The San Antonio Rampage saw their late season woes continue this weekend as they dropped two of three to their cross-state rivals, the Texas Stars.
On Friday in Cedar Park, the Stars ripped the Rampage by a 5-0 count. Texas got first period goals from Scott Glennie, Mike Hedden, Curtis McKenzie, and Chris Mueller to end Michael Houser’s start after twenty minutes and thirteen shots on goal. Stars defenseman William Wrenn beat Rob Madore in the third period to complete the scoring. Madore finished the game with twenty saves. Jack Campbell stopped all twenty-seven San Antonio shots for the shutout victory.
The weekend series shifted to the AT&T Center in San Antonio for the final two games. Texas blasted San Antonio 8-4 for their eleventh-straight win on Saturday. The Stars scored five times in the opening period, with Kevin Henderson, Curtis McKenzie, Radek Faksa, Travis Morin, and Maxime Fortunus doing the honors. Joey Crabb scored a power-play goal, from Wade Megan and Mike Mottau, late in the frame to get the Rampage on the board. Bobby Butler tallied his 22nd in the second period, from John Lee and Trevor Lewis, to cut the deficit to 5-2. Texas struck for two more, with McKenzie and Justin Dowling getting the goals, to build their lead back up to five. Garrett Wilson scored twice in the third period for San Antonio. The first goal was unassisted and the second was set up by Butler and Michael Caruso. McKenzie completed his hat trick with an empty-netter with seventeen seconds left on the clock. Michael Houser surrendered the first three goals, on just seven shots, and was pulled at the 4:48 mark of the first. Rob Madore stopped 14 of the 18 shots he faced the rest of the way. Cristopher Nilstorp posted the win for Texas, finishing with 26 saves.
Sunday saw veteran netminder Scott Clemmensen return to the Rampage cage. The Clemmer came through in a big way, stopping forty shots to led the Silver and Black to a 1-0 penalty-filled, shootout victory. Bobby Butler scored in the second round of the shootout, only to see Brendan Ranford answer for Texas. Logan Shaw converted in the fourth round and Clemmensen stopped Brett Ritchie and Justin Dowling to preserve the win. Hard-luck loser Jack Campbell finshed the game with twenty-nine saves.
The Rampage (30-35-3-6) will finish off the 2013-14 season with two home games against the Abbotsford Heat on Thursday and Friday. Forwards Vincent Trocheck, Drew Shore and Quinton Howden were sent down the by the parent Florida Panthers to play in these games. If defenseman Colby Robak clears waivers, I would expect to see him in the lineup as well.