Corpus Christi IceRays Fall to Allen Americans
Allen Americans captain Jarret Lukin celebrates after scoring a goal in the 2nd period of Friday night's game against the Corpus Christi IceRays. Lukin had 3 points in the Americans 6-3 victory.
The Allen Americans hosted the Corpus Christi IceRays on Friday night, and after a slow start in the first, showed the IceRays why they are currently the second-ranked team in the Southern Conference. Behind a three-point night by their captain, Jarret Lukin (2 goals, 1 assist), the Americans handed the IceRays a hefty 6-3 defeat.
“I think we survived a rusty first period,” said Americans head coach Dwight Mullins. “You could tell we had a few days off, so I think we survived the first period and got better as things progressed, to the point that we were able to do some things that looked like the team we are.”
Corpus got a 5-on-3 opportunity just a few minutes into the game, when penalties were assessed to Bruce Graham for hooking and Tyler Wooddisse for tripping. But, just three seconds later, it became a 4-on-3 as the IceRays’ Chris Richards was whistled down for cross-checking. The lack of bodies on the ice really opened up the passing and skating, and IceRays defenseman Kyle Peto scored just 50 seconds later on a slapshot from the high slot.
The early story of the game was Corpus’ strong defense in their own zone. The Americans struggled for most of the period to establish themselves and set up any sort of offense before the IceRays were able to cut them off along the boards and clear the puck. Part of it may have been due to Mullins’ assertion that the Americans were a bit rusty after several days off, but the IceRays defense and back-checking also played a significan role in keeping Allen off the scoreboard early. But, that changed in the final minutes of the opening frame.
On their second power play of the evening, with just over a minute to play in the 1st period, the Americans evened the score at 1-1. Jordie Benn had the puck along the boards at the goal line and threw it to the front of the net. It was quickly redirected by a streaking Mick Berge, who picked up his second goal of the season.
Just 23 seconds later, Allen took the lead, 2-1. Benn, fresh off his assist on the first goal, got the puck off an offensive-zone draw and slipped it past screened Corpus netminder Kris Tebbs.
It didn’t take long for the Americans to get back to work in the 2nd period. About two and a half minutes in, Chris Kaufman was exiting the Americans’ offensive zone and flipped the puck back in to give his teammates time to change lines. The puck deflected off a Corpus defender and crossed up Tebbs in goal. Allen had a 3-1 lead with 17:31 to go in the period.
The IceRays kept it close, though. 9:05 into the period, Corpus had a 2-on-1 breakaway. Whitley made the save on the initial shot and the follow-up, but RG Flath, who was trailing the play, was able to poke the puck across the goal line. The IceRays had narrowed the margin to just a goal.
Jarret Lukin’s goal with 6:46 remaining in the second period re-opened the Americans two-goal lead. Lukin took a pass from teammate Brandon Straub along the boards and skated it in along the goal line. Shielding his stickless defender away, Lukin lofted the puck on Tebbs for the goal.
“I saw the guy lost his stick,” Lukin explained. “Straub had good possession, so I just called for it. Their guy didn’t have a stick, so it was a free lane right to the net, and I beat the goalie short side.”
The two teams traded several chances back and forth in the following minutes, but neither team was able to score further, and they skated to the locker room for the second intermission with Allen leading, 4-2.
The Americans jumped out of the gates early once again in the 3rd period. Lukin potted his second goal of the night to give Allen a 5-2 lead.
Corpus struck back right away, though, as Chad Woollard flipped a rebounding puck up over Whitley outstretched leg pad. Corpus was down by only two goals again, 5-3.
The Americans restored their 3-goal lead with just under five minutes to go in the game. Nino Musitelli scored after a flurry of activity in front screened the goaltender, and the Americans held on to that 6-3 lead until the end.
“We really want to keep the pace high in the hockey game,” Mullins said. “We weren’t really able to do that in the first period. But I give ourselves a lot of credit. We stuck around and we hung around. We got a new guy infused in the lineup and we’re missing a big guy (Bowers) out of the lineup. It takes a little while to kind of get going, but we hung around that first period and were able to get things back on track.”
The victory improved Allen’s record when leading after two periods to 19-1-0; a stat the coach believes is reflective of their strong play in the final period.
“I think our third periods have been our best periods all year long,” said Mullins. “If we have a period where we struggle, it’s maybe been our second period sometimes. But our third periods have been strong and I think that’s what helps carry us through.”
“They scored first, and that’s tough,” Lukin said. “But it’s something we’ve come back from all year. It’s something we may want to look into and try to score the first goal more often. We just stuck with the game plan and just played well as a whole group and it payed off in the end.”
Photos by: John O’Neill