Sundogs Score Four Straight in 4-3 Win Over Rage
February 8, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Arizona Sundogs News Release
BROOMFIELD, Colo. - Divisional leaders the Arizona Sundogs (Southwest) and Rocky Mountain Rage (Northwest) squared off Friday night at the Broomfield Event Center. Coming into the contest, the Sundogs held a one-point advantage in the Southwest Division over second place Odessa while Rocky Mountain led second place Colorado by nine points in the CHL's Northwest Division. Arizona trailed 2-0 after the first period but tallied four straight en route to a 4-3 victory. Arizona now holds a three-point cushion over Odessa and New Mexico for the Southwest's top spot.
Rocky Mountain grabbed the first lead of the game 5:17 into the game on their first powerplay opportunity of the night. Daymen Rycroft pushed a loose puck home after it had slipped behind Sundogs netminder Rob McVicar. Nathan Rosychuk and Clay Plume assisted on the play to give their club a 1-0 advantage. The Rage added to its lead with its second goal with the man advantage as Dan Laperriere was tagged with a hooking call with just under five minutes to play in the opening frame. Trevor Weisgerber tallied his 19th of the year 25 seconds later from Tyler Butler and former Sundog Ladislav Kouba for a two-goal cushion heading into the first intermission. Despite the 2-0 deficit, the visiting Sundogs doubled the Rage in shots 12-6.
After trailing the Rage by a 2-0 margin after twenty minutes of play, Arizona needed only a 32 second span to pull even at 2-2. The Sundogs first cut into Rocky Mountain's lead at 7:28 of the second period as rookie Barry Horman lifted the puck over Scott Reid on a second-chance shot for his first professional goal. Tyler Liebel and Olivier Latendresse tallied assists on the play. The Sundogs followed with a goal by Karl Sellan at the 8:00 mark to tie the game at two goals apiece. Defenseman Jon Landry and forward Alex Leavitt collected assists on the Sellan equalizer. Arizona outshot the Rage in the middle period by a 15-12 mark for a two period 27-18 advantage.
After pulling even in the second, the Sundogs grabbed their first lead of the game 2:33 into the third period as CHL rookie-leading scorer Mark Kolanos slid a rebound through the legs of Reid for his 24th of the year. Rob Lehtinen took the initial shot and was credited with an assist on the third period go ahead goal. Arizona tallied its fourth unanswered late in the third to open a two-goal lead as Dan Laperriere fired a shot from the point past Reid for his eighth of the season. Latendresse notched his second assist of the game with a setup pass to Laperriere. The Rage answered back with its first goal since 15:35 of the first period as Chip Dunleavy pulled his club to within one on passes from Rycroft and Scott Reid with 1:58 to play in regulation. Reid was pulled in place of an extra offensive skater with a minute-and-half remaining but the effort proved fruitless as the Sundogs skated away with the 4-3 victory. With the win, Arizona improves its record to 26-14-4 and increases its lead over second place clubs Odessa and New Mexico to three points.
The league's top-rated powerplay was unable to tally Friday night as the Rage held Arizona scoreless on six chances while converting on two chances to finish 2-for-8 with the man advantage. Rob McVicar stopped 27 of 30 shots for his third win in an Arizona Sundogs uniform while Scott Reid blocked 35 of 39 shots in the loss, extending his winless streak to five games.
Arizona now travels north to take on the Colorado Eagles on Saturday night at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colo. Game time is set for 7:05pm and can be heard live on 96.7 FM The Wolf, the Official Broadcast Home of the Arizona Sundogs.
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