Sundogs Drop Second Straight in 6-3 Loss to Corpus Christi

Published on January 13, 2007 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Arizona Sundogs News Release


PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. - The Arizona Sundogs squared off against the Corpus Christi Rayz Saturday evening in the second contest of a two-game stint in Southern Texas. As they did in Friday night's game, the Sundogs scored first to take an early 1-0 lead but would be unable to come away with the victory as the Rayz would hand the Sundogs their second straight loss 6-3 heading into the CHL All-Star break. With the loss the Sundogs drop to 16-15-1 in a three-way tie for second place in the Southwest Division with 33 points.

In the first period, the Sundogs would use the Central Hockey League's third-best power play to grab a 1-0 lead just 3:04 into the game as Brent Kelly would collect a pass from Ryan Steeves in front of the Corpus Christi net. Kelly had no problem pushing the puck past netminder Ron Vogel to notch his league-leading 24th goal of the season. The Rayz would steal momentum in the first and would tie the game at the 13:41 mark as Matt Turek would skate in scoring on passes from Kevin Watters and Steve Pelletier. It seemed as though the first period would end in a tie but Corpus Christi would grab a late goal to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room. Nicklas Lindberg would score with just six seconds left in the frame from Tony Johnson and Ryan Carter.

In the second, Corpus Christi would increase their lead just 59 seconds into the period. Todd Paul would beat Sundogs' netminder Kris Mayotte with help from Carter and Blair Stayzer. At the 11:11 mark, Turek would be pulled down in the Sundogs zone while on the penalty kill receiving a penalty shot in return. Turek would skate in and squeeze the puck below Mayotte's blocker to give the Rayz their biggest lead of the game. Arizona would score its second power play goal of the night with Cory Stillman cutting the Rayz lead back to two. The goal would be his 14th of the season at the 11:40 mark. Defenseman Chris Bartolone would be credited with the assist.

The Sundogs would grab their third goal of the game just 27 seconds into the final frame to climb to back within one goal. Forward Ryan Steeves would notch his 11th goal of the season from newcomer Dmitri Leonov. The goal would prove to be the Sundogs' last as Corpus Christi would tally two more in the third. The first of two third period goals would come as Derrick McIver collected a pass from Jason Baird and Geno Parrish skating all alone on Mayotte and beating him with a backhand shot. With less than four minutes to play, the Rayz Lindberg would be tagged with a two-minute tripping penalty to give the Sundogs a man advantage. Sundogs Head Coach/GM Marco Pietroniro would pull Mayotte in place of an extra offensive skater. Turek would score an empty net goal on a pass from Chris Mei, his third of the night to ensure the 6-3 win.

Arizona's Kris Mayotte stopped 33 of 38 shots in the 6-3 loss while Ron Vogel stopped 24 of 27 shots for Corpus Christi in the win. Arizona finished 2-for-7 with the man advantage while holding the Rayz to 0-for-5 on the power play. Next up for the Sundogs are the Colorado Eagles on Friday, January 19 at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado. Game time is set for 7:05pm. You can catch all the action live on 96.7 FM The Wolf, the Official Broadcast Home of the Arizona Sundogs.

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Central Hockey League Stories from January 13, 2007


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