Sunday: El Paso Rhinos 7 VS Carolina Rage 3 – The year is once again coming to a close and we’ve got the annual NA3HL Showcase at the NSC Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota! Puck drop was right @ 6:00 PM local time and we hit the ice ready to cause a ruckus! Aldiyar Irik is first up tonight taking a goal at just under four minutes into the game. Kenneth Cadwallader follows suit and puts us up 2-0 by the 10:32 mark in the first period. Carolina takes a bit to get their offensive going, but a penalty dealt to Rhinos, the Rage gets a chance on a powerplay where Roman Brown cuts the lead in half. At the end of the first period its El Paso Rhinos 2 to Carolina Rage 1.
After first intermission we return to the ice and Rhinos are ready to rumble once more! Cayden Herrera hits us with a goal five minutes in to make it 3-1. Five more minutes later we find Bejamin Green sinking it in the net for yet another point, rounding out the score to 4-1 by period’s end.
The third period looms over the ice and Carolina builds its plan for one final offensive strategy. At just over a minute in to the period they find another opening with James Parnell cutting the lead in half, but all this did was kick the hornets nest as the Rhinos take this as a sign to kick it in to high gear. Irik & Cadwallader both take another goal each, putting us up 6-2 before the Rage can mount a counterattack. Parker Brinner gives the Rhinos their last goal of the night. Parnell does end up taking one more goal for the Rage, but that’s all the game had in store for us.
El Paso Rhinos walk away from Game #1 of this year’s showcase with a 7-3 victory over the Carolina Rage.
Monday: El Paso Rhinos VS Gillette Wild – The NSC Super Rink is once again the battlefield for Game #2 of the NA3HL Showcase! Rhinos are up against the Gillette Wild today for some mid-day hockey! Donovan Balek brings the first goal of the day for Gillette, scoring at just under three minutes in to the period. Following that goal the Wild put up a defensive wall that the Rhinos would find difficult to overcome, ending the first period at 1-0, Wild out in front. Beau Delich keeps this momentum going early in the second as well, putting the Wild up 2-0 with the game looking like a repeat of the first period. The Rhinos do chip away with ferocity though, tearing down the wall brick by brick until finally Carter Lehmann breaks through, putting us on the board. Nick Nunez follows not too far behind, tying the game at 2-2 with just under ten minutes to go in the second period.
Both teams now sit at two points a piece staring each other down, now familiar with the other’s gameplan the puck dropped on to the third period where the fighting resumed. The puck flew up and down the ice, but neither team would cede control of the zone for long enough to secure a point. After 20 minutes of regulation time in the third period, we’re unable to determine a clear victor, sending us in to the third period at 2-2.
Ultimately it would be the Wild’s Dylan Peterson to put an end to the match, taking a final point with 2:56 left on the clock. El Paso Rhinos fall to the Gillette Wild 3-2 today, wrapping up Game #2.
