The San Antonio capped off their annual Roadeo Road Trip by taking three of four points from the Charlotte Checkers before returning home to post a 4-1 victory over the Iowa Wild.
Checkers 3, Rampage 2 (SO)
The Rampage opened the two-game set in Charlotte with their first shootout loss of the season. The Checkers started the scoring on Zach Boychuk‘s power-play goal 4:55 into the game. Rocco Grimaldi bagged his tenth goal of the season, from recently-returned Quinton Howden, to even the game early in the second period. Trevor Carrick scored early in the final frame to give the Checkers the lead back. Shane O’Brien picked up his tenth goal of the campaign at 12:22 to forge a 2-2 tie. Bobby Butler picked up the lone assist on the power-play marker. Butler missed wide on a penalty shot attempt with 3:53 left in regulation time. Danny Biega scored the only goal of the shootout in the sixth round to give Charlotte the win. Drew MacIntyre stopped 40 shots to post the win while Michael Houser finished with 32 saves for the Silver and Black. Dany Heatley made his Rampage debut and finished with a +1 rating and four shots on goal.
Rampage 5, Checkers 2
San Antonio won Thursday night’s rematch to finish off the Rodeo Road Trip with a very respectable 5-4-1-1 record. Corban Knight opened the scoring just 43 seconds in, with his eleventh goal from Connor Brickley and Greg Zanon. The Checkers got goals from Trevor Carrick and Zach Boychuk to take a 2-1 lead after one. Carrick’s goal came with Charlotte on a power play. John McFarland tied the game at 4:59 of the second, with the assists going to Knight and Brickley. The Rampage grabbed the lead with four seconds left in the frame. Logan Shaw got the big goal, his thirteenth, from Quinton Howden and new arrival Matthew Corrente. Rocco Grimaldi lit the lamp at 8:24 of the third to give the Silver and Black some breathing room. Howden drew the only helper on Grimaldi’s eleventh. Howden picked up his third assist of night by combining with Corrente to set up Bobby Butler’s empty-net goal with 10 seconds left on the clock. Michael Houser started again and made 25 saves to get the win while John Muse stopped 25 shots for the Checkers.
Rampage 4, Wild 1
The Silver and Black played their first home game in a month and skated to a 4-1 win over Iowa. The first two periods were a goaltending duel between Michael Houser and John Curry, who kept the game scoreless through forty minutes. Brett Olson finally recorded the game’s first goal, from Shane O’Brien, at 5:05 of the final frame. Garrett Wilson notched a power-play midway through the period to put the Rampage up by two, with the assists going to Mackenzie Weegar and O’Brien. Wade Megan and Quinton Howden combined to set up John McFarland’s seventh at 15:05, giving the home side a three-goal advantage. Kurtis Gabriel ended Houser’s shutout bid with 3:24 left in the game. McFarland potted an empty-netter, from Corban Knight, to complete the scoring. Houser made 24 saves in the winning while Curry finished with 31 stops.
The Silver and Black (33-19-5-1) will host the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday before welcoming in the Lake Erie Monsters for games on Friday and Saturday.
In personnel news, former Colorado College goaltender Joe Howe was signed to a PTO to back up Michael Houser with Dan Ellis up with the parent club. Josh McFadden was returned to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.
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