Friday Finals: IceRays sting Bulls in Game 1
South Semi-Finals Game #1
Corpus Christi 2 @ Amarillo 1 (Corpus Christi leads best of five series, 1-0)
Corpus Christi trailed Amarillo 1-0 after two periods, however Emil Romig tied the game in the third, and Brandon Berkley tallied the game winner with 3:34 left in the game as the IceRays took game one from the Bulls 2-1 backed by 38 saves from Hayden Stewart inside the Amarillo Civic Center on Friday night. Amarillo got on the board in period one as Joe Grabowski took a shot from the right point and sent the puck wide on purpose. The shot deflected off the end wall and went right to an awaiting Hampus Gustafsson who picked up the first goal of the series 6:30 into the game and the Bulls led 1-0. Hayden Stewart kept the IceRays in the game during the second period stopping all 18 shots he faced. The comeback started in the third period at 3:20 when Beau Walker sent a cross ice pass to Emil Romig who marched inside the right wing circle and found a hole in Bulls goaltender Paul Berrafato to tie the game 1-1. After no scoring for the next 15 minutes it was Brandon Berkley who tallied the game winner with 3:34 left to go in the game. Berkley took a pass down the left wing boards and fired a wrister through the legs of Berrafato to give Corpus Christi a 2-1 lead. The Bulls pulled the goaltender late in regulation however the IceRays held on for a 2-1 comeback win over the Bulls. Hayden Stewart denied 38 of 39 shots in the win for Corpus Christi who takes a 1-0 lead in the five game series. Boxscore
North Division Quarter-Finals Game #2
Johnstown 2 @ Port Huron 0 (Best of three series tied, 1-1)
In Game 2, much like Game 1, the Fighting Falcons put on plenty of pressure in the first two periods but were unable to turn that pressure into goals. Johnstown goaltender Chris Truehl stopped all 33 shots he faced for the Tomahawks. Unlike Game 1, however, Johnstown was able to get on the board, and scored a pair of goals in less than 1 minute apart in the second period. Jeff Bergh scored the Tomahawks first goal of the game, and the series, 6:45 into the second period. The puck bounced around in front of the Falcons net before sliding back to Bergh, who put a shot off the post and in. Cobi Smith-Mass made it 2-0 :55 seconds later when he scored from Brandon Reinholz and Connor Wright. The Falcons had opportunities in the third period to get back into the game, but couldn’t capitalize. Port Huron goaltender Max Milosek made 23 saves in the losing effort. With the series tied at 1-1, the third a deciding game will be played in Johnstown on Sunday, April 7th. Boxscore
