1/6 BUGS VS. CORPUS CHRISTI

All tied up
The Rayz tied things up early in the third with a beautiful rush into the Mudbugs zone. Quick passed from Justin Quenneville and Jason Baird resulted in Derrick McIver’s wrister past John DeCaro.

Penalty-kill unit helps Bugs take charge
The Mudbugs killed off 1:36 of a two-man disadvantage to begin the second period and quickly garnered the momentum. Chris Gustafson’s shot from the blue line appeared to deflect off Chris Abbott in front of Zelenewich and into the net. The power-play goal tied the game at 2 early in the second period.
MacPherson and Dan Wildfong teamed up for yet another goal to give the Mudbugs the lead late in the second period.
MacPherson was perched behind the Corpus net and threaded a pass to Wildfong in the slot. The Mudbugs captain sent a one-timer past Zelenewich to bring the crowd to its feet.

Dangerous time for the Mudbugs
If Bossier-Shreveport plans to extended their 8-0-2 streak, they will have to weather 1:36 of 3-on-5 to begin the second period. The Rayz have been creating great chances and should have no problem doing so at the beginning of this period.

Now we know how this was a 5-4 game last week.
Good action up and down the ice and the Rayz have come to play. They certainly are matching the Mudbugs' playmakers thus far and two long-distance bombs have Corpus up 2-1.

Mudbugs forwards Joe Ori and Daniel Pegoraro collided while shorthanded and Geno Parrish sent a wrister from between the top of the circles which deflected off the bottom of the cross bar and into the net.

Of course, Rajan informs me that Geno is the older brother of Mark Parrish, the NHLer.
Mark Parrish began his career with the Florida Panthers (I was a season-ticket holder there his rookie year) and now plays with Minnesota.

Baird 1, Brassard 0
Jason Baird smoked a one-timer past John DeCaro midway through the first period to tie the game at 1. The blast from the top of the left circle was quite impressive.

Bugs get on the board first
Forbes MacPherson didn’t take part in the pregame warm-ups due to a nagging injury but was entered in Saturday’s lineup and scored less than five minutes into the contest.
MacPherson slipped a rebound through the legs of Brent Zelenewich.
The Mudbugs veteran may not be having the statistical season many hoped for, but this guy is still gutsy.

More from the NFL playoffs
Mudbugs ticket manager Tim Hill can tell the Dallas Cowboys are playing. Many of the season-ticket holders are no-shows tonight -- especially in Sections 107, 108 and 109. Hiller says there is a huge group of Cowboys fans as season ticket holders.

Thanks to Rajan for more dope
It's Saturday and I don't have to do any of my own research ... this is great ... from Rajan ... Rayz winger Adam Powell wears No. 37 for Corpus Christi because of his favorite NFL player, Shaun Alexander of the Seattle Seahawks. Things must have been interesting this week in the locker room as Corpus head coach Ken McRae is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan. The Seahawks and the Cowboys met Saturday night in the NFC Wild-Card playoff round.

Something to watch for tonight!
Courtesy of info brought to you by Corpus beat writer Greg Rajan, there may be something extra to watch tonight. Rajan says the Jason Baird-Chris Brassard matchup might be interesting.
Brassard slashed Baird after Baird scored a shootout goal on New Year's Eve. Now Rajan said Baird did do a bit of showboating and showed up rookie goalie Adam Hanna.
We'll see if that has carried over!

BUGS (16-9-5) vs. Rayz (15-12-5)