Tornado, Bulls roll to wins on Wednesday

Corpus Christi 2 @ Texas 6 - Neither the Texas Tornado nor Corpus Christi IceRays had played in the last 11 days, but Texas captain Jack Prince made up for lost time with a hat trick in the team’s first game back from the holiday break, a 6-2 Tornado victory on Wednesday night. Jordan Greenberg chipped in with a goal and three assists, while Joakim Jutras made 18 of 20 stops for Texas. The Tornado took a lead late in the 1st period as Jordan Greenberg’s initial shot was stopped by IceRays goalie Anthony Stolarz, but the rebound kicked out to the left-wing for Jack Prince. Prince was crashing the net hard and put home the rebound for the opening goal of the game.  Texas made it 2-0 as Jordan Greenberg had the puck behind the net and looked for a centering pass. His pass was blocked out in front but it deflected back towards Stolarz, who was unable to make the save before it trickled over the goal line.  With the score still 2-0, Greenberg picked up his third point of the night on another Tornado goal coming late in the period, as he connected with Lovick, who was waiting at the doorstep, and Lovick powered it past the reach of Stolarz to extend the Tornado lead to 3-0 as the second period came to a close.  Texas, who outshot Corpus Christi 46-20 in the game, continued their dominance in the third period as Prince picked up his second goal of the game with yet another power-play goal.  Eric Purcell scored to put Corpus on the board, but less than two minutes after Purcell’s goal, Conner Burton netted his fourth goal of the season to make it a four-goal game once again. Michael Dery scored for the 'Rays again to make it a three-goal game.  With the game in its final minute and already in hand, all that was left was for Prince to complete his hat trick, which he did on a sharp-angle shot at the 19:02 mark of the 3rd period. Boxscore

Wichita Falls 3 @ Amarillo 8 - The South Division-leading Bulls kept their division lead at 10 points with a convincing 8-3 win over Wichita Falls.  Luke Jenkins recorded a hat-trick and an assist in the win.  Amarillo jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead with goals from Ryan Taylor, Mike Erickson, Tyler Deresky and Jenkins.  Jason Eddy and Tyler Hope scored late for the Wildcats to make it 4-2 after the 1st period.  Joe Kozlak scored the only goal of the 2nd period to make it 5-2 Amarillo.  Jenkins scored twice more in the 3rd period and Erickson added another to put a stamp on the lopsided victory, which was the Bulls 27th of the season.  Matt Leon suffered the loss, making 31 saves and allowing six goals, while Gregg Gruehl made 17 saves in the win for Amarillo. Boxscore