Rage drop 1st game of trip, 5=3

January 25, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rocky Mountain Rage News Release


Youngstown, Ohio - The Rocky Mountain Rage began a season-long, seven-game road trip and the first of three games in three days in Youngstown with a 5-3 loss to the SteelHounds at the Chevrolet Center.

The teams' power plays set the tone in the first period. Youngstown struck twice with the man advantage on back-to-back opportunities at 11:34 from Eric Main and 13:26 from Steve Birnstill. Rocky Mountain then cut the lead in half with a power play goal of its own at 14:38 when Daymen Rycroft re-directed a Brent Cullaton shot from the point.

Trailing 2-1 entering the second, the Rage out-played the SteelHounds in the period, out-shooting their hosts, 13-7, but they could not make any additional headway past Youngstown goaltender Andy Franck. Instead, the Hounds scored the only goal of the frame at 3:27 when Kurtis Dulle fired a one-timer home to establish a 3-1 lead heading into the final period.

After successfully killing off three straight Youngstown power plays to begin the third, including two five-on-threes, Rocky Mountain was unable to mount much of an attack once back to even strength and gave-up what turned out to be the game-winner at 7:00 from Joel Irving.

In the end, the Rage did rally down the stretch to make things interesting as Simon Watson and Trevor Weisgerber each scored power play markers at 12:50 and 17:25, respectively, to draw the club within one with 2:35 to play. But after generating tremendous pressure with goaltender Scott Reid pulled in favor of an extra attacker in the last two minutes, Rocky Mountain yielded an empty-net tally to Kevin Jarman at 19:16 for the final 5-3 margin.

The loss ended a three-game winning streak for the Rage, dropping the club to 27-6-3 on the year with 57 points. Cullaton's assist on Rycroft's first-period goal marked the 700th point (255g-445a) of his 12-year career, while the goal was Rycroft's 32nd overall and 15th power play tally of the season, both CHL bests. He now has goals in eight straight games, giving him the league's longest goal-scoring streak of the season.

The Rage and SteelHounds face-off again tomorrow night before concluding their three-game set on Sunday afternoon. Both games can be heard live on The New ESPN Radio 1600 with tomorrow's pre-game show beginning at 4:55 p.m. MST followed by Sunday's at 1:55 p.m. MST. Fans can also catch live audio and video of both tilts online via www.rockymountainrage.com.

Rocky Mountain then continues its longest road trip of the season with games in Laredo (Jan. 30), Corpus Christi (Feb. 1), Rio Grande Valley (Feb. 2), and Tulsa (Feb. 5) before finally returning home to Broomfield Event Center on Feb. 8 and 9 against the Arizona Sundogs and Odessa Jackalopes, respectively.

Single-game tickets for the remainder of the 2007-08 regular season are available with prices ranging from $18 - $43 per seat (parking included). Fans can purchase tickets at Broomfield Event Center's box office or through Ticketmaster by logging-on to www.Ticketmaster.com, calling (303) 830-TIXS, or visiting any Ticketmaster retail outlet.

For group ticket information, please call the Rage at (303) 439-RAGE or visit www.rockymountainrage.com.



Central Hockey League Stories from January 25, 2008


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