Hockey with Ocean Breezes

Day 1:
DSo, we saw the Corpus Christi Ice Rays ( 5) battle the Texas Tornado (4) among the swaying palms along the gulf coast, and win in a shoot out. Both teams seemed relatively evenly matched and played rather well for 18-21 year olds.With the majority being 20-21 years old.
The Tornado even had one youngster at 17 from the Czech Republic, and boasted 3 more non-USA players, from Quebec, UK and Russia.
While the Ice Rays youngest were 18 - mostly US citizens, with a Czech and an Ontarian (both 20 yrs) as  leaveners.
Goals for the Tornado were by Spiller, Biggs (PP-also a SO goal);
Rays' scorers were Purcell on a 5-3 PP, Smereck PP, Grebovsky and Fetzer, with Beau Walker's the winner.
Goalie (Tornado) Leisner faced 22 sogs plus 6 in SO.
Stolarz of the Rays stopped 38 of 42 in regulation. Good vision so it seemed to me, energetic and athletic.
IMO the best players was Joe Ginley of the Rays, and Tornado's Biggs.
Tornado with a larger percentage of older players peppered (with 42 sogs) Stolarz, but could not score, due to his alertness and a good defense by the Rays. Anyway, it was an exciting game to watch. Being played played enthusiastically by the youn'uns (lol) with speed and great temerity. In front of a large crowd of mostly young people. Lots of kids were there exhibiting their ideas in a Texas(?) wide competition in the field of animation, buses after buses full and all parked at the convention center area which also is home to Rays' arena, and the Art Museum. With those buses taking up all parking, we skipped the art museum on this trip.
We had to spend the first period just trying to match name and numbers on the jerseys,  because there was no 'program note sheet' so must have missed some tricky stuff, surely, lol! Fascinated by the Rays' Jerseys, which were striking, especially if one is a Harley Davidson rider.
Update: Ice Rays loose to Tornado 2 to 6 on Saturday.

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Day 2:
Talking about exciting game, I could not say that for what we saw the next night when the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees simply massacred the Laredo Bucks with a 8-2 score. In regulation!!!
 IMO, the fault rested almost entirely on the shoulders of the Bucks' goalie Torrie Jung, because his defense tried, really tried, but to little avail. The Killer Bees were aswarm and delivered sting after sting!
Names like Aaron Boogaard (who had a goal), Aaron Lee and Terry Ruskowski will be familiar to Aeros fans...LOL!
Seeing the efficient play of the Bees with a score of 8 versus the 2 by the Bucks and the overwhelmed Jung, I could not help but feel very sorry for the Bucks, they were out stung by the buzzzzzing Bees.
To the roaring approval of the large crowd.
A course I'm no Bee fan nor a Bucks fan. That's why seeing this trophy game with the killing off the Bucks was just toooo sad to watch. Even though this win assured the Bees a play off spot in the Berry Conference.

After the game was a jersey auction. The new black jerseys, which must have looked so threatening to the opposing team . Aaron Lee's fetched the unheard amount of $ 3.000 (for the Killer Bees), most others went for 350-500. And we bid too, on Jon Madden's Nr. 44 (no relation to the former Blackhawk John Madden, we think) and got it, too. And will sport next season, since the jerseys will be worn by Bees during their Play offsd and then shipped, signed, to the happy bidders. This almost all black jersey, looks really sharp with the yellow bee emblem across the chest  stating perhaps..."BUZZZZZ OFF Busters" lol...IMO.

Update: Another big win on Sunday Bees 7 and Bucks 2 (even though NOT with Jung but with Rondeau) with Edmondson of the Bees getting his 1. hattrick and Gendur reaching a new points record of 73 pts. Another 2 players to watch, maybe, for a AHL future, although the Bees AHL affiliate are the Griffins, not the Aeros.
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Day 3.
King Ranch spread visit. Birds, cattle, deer and horse viewing.
Brush, flowers, cactus, mesquite in bloom. And warm and muggy. Huge spread.
Interesting, this history of the King/Kleberg families whose descendents still are involved in running the company which has spread not only over the 825.000 acres in Texas, but also owns land in California and around the world. And driving to and from the King Ranch one runs (drives through) by towns named after some of them, Alice and so on.

