Friday: El Paso Rhinos 3 @ West Texas Wranglers 2 – Rhinos hit the road this weekend for the first of many games against the West Texas Wranglers. Rhinos & Wranglers spend the majority of the first just trying to size the other team up and as a consequence we wouldn’t even see the first scores take place until deep into the period. Justin Fielden is first off tonight for the Wranglers, scoring with just under four minutes to go in the period, followed not too far behind by the Rhinos’ Huero Rivera to tie it up at 1-1. Second period is scoreless and we’d head in to the third with nothing but one point per team. Carter Tuplin snags himself a shorthanded goal early in the period for a 2-1 lead that would last the majority of the period. However the Wranglers’ take the opportunity with just 8:23 left to go in regulation time to tie it up once more (Dustin Woodfin), sending us in to overtime.
Final goal of the night is scored by our very own Carter Lehmann in overtime, giving us a 3-2 win in Game #1!
Saturday: El Paso Rhinos 4 @ West Texas Wranglers 2 – Wranglers are still playing host tonight for Game 2 of the series tonight and are looking to make up for last night’s loss in OT against the Rhinos as the puck drops to kick off the night! Lehmann starts off the Rhinos tonight with a power play goal halfway through the first period setting us up with a nice 1-0 lead moving in to the second.
Gunnar Vick puts Amarillo on the board five minutes in to the second but this stalemate was not made to last. Huero Rivera takes a last-minute goal to steal back the lead from the Wranglers before the period is out. With the stage now set the players come back from the locker rooms to start the third period. Amarillo has Caelen Cross take point to tie up the game one last time right before our boys in orange kick it in to high gear. Britton Oldham and Nick Nunez double our lead over the Wranglers, giving us a cozy 4-2 gap by game’s end.
Sunday: El Paso Rhinos 7 @ West Texas Wranglers 1 – One more time we take to Amarillo Ice to fight it out the and use up any energy left unspent. Rivera is first up tonight, scoring a goal at just over five minutes in to the first period. Thanks to phenomenal defense, goaltender Nathan Graybill manages to hold back the Wranglers for the entirety of the first period.
Rhinos return to the second period with a fire in their eyes and hungry to score some goals. Lehmann takes advantage of a powerplay and puts us up 2-0 early in the second, but this would only be the start of the onslaught. Nick Nunez and Carter Tuplin take back to back goals and make it 4-0 by the halfway point in the game. With one more goal from Lehmann to round out the period we’d move in to the third period with a 5-0 lead over Amarillo.
Lehmann isn’t out of the spotlight yet though, as just 59 seconds in to the third period he earns himself a Hattrick and also widens the gap to 6-0. Nick Nunez follows suit and tacks another score on the sheet, putting us at 7-0 with 14:13 left to go in the period. After almost 50 minutes of gameplay the Wranglers see an opening; a penalty handed to the Rhinos gives them a temporary man advantage, and Tyson Jones snatches it right up, scoring with 12:09. After finally putting themselves on the board the final score for Game 3 is Rhinos 7 – Wranglers 1.
