TOPEKA, Kan. – Corpus Christi goaltender Tomas Vomacka turned in a sterling performance and the IceRays defensive corps shut down Topeka’s power play Friday night en route to a 4-1 NAHL win at the Kansas ExpoCentre.
The win raises Corpus Christi’s record to 4-3 on the season, while the RoadRunners fall to 4-7.
Vomacka finished the contest by stopping 28 of 29 shots, including many key saves with the RoadRunners on the power play. Topeka goalie Mike Rockwell faced 36 shots and finished with 32 stops.
The RoadRunners had 9 power-play attempts over the course of the evening – including a pair of 5×3 advantages – but only scored once with the man advantage. Vomacka, considered one of the NAHL’s top netminders, stopped all 14 shots he faced in the opening period when the Runners outshot Corpus 14-9, and surrendered only a third-period power-play slapper from Topeka defenseman Jake Rosenbaum halfway through the period.
It was the IceRays who broke out with a goal on the game’s first shift as Nathan Bryer – who scored a pair of goals the night before – fired a bad-angle shot at Topeka starting goaltender Mike Rockwell that eluded the rookie netminder only 33 seconds into the game. The scored remained 1-0 for the next 40 minutes until Andy McGlynn scored his 4th goal of the season 2:08 into the third for a 2-0 lead, and two minutes later Josh Tripp caught Rockwell off-guard when a low snipe to the glove side for a three-goal advantage.
Rosenbaum’s 55-footer cut the lead to two, but McGlynn added another one less than a minute later as he snuck behind the Topeka defense on a faceoff and deposited the puck behind Rockwell.
The two teams wrap up the three-game series Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. at the Kansas ExpoCentre.