Friday: Louisiana Drillers 3 @ El Paso Rhinos 0 – The Drillers pay a visit to Rhino country this weekend for the first of three games. The first period saw a handful of penalties on both sides but unfortunately no scoring. Rhino’s & Drillers’ defenses both held long enough to send us into the second period at a 0-0 tie. As more penalties are dished out the Drillers start gaining steam and putting pressure on the Rhinos. At 11:32 into the second period Brody Neish became the first player of the night to score followed just 30 seconds later by Micah Maldonado to give the Drillers a 2-0 lead. The teams would clash one final time for the night in the third period where the Drillers would increase their lead to 3-0 at the 12:56 mark thanks to Maldonado once more. Try as they may, the Rhinos were unable to score at all this period and the drillers would take the first night 3-0.
Saturday: Louisiana Drillers 5 @ El Paso Rhinos 2 – Game 2 is afoot as the Rhinos & Drillers play it out once more! We begin the game with staunch defenses on both sides with nobody scoring, fortunately the second period was much more explosive. Noah Easterson breaks past the Drillers’ defense with a goal in just under 10 seconds. Daniel Crutcher ties the game for the drillers at 1-1. Mike Sobaski takes the lead back at 7:15 for the Rhinos, but this would be the last goal the team would see. Micah Maldonado ties up the game once more for the drillers followed by Al Evanyk to take the lead. Louisiana held on to a 3-2 lead until the last few minutes of the period where Thomas Mougin and Jack Lambert both scored two more goals. As the game had no more scoring the game would end at a 5-3 victory for the Drillers.
Sunday: Louisiana Drillers 3 @ El Paso Rhinos 2 – The puck drops on the third and final game of the series as the Rhinos & Drillers fight it out for the last time. In a repeat of last night neother team was able to score in the first period leading us with a 0-0 tie going into the second period. Rory Neish starts off the Drillers with one point up on the scoreboard. Drillers would hold the 1-0 lead until late into the period where Mike Sobaski ties the game at 1-1. After second period intermission Oklahoma came back to take the lead thanks to Thomas Mougin, but the Rhinos just tied the game again, this time at 2-2. With regulation time running out we were sent into Overtime where the Drillers’ Daniel Crutcher scored the game-winning goal for Oklahoma.
