The San Antonio Rampage wrapped up 2014 with a dominating win over Texas before falling in overtime to the soon-to-be-gone Oklahoma City Barons and dropping their first of the season to the aforementioned Stars.
Rampage 7, Stars 3
Rocco Grimaldi tied a franchise record with five points (1G/4A) and finished with a +5 rating to power the Rampage past the Stars by a 7-3 count in San Antonio. Grimaldi opened the scoring with his third of the season, from Quinton Howden, at 7:16 of the first. Grimaldi and Howden combined to set up Steven Kampfer at 16:13 and Logan Shaw 2:21 later to give the Silver and Black a 3-0 lead after one period. Gemel Smith beat Dan Ellis early in the second period to get the Stars on the board. Drew Shore scored 1:24 later with the assists going to Connor Brickley and Mark Mancari. Garrett Wilson lit the lamp from Grimaldi and Bobby Butler to give the Rampage a 5-1 lead heading to the third. The two teams traded four goals in the final frame with Matej Stransky and Scott Glennie scoring for the Stars, while Wilson and Shaw found the back of the net for San Antonio, Butler and Shore got the helpers on the Wilson goal and Grimaldi and Howden set up Shaw’s empty-netter. The assist was Howden’s fourth of the evening. Ellis finished with 33 saves to get the win. Jack Campbell and Jussi Rynnas each surrendered three goals for Texas. San Antonio scored the 7 goals on just 18 shots.
Barons 2, Rampage 1 (OT)
The Rampage fell 2-1 to the Barons in overtime in their final home game of 2014. Brandon Davidson blasted the puck past Michael Houser with 1:03 remaining in the extra session to give the Barons the win. Brett Olson staked the Silver and Black to a 1-0 lead at 18:20 of the second period. Bobby Butler drew the only assist on Olson’s fifth of the season. Oklahoma City’s Connor Jones scored early in the third period to tie the game. Houser made 37 saves in the hard-luck loss. Laurent Brossoit turned aside 27 shots to post the win for the Barons. Forward Stephan Vigier made his Rampage debut after being recalled from ECHL Cincinnati.
Stars 6, Rampage 3
San Antonio opened a six-game road trip with a 6-3 loss to the Stars on Sunday in Cedar Park. Gemel Smith opened the scoring for Texas just 23 seconds into the game. The Rampage quickly evened things up when Bobby Butler notched a power-play goal from Alex Petrovic at the 2:25 mark. Curtis McKenzie scored later in the frame with the Stars on a power play to give Texas a 2-1 lead after one. Garrett Wilson bagged a power-play goal from Brett Olson and Mackenzie Weegar early in the second to forge another tie. The Stars struck back with tallies from Scott Valentine and Brett Ritchie to go ahead by two. Jesse Blacker notched his first for the Rampage, with San Antonio on power play, to cut the deficit down to one. Rocco Grimaldi and Quinton Howden combined on the helpers. The Stars put the game away in the third as Smith and Ritchie each got their second goals of the game. Ritchie’s was into an empty net. Dan Ellis took the loss, stopping 24 of 29 shots, while Jussi Rynnas made 37 saves to pick up the win.
San Antonio (17-10-3) continues the long road trip today against the Utica Comets and then plays a pair in Toronto versus the Marlies on Friday and Saturday.
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