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Sunday, Nov. 15, 1998
IceRays ride blistering Barber to win over Wizards

Red-hot goalie leads Corpus Christi to 5-2 victory over Waco
By MARK BUTTON
Staff Writer

   Scott Barber sat slumped on the bench of his locker, his legs stretched out before him, eyes locked in a blank stare. Beads of sweat formed and slid down his brow. He wiped his face and sighed.
   Only a few minutes had passed since Corpus Christi defeated Waco, 5-2, Saturday night at Me morial Coliseum. Barber contin ued to perspire.
   "That's what you call a hot goalie," Chris Robertson said as he passed by.
   Indeed.
   Barber spent the night flopping around the ice, stopping 28 of 30 Waco shots in the IceRays' first defeat over the Wizards.
   In addition to Barber's hot per formance, Corpus Christi used stellar special-teams play to earn its third straight win Saturday at Memorial Coliseum in front of the IceRays' 11th consecutive sellout crowd.
   The IceRays (12-5-1) remain in first place of the Western Profes sional Hockey League's Central Division. Waco, the second-place team in the Central, dropped to 8-3-2. It was the IceRays' first win against Waco in three meetings.
   "I think our time had come against these guys," Corpus Christi coach Taylor Hall said. "Our guys were solid. They played tough all night, and it didn't seem as if Waco wanted it as much."
   Corpus Christi picked apart the Wizards on special teams, as the IceRays scored three power-play goals, a short-handed goal and killed eight of 10 Waco power plays.
   The IceRays multiple power-play goals was particularly impres sive. The Wizards entered the game as the league's best penalty killers. Waco had killed 92 per cent of its opponents power plays prior to Saturday. In contrast, Corpus Christi entered the game with a 79 percent penalty-killing mark.
   "Our power-play unit is really coming together," Corpus Christi forward Geoff Bumstead said. "Taylor has given us a lot of free dom, and Mike Tomlinson has been great on the point."
   Robertson, the WPHL points leader, scored two goals and had an assist, improving his point total to 29 in 18 games. IceRays en forcer Brad Wingfield scored his fifth goal in three nights and Rus sian forward Vadim Sharapov had a goal and an assist. Tomlinson, the forward platooned to defen sive duty because of injuries, scored a goal and had an assist.
   Both teams entered the game without several key players.
   Corpus Christi forward Pavel Evstigneev, goalie Frank Caprice and defenseman Don Martin missed the game with injuries. Evstigneev, whose 14 goals lead the league, has a pulled groin. Ca price has a knee injury, Martin an injured ankle. Plus, IceRays for ward Tyler Boucher and defense men Shaun Peet and Jody Praznik are still on the team's injured re serve list.
   Waco's absentees involved inju ries and a suspension.
   Wizard coach Todd Lalonde and the WPHL's No. 1 goalie, Kory Cooper, were suspended prior to the game for an indefinite amount of time. The league action fol lowed an off-the-ice fight between Waco players and coaches and Austin players Friday night. WPHL media relations director Steve Cherwonak said the league will review video tape to deter mine the length of the suspensions.
   The Ice Bats defeated the Wiz ards, 3-2, Friday in a shootout. Following the game, a brawl took place between the teams in the runway between the rink and the locker rooms at Austin's Travis County Expo Center. Both La londe and Austin coach Al Tuer were involved. Tuer was sus pended as well.
   Four other Wizards missed Sat urday's game because of injuries, including Neal Martin, who took a stick to the back of the head Fri day from Austin's Craig Johnson and sustained a concussion. The hit took place with 4 seconds re maining in regulation and was the catalyst of the off-the-ice fight.
   "It sounded like they had a tough one last night," Hall said of the Waco club. "They had 15 players and we had 16, but Waco played hard out there."
   Robertson put the IceRays ahead, 1-0, with the team's second short-handed goal of the season. During a Waco power play, Rob ertson deflected a slapshot from newly acquired defenseman Yuri Lyaskovsky into the Waco goal 2:58 into the contest. Sharapov as sisted on the goal, Robertson's 10th.
   Sharapov then pushed the ad vantage to 2-0 when he took feeds from Craig Coxe and Regan Harper for a power-play goal. The assist was Coxe's 17th, which ranks among the league leaders. Wingfield and Robertson added goals in the second period to give Corpus Christi a 4-0 cushion be fore Waco's Bill Wright got one by Barber.
   Tomlinson added his goal in the third, followed by a Paul Tzountz ouis goal for Waco. Corpus Christi will play its remaining five November dates on the road, where the IceRays are 5-1-1.

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