Cullaton Leads Rage Past Wichita, 5-2
December 8, 2007 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rocky Mountain Rage News Release
Broomfield, Colo. - The Rocky Mountain Rage defeated the Wichita Thunder tonight 5-2 at the Broomfield Event Center. It was the second Rage win against the Thunder this week. The Rage was led by captain Brent Cullaton who had a point in four of Rocky Mountain's five goals. Defenseman Tyler Butler and left winger Trevor Weisgerber also earned three points a piece.
The Rage improves to 15-2-2 (32 points) for first place in the Northwest Division. The Rage also continues to lead the Central Hockey League with an .842 win percentage. The Thunder falls to 4-13-0 (8 points) for fourth place in the Northwest Division.
The first period started with both teams trading off on the man advantage. On Wichita's second power-play, Rocky Mountain defenseman Tyler Butler fired a short-handed shot through the slot from just inside the blueline to take the early lead at 6:08.
In the next minute for the remainder of Wichita's power-play, the Thunder kept the puck right in front of Rage goaltender Scott Reid pulling him out of net. Wichita's Todd Paul saw an opportunity as the power-play expired and scored with an identical shot as Butler.
Wichita came back on the power-play and peppered Rage goaltender Scott Reid with shots. Defenseman Mathieu Wathier capitalized on one of the shots at 9:25 with a long wrister from above the left circle to give Wichita the lead.
Rocky Mountain's Daymen Rycroft capped off the scoring in the first period chipping the puck in net at 12:08 to tie the game. Brent Cullaton and Scott Wray assisted on the play. As Rocky Mountain's second leading goal scorer, it marked Rycrofts 14th of the season. Wray's assist also marked his league-leading 39th point this season.
The Rage outshot Wichita 12-4 in the second period, but both teams were scoreless with the help of Wichita goaltender Sebastien Laplante and Rocky Mountain's Reid.
In the third period, Rocky Mountain's Trevor Weisgerber earned an assist when he made a shot on goal, took the puck around behind the net and banked it off the end boards to Cullaton. The Rage captain fired it in net just 28 seconds into the period to give Rocky Mountain the lead.
The Thunder fought back improving their frequency of scoring chances by the middle of the third, but Reid kept them out of the net.
Cullaton added his second goal and fourth point of the night at 15:13 off of another cross-ice pass from line mates Weisgerber and Butler.
Weisgerber extended the lead and capped off scoring at 18:46 when he added an empty net goal from Daymen Rycroft. Goaltender Reid earned an assist on the play.
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