Friday: El Paso Rhinos 3 @ New Mexico Ice Wolves 2 – Meeting for their second series this season the El Paso Rhinos & New Mexico Ice Wolves square off in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The early game was rather uneventful with neither team scoring throughout most of the period. Noah Easterson snuck a goal in the last minute of the game to put the Rhinos at a 1-0 lead headed into the second. Right off the bat Theo Jakobsson would go on to score at just 2:46 into the second to secure a 2-0 lead. The Ice Wolves would take a page out of the Rhinos book as they also took a last minute goal at the end of the second to cut the Rhino’s lead in half thanks to Bode Ensign. Fletcher Bernett continued this momentum as the third period began to tie the game at 2-2. As the time ran out for the third period with neither team scoring again, we head into Overtime! The final goal of the game would be scored by Carson Doyle with a beautiful shot banked off of Liam Sbrocca’s stick for an amazing ricochet to win the game.
Saturday: El Paso Rhinos 3 @ New Mexico Ice Wolves 2 – Rhinos aim once more for victory as we begin game #2 of the series against the New Mexico Ice Wolves. Ice Wolves take the first goal of the night deep into the first period which held for almost the remainder of the period. Trey Erramouspe would take a last minute goal to tie the game at 1-1 going into the second period. Rhinos brought their A-Game this period by scoring two more goals. Mike Sobaski takes a goal at the 7:23 mark followed by a rather unusual goal. The goal that followed would at first be blocked, but the Ice Wolves’ Goaltender dropped the puck onto a fellow teammate’s stick which knocked it into the net. This accidental goal was awarded to Tyler Dunkel for the Rhinos’ 3rd goal of the night. One last goal from the Ice Wolves in the 3rd period would see the Rhinos win 3-2 for a series sweep.
