Tornado Battle Back, Eventually Fall To Corpus Christi 3-2
December 9, 2011 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Texas Tornado News Release
The Texas Tornado allowed the first three goals of their game against the Corpus Christi IceRays on Friday night, and though they battled back to cut the defecit to one, they were unable to score the game-tying goal and fell by a score of 3-2. Reid Mimmack made his third straight start in net, but his 26 saves were not enough to beat Anthony Stolarz. Stolarz stopped 24 of 26 Tornado shots en route to his third straight victory against the Tornado this season.
The first period did not yield a goal for either team, nor did it provide many shots on goal. Texas outshot Corpus Christi 7-5 in the first period, but neither goal let one past. The Tornado had their best opportunity halfway through the third period, when they had a two-man advantage for 53 seconds. But the extended power-play led to just one shot on goal, with the Tornado unable to set up the in-zone attack. Corpus Christi also had a pair of power-plays in the first, but came up empty on both.
The Tornado started the second period on the advantage, as well, but just as that penalty expired, the IceRays broke the deadlock. A bouncing puck found its way to the slot where Matthew Weis got his stick on the puck and poked it past Mimmack for the opening goal of the game.
Four minutes later, it was Corpus Christi on the power-play, and they converted with the man advantage for the first time on the night. The IceRays did a great job of getting the power-play set up, and the puck eventually made its way to IceRays captain (replacing current Tornado player Mychal Monteith) at the blue line. Misuraca blasted one through a screen and past Mimmack to make it a 2-0 game.
It was 2-0 entering the third period, and with the IceRays once again on the power-play, they scored to extend the advantage to three. Misuraca got the assist on this goal, laying it across to Beau Walker, who one-timed it past Mimmack to make it a three-goal game.
The Tornado immediately responded, however, with their captain leading the way. Jordan Greenberg's initial shot was stopped by Stolarz, but Jack Prince pounced on the rebound and put it home to make it a 3-1 score just 45 seconds following Walker's goal. Two minutes later, Nick Neville held in an IceRays clearing attempt and passed it along to Marc Biggs. Stolarz went post-to-post to make the save but couldn't stop Neville's shot on the rebound. The rookie now has 3 goals and 16 points, both of which are tops among Tornado defenseman.
Neither team was able to break through with the IceRays leading it 3-2, and though the Tornado pulled their goalie late in the third, they were stuck on the penalty kill and could only draw to even strength with the extra attacker.
The Tornado and IceRays will be back in action Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. from Dr Pepper Arena before heading to AmericanBank Center for the third game of their weekend series on Sunday.
North American Hockey League Stories from December 9, 2011
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- Tornado Battle Back, Eventually Fall To Corpus Christi 3-2 - Texas Tornado
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