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Three straight losses leave Rampage sitting at .500

Things have suddenly gone sour for the San Antonio Rampage. After getting off to a hot 5-2 start, the club has dropped three-straight to fall back to .500. The team returned home after capping it’s five-game road trip with a wild loss to Adirondack and were promptly swept by the Rockford IceHogs.

The Rampage dropped the finale of their long road trip to the Adirondack Flames 7-6. Steven Kampfer opened the scoring with his third of the season, from Brett Olson and Mark Mancari, to give San Antonio a brief lead. The Flames got goals from Ben Hanowski, Michael Ferland and Garnet Hathaway to jump ahead 3-1 after one. In the second period, Garrett Wilson tallied from Bobby Butler and Logan Shaw before Rocco Grimaldi tied the game with a power-play goal. Blake Parlett and Drew Shore picked up the helpers on the Grimaldi marker. Hanowski scored again to put Adirondack back on top 4-3. Shane O’Brien forged another tie with a power-play goal set up by Vincent Trocheck and Butler at 9:39. Shaw gave the Rampage their first lead with his second of the campaign just 1:21 later. Shore collected his second assist of the night on Shaw’s goal. Former Panther draftee Corban Knight beat Michael Houser to even things at five apiece heading to the third period. Max Reinhart put the home team up by one with a goal at 1:46. Butler struck back for San Antonio, scoring from O’Brien and Olson a few minutes later. Knight completed the scoring with a power-play goal at 7:36 to give goaltender Joni Ortio, who made 36 stops, the win. Houser finished the game with 30 saves for the Silver and Black.

San Antonio returned home to face Rockford on Friday and fell to the IceHogs by a 6-3 count. The Rampage were without Vincent Trocheck and Rocco Grimaldi who were recalled by the parent Florida Panthers. Rockford’s Matt Carey lit the lamp at 15:29 to open the scoring. Blake Parlett replied 38 seconds later to tie the game up. Alex Petrovic and Greg Zanon collected the assists on Parlett’s first of the season. Joakim Nordstrom and Garret Ross tallied in the second period to give the IceHogs a 3-1 advantage. Ryan Martindale scored a power-play goal, from Bobby Butler and Shane O’Brien, to cut the deficit down to one heading to final frame. In the third, Ross scored again to put Rockford up by two before Connor Brickley notched one for the Rampage to make it 4-3. Zanon and John McFarland picked up the helpers on the Brickley goal. Phillip Danault beat Dan Ellis for the clincher and Ross completed his hat-trick into the empty net with one tick left on the clock. Michael Leighton made 22 stops to get the win, while San Antonio’s Ellis finished with 17 saves.

In Sunday’s rematch, the IceHogs whipped the Rampage 5-1 to complete the sweep. Brandon Mashinter, Mark McNeill, TJ Brennan, Ville Pokka and Dennis Rasmussen scored for Rockford. The Mashinter and Pokka goals came with Rockford on the power play. San Antonio avoided a shutout defeat when Mark Mancari scored with 4:56 remaining in the game. Scott Darling stopped 30 of 31 shots to get the win. Michael Houser finished with 20 saves to fall to 3-2.

The Rampage will host the Toronto Marlies on Friday before facing off with the Oklahoma City Barons on Sunday. The team will travel to OKC for a game on Tuesday. The Silver and Black has recalled Wade Megan and Joe Basaraba from ECHL Cincinnati to replace Trocheck and Grimaldi. Quinton Howden remains out with an injury.

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