The Shreveport Mudbugs (21-14-1) earned an improbable come from behind 4-3 victory over the Corpus Christi IceRays to earn a much needed series sweep at George’s Pond in Hirsch Coliseum Saturday night.
After a scoreless opening period, the IceRays broke through on a lucky break at 13:02 of the second as Will Reardon steered in his ninth goal of the season as Nikola Goich got caught out of his net to give Corpus a 1-0 edge. CC led in SOG, 21-18 after two.
SHV evened the score at :57 of the third when Aidan Puley powered home his ninth goal of the year from the slot to tie the game, 1-1. Andrej Paricka earned the only assist. The Bugs would then go ahead at 1:34 when Lucas Deeb would drill home his 14th goal of the year in front to give SHV a 2-1 lead. Carter McKay picked up the only helper on the play. CC would respond at 11:34 as Pierson Sobush would squeeze in his 17th tally from the far side to knot the game up, 2-2. Then at 17:28, it was Cody Kempf who threw a shot toward the net which bounced off a few skates and into the net for a lucky tally to give the IceRays a 3-2 edge. Then it was Shreveport who had a flare for the dramatics as Goich was pulled for the extra attacker and McKay deflected home a puck in front of the net at 18:16 to shockingly tie the game, 3-3 and light the home crowd up like nobody’s business. It was at 19:58 though when McKay did it again and raced towards the net and had a shot stopped then took the rebound and wrapped it in short side to give the Bugs a 4-3 lead and send the Bugs fans into a frenzy.
Nikola Goich earned the win in net making 26 stops in the cage.
The Bugs will continue their homestand next weekend as they’ll take on the Odessa Jackalopes for a two-game series beginning next Friday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:11 p.m. from George’s Pond in Hirsch Coliseum. It’ll be our annual Military Appreciation weekend w/ our players wearing specialty jerseys which will be auctioned off after next Saturday’s game.