IceRays Quarterly Report
Published on February 18, 2015 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Corpus Christi IceRays News Release
One could venture to say that the third quarter of the 2014-15 season exceeded expectations. Others would contest that the standard has already been set, and the recent stretch has just been part of the evolution of the IceRays organization. Any way you look at it, the IceRays turned difficult odds into their favor.
As the seven-game home stand was pivotal to postseason hopes in the previous quarter, this quarter saw a seven-game road spill that included the lone trip to Washington State and a three-in-three set as well as 11 total games away from the American Bank Center and a non-existent home practice schedule. In all, the IceRays kept rolling with a 9-5-1 record and improving to 25-15-5 with 55 points on the year. The standings haven't changed with the IceRays still stuck in fourth place, but the gap to the top has closed to just seven points.
"I think it would be really negative to say it wasn't a successful quarter," said IceRays head coach John Becanic. "We did some good things. For the most part, all the games were winnable, and we were in a position to win. Considering how much we played on the road and our road record going into the quarter, if you had asked me at the beginning of it I'd have been happy with even eight wins."
The section of the season saw a few big marks for the IceRays. The team claimed their first road win of the season on Jan. 17 against the Wenatchee Wild as well as their first shootout win under Becanic after going 0-10-5 on the road and 0-14 in two years of shootouts. Forward Maksim Dzhioshvili recorded the first road hat-trick in junior franchise history on Jan. 30 against the Odessa Jackalopes. The team saw their largest crowd in junior franchise history (6,965 fans) on Feb. 7 against the Lone Star Brahmas. With that being said, there are some concerns heading into the final section of the season.
"The reality is we didn't defend very well, our goals-against average was well over 3.50 in that span, our penalty kill has continued to plummet, and we've dealt with suspensions and injuries," said Becanic. "So there are areas in which we can certainly be better, which I guess is the positive. We had a pretty good quarter, and there were some areas that we need to be better at."
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THIRD QUARTER RECAP
The IceRays kicked off the second half and the third quarter of the season relatively close to home with a two-game set on New Year's Day and the day following against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. The turn to 2015 did not help the road troubles with a sweep by the Killer Bees 3-1 on New Year's Day and 3-2 in a shootout on Jan. 2.
The IceRays returned home for their lone home weekend in the month with a two-game set against the Odessa Jackalopes on Jan. 9 and 10 from the American Bank Center, and leading up to the weekend acquired forward Matt Colford from the Minnesota Magicians (NAHL) as well as Maksim Dzhioshvili from the Bloomington Thunder (USHL). Their impacts were felt immediately in the faceoff circle and along the boards, making the IceRays a stronger, deeper group. Wearing oil-themed uniforms that weekend, the IceRays continued their home win streak to 11 games with a 4-2 win on the Friday night and a thrilling 4-3 overtime win on Saturday. The sweep also secured at least a split of the season series against Odessa, going 6-0-0 in all six games from the American Bank Center.
That series was the last time the IceRays would see home ice until February with both practices and home games taking place away from Corpus Christi. The first stop on the "IceRays Family Vacation" was Wenatchee, Wash., for a two-game set against the Wild and the final two games against their opponent this season. In a new setting and seeing snow for the first time, the slate almost seemed to be wiped clean for their road druthers.
Friday night's game was more of the same, dropping 4-1 to the Wild and allowing a hat-trick in the process. The Wild outpaced the IceRays, and that caused a major adjustment in a 24-hour span for the road side heading into the weekend finale. The next night, something clicked. The IceRays forced another shootout, and after defenseman Anthony Cortese scored in the second round, goaltender Andrew Lindgren stopped all five shots to help the IceRays earn their first road win in 16 attempts and the first shootout win under Becanic.
"I think any coach that would tell you it's not a big deal is someone who hasn't lived through what I lived through in the past year and a half," said Becanic after the game. "We knew we weren't going to go 0-30 this year, but it was important that we played the right way, that we earned the win the right way, and we didn't luck ourselves into it. It was a playoff atmosphere, and I think that's why it was so euphoric for our players because not only did we get that monkey off our back but also everything that we put into that 24 hours leading up to the game. It's just a really good building block for our team."
The next stop the following weekend was Wichita Falls for a two-game set against one of the teams just above the IceRays in the standings. With the taste of a 15-3 outshooting from their last trip to the Kay Yeager Coliseum in their mouths, the IceRays looked to rectify the wrongs undone to them. Thursday's game remained close with the Wildcats, but the home side just edged the IceRays 5-4. On Friday night, rebounded with a strong second period to force their second-straight road split, 5-4.
With the difficulty of travel as well as competition out of the way, a new challenge faced the IceRays in their final three games for the month: their first three-in-three since the NAHL Showcase back in September. The first of two trips to Odessa faced the IceRays, and each game remained as close as you'd expect despite the final scorelines.