Some other amusing nuggets to enliven the rather boring drive form Houston South to Corpus and beyond: the many little burgs named after women such as Louise, Rachal, Inez,Victoria,  Edna.
Later on they switch to men's names and mostly Hispanic ones at that.
Does that mean that women had the upper hand in S Texas? LOL.

Henrietta King for one, sure did. She donated land for Kingsville, The Texas A&M University branch there, for hospitals and schools and more.
On the Ranch tour we mingled with travellers from as far away as Quebec...
the ubiquitous Winter Canadians :),
as others from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan etc. in theirWinnebagos and SUV's crammed full to the brim. Today we loll and rest and take to the spas....
Photos to follow.
Come click on artandhockey and look.

The Lone Star Skate

"The Lone Star Skate" by Glenn Hart and Rusty Burson with an insightful foreword by former NHL Hall of Famer Bob Gainey, is a brand new book,
just published by BridgewayBooks of Austin.
An interesting read for any serious, or just curious, hockey fan.

Glenn Hart brings to it his personal experience as hockey club owner. Hart, President and Co-Founder of Laredo Energy, first got involved with Hockey in 1995 by bringing an IHL franchise to Houston, 1999 he brought Hockey to Laredo, by creating a venue and a solid fan base for Laredo's CHL's

Laredo Bucks.


Rusty Burson, whose career spans reporting for Galveston newspaper, editor of several publications in Dallas/Ft Worth, and currently associate editor of "12th Man Magazine", brings his expertise to bear on the composition and lay out of the book. He has also written and published seven books.

The 10 chapters of the book start with  the success of the Howe family and Aeros in Houston. And end with the story about  Glenn Hart's personal involvement with hockey - the Houston Aeros and the Laredo Bucks.

It speaks frankly of management, financial, and other difficulties.
Of fans versus owners.
Of players versus coaches.
Of coaches versus owners.
And of many other hurdles that faced hockey in Texas then, and still does now.

But it also presents personal recollections that make us smile.

It brings back memories to older fans, especially if we were THERE when..

There, could be in Houston, the Coliseum, the Summit!

There, could be in San Antonio, the Freeman Coliseum, the ATT Center!

There, could be in Dallas, the Reunion Arena, the AA Center!

And others, all engraved in loyal hockey fans' hearts! 

And we read about  NHL, AHL, ECHL, WHL, WHA, IHL- a quick look at hockey history.

On the way, it covers owner Norm Green, beloved of Minnesota fans,
until he moved the team to Dallas.
Mike Modano, a Dallas Star, who frankly admits, that flip flops and shorts is what he likes!
Jim Lites, Dallas Star advertising guru who succeeded  to bring hockey into baseball and football country -with 'big specials, big hair and big assets'.

The Dineen family, who made Houston a hockey town, even if only at the AHL level.

Terry Ruskowski, Canadian farm boy, player and coach adds his personal anecdotes and photos.
Who, not too long ago, signed a life time contract with the Laredo Bucks.

Rick Kozuback, involved with hockey as co-founder of the WHL, currently CEO  and President of the parent company of the CHL, yes, he too has many funny stories to tell about hockey's toddling steps in the South.

And such stories abound in this lavishly illustrated book, a worthy addition to any hockey fan's library!

Brett Hull, two Stanley Cups winner, NHL and American hall of Famer and a true professional talks about his career and the influences coaches have on players. As a Dallas Star he won the 1999 Stanley Cup.
We read about his life as the son of a Hockey legend and a figure skating mother.
And how he found his way in Dallas.

John Torchetti, former player and coach of many teams, who ended up in San Antonio with the Iguanas.
And later came back to coach the Rampage. Along the way, we learn about the fate of Iguanas, Dragons and assorted reptiles, till the Rampage made their appearance to stay.

Texas, a hotbed for Hockey?
Who would think so.

"The Lone Star Skate" certainly informs us, yes, there are more teams here than you'd think.
And the number of rinks, amateur leagues and youth leagues are almost equal to those in the North.

These personal stories, exaggerated or not, sure make for an amusing read for hard core fans and curious first timers alike.

(All photos from the book, taken by artandhockey, for reviewing purposes only)

ISBN-13:978-1-934454-38-1.
www.bridgewaybooks.net