IceRays Take Game 2 in Shreveport for Commanding Series Lead

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NAHL Corpus Christi IceRays

IceRays Take Game 2 in Shreveport for Commanding Series Lead

April 20, 2025 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Corpus Christi IceRays News Release


CORPUS CHRISTI, TX - The Corpus Christi IceRays (4-0) remain undefeated in the postseason after taking both games on the road against the Shreveport Mudbugs (0-2) to take a 2-0 series lead back home for game three. The IceRays took game two by the score of 3-1 on Saturday night at George's Pond at Hirsch Coliseum.

After playing north of 100 minutes in game one last night both teams had their legs in the opening frame playing an intense 20 minutes to open game two. The IceRays drew the first power play of the night but failed to convert and moments later offsetting penalties sent the game to four on four. With both teams down a man Carter Krenke was behind all four Mudbugs in the IceRays zone and Nikita Konevych snapped a tape-to-tape pass at the far blue line springing Krenke on a breakaway that he buried on his fore hand past Nikola Goich to give the IceRays a 1-0 lead. The Mudbugs responded with some big hits to wake up their building and leading to the equalizer off a scrum in front of Benji Motew. Andrew Seminara would swat the puck into the back of the net and make it a 1-1 game. Shreveport received a four-minute power play looking for the lead and came close as a shot went off the cross bar and the IceRays survived the remaining time sending us to the 2nd period tied at one.

The 2nd period saw six combined power plays in which the IceRays were shorthanded four times and survived all four to keep the Mudbugs from taking their first lead of the night. A combined 19 shots found their way on net that were all turned aside by Goich and Motew in the middle frame. The period was filled with whistles and stoppages that seemed to knock both sides out of rhythm and the same score after one held into the second intermission.

With the game up for grabs both teams traded chances, but the best looks of the period were in the final 10 minutes. One of the best looks for Shreveport was a chance for Aiden Puley all alone against Motew who made a blocker save to keep it 1-1. Minutes later a pass from Cooper Conway deflected off a Mudbug slowing it up for Stepan Kuznetsov to reach out to grab the puck and in one motion rifle a shot past the glove of Goich to give the IceRays a 2-1 lead with just over five minutes remaining. The Mudbugs would pull Goich for the extra attacker after a timeout but could muster up a shot on Motew and Cody Kempf from deep in his own zone found the empty net to seal off a victory in game two by the final score of 3-1.

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