The Corpus Christi IceRays have to be feeling pretty good after seizing the advantage over the weekend in the first round of the North American Hockey League’s Robertson Cup playoffs.
The Rays claimed their first two games on the road in Amarillo, jumping to a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
Corpus Christi rallied from way back to beat the Bulls Friday night, coming back from a 4-1 deficit midway through the second period. Che Landikusic got the game winner with 2:21 left.
And then on Saturday, Kyle Moore’s hat trick boosted them to a 6-5 overtime victory. Moore scored the game winner on an unassisted goal only 77 seconds into overtime.
Since this is a best-of-five series, the IceRays can finish off a series sweep Thursday night at the American Bank Center. Face-off will be at 7:05 p.m.
Game 4, if necessary would be at 7:05 p.m. Friday at the American Bank Center.
It’s an impressive playoff start after Corpus Christi management made a lot of key moves during the regular season.
“We have gone through a lot of roster changes, a lot of additions, a lot of subtractions and with us taking this thing over because in the offseason there were a lot of pieces that needed to be put in this puzzle,” Corpus Christi coach Ryan Cruthers said. “We were not going to stop until we found the right ones and we worked hard to build in the right culture here and bring in the right players for that culture but we were finally able to do that.”
Cruthers said the team’s recent surge might lead to some stability next season.
“Looking into the future, it doesn’t appear we will make a lot of moves next year,” he said. “But we like what we were able to accomplish throughout the season and it took a lot of work. (We’re) happy with the team we are bringing to the playoffs.”
