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NAHL Amarillo Wranglers

Rhinos Defeat Wranglers 5-2

December 14, 2024 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Amarillo Wranglers News Release


El Paso, TX - The El Paso Rhinos defeated the Amarillo Wranglers 5-2 on Friday night at El Paso County Events Center.

Amarillo and El Paso met for the first time this season at El Paso County Events Center and the third time overall, after splitting a series in Amarillo on 11/22 & 11/23. Michael Manzi got the start in net for the Rhinos, while Charlie Zolin made his second consecutive start between the pipes for the Wranglers after stopping 47/49 shots in a 3-2 SOW over Colorado in his last outing.

The Rhinos struck first 5:53 into the first period when a loose puck bounced between the circles from the end wall, where two Rhinos were waiting to stuff the puck in. Ben Norris scored the opening goal for the Rhinos to give them an early 1-0 lead. Amarillo responded to tie the game at 1-1 with Noah Ribeiro tipping in a shot from Cru Hanas for his first goal as a Wrangler with 3:14 left in the period. Hanas and Sal Cerrato earned the assists on Ribeiro's 3rd goal of the season. After one period of play, the Wranglers and the Rhinos were tied at 1-1, with the Rhinos outshooting the Wranglers 16-8.

El Paso regained their one goal lead again in the second period when Roope Toumioksa found the back of the net 8:30 into the middle frame. Tuomioksa entered the Wranglers zone off a rush and buried the puck on a high rising shot for the score. Amarillo once again tied the game late in the period, this time on the power play, when Morley Phillips tipped in a shot from Sal Cerrato to make it 2-2 with 3:03 on the clock. Phillips' 3rd goal of the year was assisted by Cerrato and Trace Day. In the waning moments of the period 4 on 4 action led to El Paso's Pavo Hiltunen using the open ice to his advantage to score and put the Rhinos ahead by one once again. A shot from the near circle went into the far corner of the net to make it 3-2 with 14.9 left in the second period. Despite outshooting the Rhinos 9-7 in the second, El Paso led 3-2 through two periods.

While the Wranglers had found a way to tie the game twice earlier before, they were unable to do it a third time as El Paso added two more goals in the third period to lift themselves to victory. Early on in the third period the Wranglers had a power play goal waived off due to goaltender interference. El Paso then tacked on a goal from Owen O'Rear who tipped in a shot in front of Zolin 11:07 into the final frame to make it 4-2. An empty net goal from Duke Gentzler with 15 seconds to go sealed the deal for the Rhinos who won the contest 5-2 despite being outshot 15-7 in the third period and 32-30 overall. Despite the Wranglers best efforts to try and claw their way back into the game, the Rhinos held firm defensively and got the victory.

Noah Ribeiro scored his first goal as a Wrangler. Charlie Zolin stopped 25/29 in the loss. The Wranglers went 1/6 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill. The Wranglers and Rhinos will meet again on Saturday night with puck drop at 8:00 PM CST. Fans can watch the game live on nahltv.com or listen in to the audio stream on the Wranglers YouTube channel.

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