Friday: El Paso Rhinos 3 @ Colorado Grit 4 – Rhinos head up to Greeley this weekend to face off against the Colorado Grit. Rhinos are first on the board tonight as Ty Gordon earns a goal at just past nine minutes in to the first period. Just a few minutes later the Grit would bring it back to a tie as they earn themselves a goal of their own as the first period comes to a close. After a quick intermission we return for the second period where the Grit takes a surprise lead halfway through the period. Grit would hold the 2-1 lead for the majority of the period until Jacob Solano ties it up once more for the Rhinos to send is 2-2 into the third. Rasmus Nousianen and George Porier bring it to one more tie, scoring one goal each for their respective teams, sending us in to a scoreless overtime and in to a Shootout as well. The shootout would go for a division-record eight-round bout, where the Grit would ultimately take the win. Colorado was up 4-3 at the end of Game #1.
Saturday: El Paso Rhinos 3 @ Colorado Grit 5 – Rhinos & Grit return to the ice for Game #2 tonight as we await to see if the series gets split. In a repeat of last night the Rhinos take the early lead thanks to AJ Reed scoring a goal at the just under the ten minute mark for a 1-0 lead that would hold for the majority of the period. Georgge Poirier ties it up for the Grit and the game starts to look awfully similar to last night’s pace. William Johnson steals the lead for Colorado but the Grit ties it back up within a minute and the game is at a temporary stalemate at 2-2 just before the Grit’s Nolan Smith steals the lead one more time. At the end of the second period Colorado leads 3-2. As the curtain Rises on the third period the Rhinos aim to put up one final offensive as Benjamin Winklemann brings it to 3-3. Unfortunately for the Rhinos this would be the final goal of the night as Alec Babineau and Luc Bydal score twice more to round up the game with a 5-3 victory.
