AHL San Antonio Rampage

Rampage Down Sharks, Move Back Into Second

Published on March 13, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Antonio Rampage News Release


WORCESTER - The San Antonio Rampage regained a tie of second place with a 3-1 victory over the Worcester Sharks Wednesday night at the DCU Center.

The Rampage moved back into a deadlock at 80 points with Rockford for the second spot in the American Hockey League West Division, even though they've played three less games than the IceHogs. The Rampage's record now stands at 35-18-3-7, tying a franchise-high of 17 games over .500. They also moved within a game of the franchise-record for wins in a season.

Josh Tordjman continued his strong play for the Rampage, taking a shutout into the final four minutes of the game. He stopped the first 25 shots that came his way and withstood a late Worcester attack to extend his career-high win total this season to 21. In total he made 29 saves, and has turned away 390 of 419 shots in his last 19 games for a .931 save-percentage. It was the 18th time in 21 games Tordjman has limited the opposition to three goals or less, with the Rampage going 13-4-1-3 during that time.

It helped that the offense gave Tordjman a nice, early cushion to protect with two first-period goals.

Jon DiSalvatore beat Worcester goalie Thomas Greiss with a power-play putback as he went tumbling to the ice halfway through the opening period. DiSalvatore has 13 points in his last 14 contests (six goals, seven assists).

Later, Brendan Bell netted his seventh goal of the year to tie a career-high for goals in a season, previously set in 2003-04 while with the St. John's Maple Leafs.

Mike Zigomanis assisted on both scoring plays for the Rampage to extend his point streak to four games (two goals, four assists).

Bryan Helmer hooked forward T.J. Fox at 14:53 of the second frame, giving Worcester a penalty shot opportunity. But Tordjman stood tall between the pipes, pushing the shot aside with his left blocker to keep Worcester off the scoreboard. Tordjman has stopped two of three penalty shots faced this season.

Helmer capitalized on a 5-on-3 power-play chance for the Rampage to put the game on ice. Bell glazed a pass to the Rampage captain, who then stroked a one-timer through the defense and into the net for a comfortable 3-0 lead at 7:13 of the third frame. The Rampage lead the AHL with 80 final-period markers.

Worcester tallied a late goal from defenseman Dan Spang to avoid the shutout.

Tonight was Pete Vandermeer's 500th AHL game. It also marked the first victory over Worcester ever for the Rampage, who came into tonight 0-1-1-1 all-time against the Sharks. The Rampage have allowed three goals or less in all 35 of their wins this season. Tonight's contest was the first of four straight on the road against Atlantic Division foes.

The Rampage will begin a string of three games in as many nights at 6 p.m. Friday when they face off with the Hartford Wolf Pack in Connecticut.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 13, 2008


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