The three-game span was a strong success for the IceRays, winning all three games with minimal injuries. Game one finished in a second-straight overtime thriller, winning 3-2 on Thursday followed by close 7-3 and 6-4 finishes that included a hat-trick by Maksim Dzhioshvili, the first road hat-trick in junior franchise history. The series is the lone road sweep of the season and helped the side to a 5-2-0 finish in seven-straight road games. And for the first time as a junior franchise, the IceRays were 10 games over .500.
"Certainly, the challenges that we faced without having home ice for the better part of five weeks is a challenge in itself," said Becanic following the month of January. "So you don't know what's going to happen. We tried to take it day-by-day and game-by-game, and we find ourselves in a good position. There are some big games ahead of us, and it's going to be an echoing effect every weekend hearing that these are big games. I don't think there's a weekend where you can afford to lose a game where we are."
The next two weekends brought about challenges in varying degrees starting with a two-game set against a rough Lone Star Brahmas lineup on home ice. The winning on home ice continued in Friday night's contest, taking down the Brahmas 3-2 in a six-round shootout to gain two more points. On Stars & Stripes Night, the IceRays faithful set a junior franchise record with 6,965 fans in attendance despite the 5-3 loss to Lone Star and their first home loss since Oct. 31, 2014.
A fight during that game dropped defenseman Travis Howe for the next four games including the following weekend in the return trip to the Amarillo Civic Center. With much of the same style as Lone Star and the pressure of being just outside of the playoff picture, the Amarillo Bulls played tough on home ice, but for the second-straight week the IceRays kicked off the weekend with a win, 5-3.
Gruffness in that game left a sour taste in the mouths of the Bulls, and on Saturday an attempted line brawl six seconds into the game dropped one player from each side including team-leading goal scorer Tanner Lomsnes. The loss of the forward hurt the side, and despite overpowering offensively the IceRays were taken down 5-2 while tabulating 130 penalty minutes and 23 power plays between the two teams.
The IceRays finished the quarter with a 6-4-1 road record, the best stretch of the season and helped their road record improve to 6-12-5 on the season and from the cellar of the NAHL to the top-20 teams. The additions of Colford and Dzhioshvili, while not the only changes made, had a large impact on the team both at home and on the road.
"I think it's not a coincidence that those two guys came and we turned it around on the road immediately, which was the whole point of the trades. The overall balance in scoring-the fact that we were getting scoring from everybody-certainly helped. We showed some resiliency being down in the third period and winning the game. Not scoring the first goal a lot of those games and winning. Things statistically and typically in our sport, meaning that you're going to lose, we defied."
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THIRD QUARTER REPORT CARD
Despite the successes on the road and in the first 15 games of the second half, many grades remain the same from the Second Quarter Report Card.
OFFENSE: A
Depth is the focal point of the third quarter, and not just from the recent additions but the amount of players that gained points, especially over the last ten games. 11 skaters earned at least five points, and five players earned 11 points or greater in that same span. Both Colford and Dzhioshvili earned over 10 points since joining the IceRays, young defenseman Keenan Spillum earned his first junior goal, and skaters like Joe Chitwood and Brad LeLievre gained a number of points after struggling to rack up high numbers. No skater that remains on the team missed gaining a point over the last 15 games.
Coach's Take: "I just looked at the last ten games on the league website. It was incredible how many guys had five or more points in that ten-game segment. Our overall balance in scoring and power play-and I'm sure part of our road drought was that-finished the quarter in a very positive way and certainly will be a big part of us in the last quarter."
DEFENSE: C- On the other hand, the back half of the ice has continued to struggle down the stretch in preventing teams from scoring. In the third quarter alone, the IceRays allowed 3.40 goals per game (51 total) and did not hold an opponent to one goal or less once. The IceRays have only achieved that seven times this season with the last time coming on Dec. 27 and are 5-2-0 in those games. They have been fortunate for strong offensive play, but that won't last in every game.
Coach's Take: "It's hard to say that we've done a great job defensively. It's got to get better. If we could defend at a top-team rate, we probably would have 10 or 12 wins in that segment."
GOALTENDING: C
Along with the defensive side, the goaltending has slid since the beginning of the season. After a strong start for Andrew Lindgren and a nice rebound in the second quarter from Luke Pickar, both netminders hit a skid in the last 15 games in terms of numbers. There have been strong moments for both players, and the goaltending has, at times, kept the team in games. Largely, however, the net front presence has been inconsistent.
Coach's Take: "Our numbers haven't exactly been glowing, especially in the last two months. Our numbers have got to be better. There have been games where our goaltending has been really good and made some big saves and others where we give up a bad goal. Overall, from the coaches down to the goaltenders, we've got to do a better job of defending."
SPECIAL TEAMS: B- Earlier this season, special teams have been one of the most consistent aspects of the IceRays squad. Now, both have taken a hit coming against strong penalty killing opponents and bad mistakes against other power play teams. The power play started the quarter with 28 of 92 goals (30.43%) scored by the IceRays with at least one extra skater. That number has gone to 44 of 146 (28.77%), and while those 16 goals remains above on-pace with earlier season averages the team has also allowed three of their seven shorthanded goals in that time. On the other side, the penalty kill unit has allowed 17 of 36 (47.22%) power play goals just in the last 15 games.
