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No Holiday Cheer for Rayz

December 30, 2002 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Corpus Christi IceRays News Release


Matt Barnes stopped 64 of 65 shots he faced and old friend Dave Gilmore scored a pair of goals as the Rayz fell twice to the Austin Ice Bats and 6-2 to the Laredo Bucks on Saturday. The losses dropped the Rayz to 12-15-1 on the season, 6 points behind the Lubbock Cotton Kings for the 4th and final playoff spot in the Southern Conference.

After scoring 4 goals against Peter Brady the previous Saturday, Austin Head Coach Brent Hughes turned to Matt Barnes to stop the Rayz offense on Thursday and Friday. Barnes was outstanding at Memorial Coliseum Thursday night making 35 saves as the Bats won the front-end of the home-and-home set 3-1.

Austin jumped out to the early 1-0 lead on the power play when Pat Brownlee drove home a one-timer by Rayz goalie Brent Belecki (Calgary, ALB) at 2:56. The Rayz would come back to tie the score later in the period when John Sicinski (Mississauga, ONT) found Cosmo Dupaul (Pointe-Claire, PQ) in front of the net and Dupaul slapped the puck by Barnes at 11:12 to tie the game at 1-1. After a scoreless 2nd period, Austin would take the lead for good when Kelly Smart's shot from the left-wing circle trickled off Belecki's stick and into the net at 5:07 of the 3rd period to give the Bats a 2-1 lead. Dan Price then added an insurance goal at 17:28 when he slapped a shot over Belecki's left shoulder from in between the circles to make the final score 3-1. The Rayz out-shot the Bats 36-35 but Barnes held tough in the final 5 minutes to preserve the win.

Friday the two teams traveled to the Travis County Expo Center for the rematch. After a scoreless 1st period, the Bats got on the board when Price stripped Mike Tilson (Pickering, ONT) of the puck and fired a slapshot by Belecki at 3:26 of the 2nd period on the power play for a 1-0 lead. It was all Austin would need as Barnes was terrific in net for a second consecutive night, including stoning the Rayz on a 2-man advantage in the 1st period for 1:54 seconds. In the 3rd period, Michael Olynyk provided an insurance tally after former Ray Matt Sharuga intercepted Belecki's pass along the end-boards and slipped it Olynyk who put it home at 14:17 to give the Bats a 2-0 lead. Barnes would hang on for his 5th shutout of the season stopping all 29 Rayz shots.

The game was marked though by an unnecessary hit late in the 3rd period when Austin's Shawn Legault elbowed defenseman Brett Colborne (Clearwater, BC) down to the ice knocking Colborne unconscious. Legault received a match penalty for intent to injure and Colborne walked away with just a concussion. He would miss Saturday's game, and the Rayz surely missed him.

The Laredo Bucks defeated the Rayz 6-2 before a season-high crowd of 8002 at the Laredo Entertainment Center. The Bucks got on the board early and never looked back. Former Ray Dave Gilmore found Chris Grenville open at the right side of the net and Grenville one-timed it home at 3:48 of the 1st period to give the Bucks a 1-0 lead. In the 2nd period, Laredo commenced a 4-goal onslaught on goaltenders Brent Belecki (Calgary, ALB) and Eddy Skazyk (Lockport, MB). Matt Van Horlick beat Belecki through traffic on a shot from the left point at 1:48 to make it 2-0. Then Gilmore scored a controversial goal at 7:21 to make it 3-0. It appeared that Gimore's drive rang off the post and bounced back into Belecki's glove, but never actually went into the net. After confirming with the goal judge and his linesman for a couple of minutes, referee Scott Hughes let the goal stand. At that point Belecki was replaced in net by Skazyk, but didn't fare much better. Joey Sewell took a crossing pass from Tom Kotsopolous and slipped it by Skazyk at 8:22, just 1:01 seconds after replacing Belecki to give the Bucks a 4-0 lead. Sewell then struck again at 11:34 catching Skazyk out of position and putting the puck in the wide open net to make it 5-0. Finally the Rayz broke the Bucks momentum at 14:42 on the power play when Cosmo Dupaul (Pointe-Claire, PQ) stuffed home John Sicinski's (Mississauga, ONT) rebound by Lance Leslie to cut the deficit to 5-1. The Rayz would strike again late in the period when Layne Roland (Vernon, BC) moved around Leslie and slipped it into the net at 19:33 to make the score 5-2 heading into the 3rd period. However, the Bucks defense clamped down in the 3rd keeping the Rayz off the scoreboard. Gilmore chipped in his second goal of the night on the power play at 3:47 of the period making the final score 6-2.

FOUR-GET THE DEFENSE: The four Laredo goals allowed in the 2nd period Saturday tied a season high for goals against in a period. The Rayz also gave up four goals in the 1st period at Wichita on 11/29/02. The five even-strength goals also matched a season high. The Rayz gave up five even -strength goals at San Angelo on 12/14/02 in a 7-0 defeat.

HELP! I NEED SOMEBODY: In the last 4 games the line of John Sicinski, Layne Roland, and Cosmo Dupaul has recorded 6 goals and 6 assists. The rest of the Rayz have accounted for only 1 goal and 8 assists in that same span.

RAYZ SIGN BECK: The Rayz signed forward Martin Beck to a contract last Friday. The 20-year old Beck is a native of the Czech Republic, and played 11 games this season picking up 2 assists with the New Mexico Scorpions under new Rayz general manager Pat Dunn.

SEND ‘EM TO SAN ANTONIO: Bucks forward Eric Schneider assisted on the first Laredo goal Saturday. Schneider now has 6 goals and 5 assists in 6 games against the Rayz. The first line for Laredo composed of Schneider, Dave Gilmore, Chris Grenville, and Dave Gove before he was recalled to San Antonio has accounted for 13 goals and 21 assists in 6 games against the Rayz this season.

HOUSE OF HORRORS: The Rayz have been outscored 18-9 in 3 games at the Laredo Entertainment Center this season, giving up a whopping 6 goals per game. The 18 goals combined are the most the Rayz have surrendered at any visiting arena this year.

COLBORNE OUT: Rayz defenseman Brett Colborne was knocked unconscious late in the game Friday when Austin's Shawn Legault came in from Colborne's blind side and elbowed him hard to the ice. Fortunately, Colborne walked away with only a concussion while Legault received a match penalty for intent to injure. Colborne is listed as day-to-day. Meanwhile Legault has been suspended indefinitely by the league.

MARTINIS ON "ICERAYS MONDAY": "IceRays Monday" continues tonight from 5PM-6PM at The Martini Bar, located at the corners of Everhart and Saratoga in Corpus Christi. The Voice of the IceRays Dan Weiss hosts the show every Monday on ESPN Radio 1230AM KSIX, and is joined by Head Coach Al Sims and several IceRays players.

UP NEXT: The Rayz begin their toughest portion of the season tomorrow night at Memorial Coliseum against the San Angelo Saints at 7:05PM. The Rayz will play 15 games over the next 32 days (8 home, 7 away). Following tomorrow night's New Year's Eve affair, the Rayz will host the Odessa Jackalopes Friday at 7:05PM before traveling to Bossier-Shreveport to play the Mudbugs Saturday at 7:05PM The Rayz will complete the weekend with a visit to Memphis to play the RiverKings Sunday at 6:05PM All games can be heard on 104.5FM The Octopus with Dan Weiss, or on the Internet at www.icerays.com and www.sportsjuice.com. Broadcast time tomorrow begins at 6:30PM with the "American Tire and Wheel" Pre-Game Show every night this week except Sunday. Broadcast time for Sunday's game begins at 5:30PM.

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