks fourth on the team in points with 27 (10 goals and 17 assists), just two behind Lomsnes for third on the team.

Coach's Take: "That line became a very potent line in the league. We also put Ryan on that top power play unit and saw that power play score a lot of goals during that period of time. I would say he's been one of the top guys in the league over the last 15 games point production wise. That was a huge factor for us.

On the back end, Luke Pickar has started to come into his own during the second quarter. He played well in the first quarter of the season, but he boosted his play as he approached the second quarter and finally found the win column more frequently. During his five appearances, Pickar went 3-1-0 with 11 goals against and a .921 save percentage, with his only loss coming in a 1-0 defeat to the Killer Bees. Factor in as well that he played one game in relief while suffering through the flu in which he saved 23 of 27 shots in the 7-1 loss to Wichita Falls.

Coach's Take: "I also thought Luke Pickar really pick up his play in the second quarter and get more wins. He deserved more in the first quarter, but for whatever reason, maybe the lack of goal production. But I thought the combination of Luke and Andrew [Lindgren] being a good tandem allowed us to really rotate the goalies and feel comfortable getting a win no matter who was in net."

MOST IMPROVED: Trevor Heuser (D)

He will never be one of the flashiest players nor score a large number of points, but alternate captain Trevor Heuser has been one of the hardest working players during the second quarter especially on a depleted blue line. He continued to give up his body to block shots, and he has become notorious for forcing scrums along the boards to help free the puck in the dirty areas. And the addition of Pierre Crinon formed a great chemistry while solidifying the second defensive line.

Coach's Take: "Once Pierre Crinon got here, Trevor really settled in, and I think the emergence of that defensive pairing was another big factor in us having a solid second quarter, giving us a top-four pairing defensively with Cortese, Gestro, Crinon, and him. We felt that we could that we could start to play against teams that had two really good lines and those four guys you could put those four guys out there."

OVERALL: B+

The season up to this point has been a series of "what if" scenarios for this IceRays team, mainly concerning their road struggles. They're the only team in the NAHL without a win on the road, going 0-8-4 in their first 12 attempts. They had a number of games missing key players in their lineup. Despite these road blocks and their road struggles, the IceRays have found a way to continue to press into the top half of the NAHL but have a little ways to go.

Coach's Take: "It really is a tale of two seasons. If we were 4-4-4 on the road, which is nothing to brag about, all of a sudden we're sitting right there with Wichita Falls and we would be saying we're having the best season in franchise history. We're not far from accomplishing special things, but we haven't done it."

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LOOKING AHEAD

The road is going to become a very familiar place to be heading into the second half of the season. 11 of the next 15 games will be on the road, with nine of the 11 games in January in buildings other than the American Bank Center. On top of that, the IceRays are without practice ice during the entire month of January, so any time on the ice the team grabs will be in cities other than Corpus Christi. Aside from the opening two weeks of the season, the IceRays have not played consecutive road weeks. This all changes in January, but the routine remains the same.

"We're not going to change habits. We just need to be more determined on the road, and that's not something you can practice. It's a mindset that players have to bring upon themselves and hopefully put themselves in a situation where they understand there's a winner and loser, and they get tired of losing."

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FINAL THOUGHT

Five teams in the NAHL have records at home over .800: Lone Star (.941), Minnesota Wilderness (.928), Topeka (.921), Corpus Christi (.889), and Wichita Falls (.867). Of the 12 games thus far on the road, the IceRays have played the other four teams in seven of those games. The only team on this list the IceRays play in their next 11 road games is Wichita Falls (Jan. 22 & 23). Add the two games against Lone Star at home to kick off February, and four of the next 15 games come against top-three South Division teams.

However, as we've learned already this season, records don't necessarily dictate the level of play in the South Division. The entire focus in the South Division has changed, and now being strong at home has been a priority. Only one team has a sub-.500 record on home ice. With earning as many points as possible at home when they needed it, the hardest test is yet to come.

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