Coach's Take: "One's great, the other has been awful. Our penalty kill has just been atrocious. On Dec. 1, we were first overall in the league in penalty killing, and we are 15th now. Our penalty kill has been a downhill slide since then, and our power play has been pretty good. With that said, we've given up quite a few shorthanded goals. I don't know how we won as many games as we did with the statistics the way they were."
MOST IMPROVED: Keenan Spillum (D)
One of the brightest spots in the quarter has been the surge of defenseman Keenan Spillum. The now 18-year-old played 14 games heading into the New Year, and in one frame of time has almost doubled his on-ice numbers, appearing in 11 of 15 games during the quarter. Not only did he swap his full cage for a visor on his birthday in January but he also picked up two more points, including his first junior goal on Feb. 13 in Amarillo. He has the full support of his teammates, and his work in practice and in workouts has helped him earn considerable minutes.
Coach's Take: "He went from being a guy that was out of the lineup more than he was in to playing quite a bit. How much ice time he contributes to give our other guys a break. He's just been outstanding. I've love him all year, and he's taken on a bigger role and done a better job."
MOST SURPRISING: Maksim Dzhioshvili (F)
While there is no bar to gauge the play of forward Maksim Dzhioshvili previous to his arrival into the NAHL early in January, the tone he set from his first time on the ice has confirmed his value to the IceRays. His large physical frame and determination gives him the best advantage along the glass and behind the net, and even though he only played four games with the Bloomington Thunder (USHL) this season, the skills learned and carried to Corpus Christi are evident in his consistently strong play.
Coach's Take: "People forget that Maks is just 19 years old and a guy that came from only playing four games. For him to come in and contribute like he has, he's a huge part of our team now and hopefully huge parts of our team in the future."
OVERALL: B
Despite the inconsistencies and troubles in sections of the game, one cannot take away from this team that they are the best squad in five years of junior hockey for the IceRays. No team has maintained a record ten games above .500 for this long and played the way they have at home this season, going 19-3-0 in 22 games. With the right combination of correcting mistakes and continuing to hone in on what has made this team successful, the IceRays could be looking at an exciting month of April. The team is ninth in the NAHL in points and could finish in the top-10 for the first time in franchise history.
Coach's Take: "We know we're not going to catch Topeka, so we're not stressed about that, but we still have some hopes that we can catch either Wichita Falls or Lone Star. Then you look at teams from the bottom, and you don't want to put the cart before the horse. I'll be really happy if we can get through the next two weeks and somehow clinch a playoff spot. That would be nice for the franchise and the sales staff to be able to promote and sell playoff packages for the first time this early. There's a lot of hockey to be played, and none of it is going to be easy."
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LOOKING AHEAD
The IceRays have 15 more games before the close of the 2014-15 regular season, and already the IceRays can clinch a playoff spot before the end of February at the earliest. However, the road ahead remains difficult with a multitude of challenges, including five-straight games against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, three more games against the Lone Star Brahmas, two against the Wichita Falls Wildcats, and two against the Amarillo Bulls. All four of those teams are jockeying for playoff positioning, and only one has been gentle to the IceRays in their recent games. The traditionally physical and dark South Division will come to life as the last five playoff spots are battled for among six teams.
"I want to win games, but more importantly in these eight games is coming out as healthy as you possibly can. You're talking about playing your rival for five-straight games and both teams (maybe more so them than us) see wins as very important to make the playoffs. You want to go into the postseason against hard competition, not coasting feeling warm and fuzzy. So much of the crystal ball will be clear at the end of these five games."
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FINAL THOUGHT
In two seasons under head coach John Becanic, the IceRays have been like night and day. At this point last season, the IceRays sat outside the playoffs with a 16-20-9 record and 41 points before going 3-11-1 in their last 15 games of the year. This season, the IceRays are knocking on the door of the playoffs with team records in the balance: most wins in a season (28), most penalty minutes by one player in a single season (208) and in franchise history (216), single-season goalie wins and career wins (23), and single-season assists (41). This season has the potential to be the best in junior franchise history following the darkest season.
"Last year, the pressure was just the humiliation of failure. You went into every game feeling like, "ËGeez, I just don't want to get blown out.' This year, the pressures are having home ice in the first round-something that we can control-but accomplishing some goal quickly, and that creates a different kind of pressure. There are only five of us that experienced how difficult, long, and arduous those 15 games seemed. This year, they're stressful. You're scoreboard watching, and we control so much of our own destiny."
North American Hockey League Stories from February 18, 2015
- Late Goal Earns Point in Shootout Loss Against Lone Star - Wichita Falls Wildcats
- IceRays Quarterly Report - Corpus Christi IceRays
- IceRays Recognize Educators & Hockey in Weekend Tilt - Corpus Christi IceRays
- Brahmas - Wichita Falls Wildcats Preview - Lone Star Brahmas
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