Amarillo Snaps Losing Skid, Beat Scorpions 7-3
Published on March 6, 2008 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Amarillo Gorillas News Release
Amarillo, TX 3/6/08 - The Amarillo Gorillas fell behind 2-0 to the New Mexico Scorpions on Thursday, but would use five unanswered goals to rally back and knock off the Scorpions 7-3. Amarillo came into the game with a winless streak of seven games, going 0-4-3 during that stretch, but still very much in the race for the fifth playoff spot in the Southern Conference. The Gorillas have now beaten the Scorpions six out of the last seven times they have played them, and are now tied with Austin at 47 points in the race for the final playoff spot. The Gorillas will have to be one point better than the Ice Bats over the final nine games, as Austin holds the tie-breaker with more overall wins than Amarillo.
Goals from Eric Johnson and Konrad Reeder would put New Mexico on top after the first period by a score of 2-0, with both goals coming on the power-play, the second of which being scored with less than one second left on the clock. Late in the second period however, Amarillo would begin their rally, getting goals from Matt Miller, Shaun Arvai and Chris Lipsett in the final 5:27 of the middle frame to take a 3-2 lead. They would not trail for the rest of the game.
The Gorillas offense kept on firing in the third, taking a 5-2 lead off early goals from David Nimmo and Austin Sutter to stretch their lead to 5-2. Dan Bauer stood tall in net for Amarillo after replacing Dan McWhinney between the pipes after the first period. Craig MacDonald would pull the Scorpions back to within two, scoring at 6:48 of the third, but Amarillo's offensive assault was too much for net-minder Mike Minard, as Nimmo would score his second of the game, and Trevor Read would add another to give the Gorillas the 7-3 win.
Amarillo was near flawless on the power-play going 4-8 with the man advantage, and limiting New Mexico to 2-10. Both New Mexico power-play goals came in the first period which saw the Gorillas take six minor penalties. Amarillo's four power-play goals matched a season high, set earlier in the year against New Mexico on February 16th.
The Gorillas are back in action tomorrow night with a road game against the Tulsa Oilers, starting at 7:35 PM, and then at home on Saturday night against the Arizona Sundogs. Saturday's game is a 7:05 PM start, and tickets are going fast with another expected sellout at the Amarillo Civic Center.
Central Hockey League Stories from March 6, 2008
- Amarillo Snaps Losing Skid, Beat Scorpions 7-3 - Amarillo Gorillas
- Scorpions Squander Early Lead - New Mexico Scorpions
- Sundogs Regain Sole Possession of First Place with 6-1 Win - Arizona Sundogs
- Hounds Make Moves - Youngstown SteelHounds
- Brahmas Have Big Weekend In Store - Fort Worth Brahmas
- Mr. Smith Goes To Corpus Christi - Corpus Christi IceRays
- Stanley Cup Proclamation - Tulsa Oilers
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