Rayz beat Ice Bats 4-3

November 19, 2004 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Corpus Christi IceRays News Release


Brent Zelenwich made 47 saves and four different Rayz players scored as the Rayz held on for a 4-3 win Friday night over the Austin Ice Bats from the Travis County Expo Center in Austin. With the win, the Rayz moved into sole possession of first place in the Southeast Division.

The Rayz continued their stretch of high scoring first period efforts against the Ice Bats, taking control of the game early. Derrick McIver got the scoring started on the power play when he redirected a Bernie John shot from the point at the 4:58 mark of the opening frame. It was McIver's CHL rookie leading eighth goal of the season. John and Matt Noga got the assists. The Rayz made it 2-0 late in the period, when solid forechecking pressure caused a defensive zone Ice Bats turnover. The Rayz stole the puck and then set up with beautiful one-touch passing from Greg Bullock, Baird and Noga to convert the play. Noga's goal was his third of the season and gave the Rayz the 2-0 lead.

In the second period, the Ice Bats came out charging, however, the Rayz withstood an early attack with some great saves make by netminder Brent Zelenewich. Thanks to Zelenewich's solid play, it was the Rayz who got on the board first in the middle frame, when Baird was able to glove down a clearing attempt, and then find Bullock in the corner for a give and go, leaving him in the slot. Baird released a quick snapshot that beat Peter Brady and gave the Rayz a 3-0 lead. However, the Bats would respond and get on the board before the period came to close. Defenseman, Mike Mohr just got his stick on a Jeff Neufeld rebound and flipped the puck up and over Zelenwich's outstretched arm to get the Bats on the board. Neufeld and Dallas Anderson had the assists. Nuefeld was making his first appearance in eight games after suffering a foot injury earlier in the year, and Anderson was seeing his first action after serving a six-game suspension.

In the third period, the Rayz increased their lead when John ripped a slap shot from the top of the slot past Brady for his second goal in as many games, giving the Rayz their three goal lead once again at 4-1. However, the Ice Bats never gave up and kept the pressure on. On the power play, at 16:25 of the third period, Anderson deflected a shot past Zelenwich to cut into the Rayz lead. Then with an empty net, the Bats pressured the Rayz harder, and again found the back of the net, as Kris Knoblach redirected a Jonathan Jolette shot and beat Zelenwich, making it 4-3 Rayz. With Brady on the bench, the Ice Bats peppered the Rayz net with their extra attacker and had their chances, but Zelenwich was brilliant down the stretch, turning aside 24 of the Bats 26 third period shots and the Rayz held on for the 4-3 win. The Rayz improved to 5-4-2 and moved into first place in the Southeast Division. The Bats dropped to 5-7 and slipped to second place. The Rayz went 1-2 on the PP while the Bats went 1-4.

The Rayz will now travel to Rio Grande Valley to take on the Killer Bees at 7:35pm Saturday night, before returning home for their first Whataburger Family Day Game at 5:05pm on Sunday. Tickets start as low as $10 and are available at the AmericnaBank Center Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations.



Central Hockey League Stories from November 19, 2004


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