Nov 16, 2024 | Game Recap
An early goal from Ben Rakowski and a perfect penalty kill were not enough to get the Grit back into the win column as Colorado fell 2-1 to El Paso on Saturday night.
Physicality from the previous night carried over into Saturday’s contest early on when Grit defenseman Alex German and Rhino forward Rasmus Nousianien dropped the gloves and earned game misconducts for fighting less than five minutes after puck drop. The Grit penalty kill notched their first of six successful efforts when Carson Pavlowich picked up a high-sticking minor with 13:43 left in the first period. The minor was followed up by rookie Cole Peters earned his first career major penalty for a heavy check from behind as Colorado’s defensive corps would be shorthanded for the rest of the first period. It was the Grit’s power play that got the scoring going when Rakowski punched the puck past El Paso goalie Joey LoVullo for his third goal of the season to give the Grit the lead, 1-0, with 3:01 left in the first period.
The Rhinos turned on the offense in the second period, spraying 15 shots in the direction of Colorado netminder Pete Sterling. After an early offensive flurry from the Grit in the opening four minutes, the home side turned up the heat. Matching roughing minors to Kennan Reyelts and Jacob Solano were merely a bump in the road for Sterling, who finished the night with 30 saves. Colorado’s penalty kill was put to work twice more during the middle period after a pair of penalties taken by the goal scorer Rakowski. Between Sterling and the penalty kill, Colorado was able to take their 1-0 lead into the second intermission.
El Paso kept knocking on the door, but Sterling continued to stonewall the home side with three more stops in the opening five minutes of the period. With 13:04 left in the third period, the Rhinos finally found a breakthrough when forward Ryder Many Grey Horses pushed the puck past Sterling for his fourth goal of the year to tie the score, 1-1. Less than ninety seconds later, Many Grey Horses doubled up and snapped a shot past Sterling to give the Rhinos their first lead of the night, 2-1, with 11:40 remaining in regulation. The Grit pulled Sterling for the extra attacker with 1:40 remaining and pushed two more shots towards LoVullo but were unable to find a tying tally as the final buzzer sounded.
Nov 15, 2024 | Game Recap
Chris Graves scored for the second time in three games to spot the Grit offense, but Colorado was unable to overcome four unanswered goals and fell 4-1 in a rugged, physical contest to El Paso on Friday night.
Both teams worked through a physical start to the contest and didn’t have a shot on goal until Graves found space and pocketed his second goal of the year past Rhino netminder Michael Manzi to give Colorado an early 1-0 lead just 3:24 into the contest. Shots continued to be at a premium in the opening period, but the home side was able to find an equalizer. Winger Ben Norris beat Grit netminder Jack Erickson, polishing off a feed from Paavo Hiltunen, to tie the score at 1-1 with 8:49 remaining in the first period.
The Grit penalty kill was pressed into service in the middle frame and was forced to kill off three separate minor penalties. For the first time in seven games, the opposing power play generated a goal when a snapshot from El Paso’s Alexandre Pellerin slipped past Erickson and pushed the Rhinos ahead, 2-1, with 9:51 left in the period. Erickson gave his offense every chance he could while making 14 of his 29 saves in the middle frame. Twice, the Grit had power plays wiped out by penalties and the second time, the Rhinos used the open ice to pad their lead. Hiltunen added to his multi-point evening when he scored with 36 seconds left in the frame to give the home side a 3-1 lead headed to the second intermission.
The third period featured an early push from forwards George Poirier and Sheldon Rioux, who both nearly beat Manzi in the period’s opening six minutes. Looking for a goal to tighten the contest, the tally instead went the other direction. With 9:27 left in regulation, Ryder Many Gray Horses slipped the puck past Erickson to make the score 4-1 and effectively put the game on ice. The fireworks didn’t end there, however. Moments later, defenseman Evan Smutney objected to a cross-check from Rhino forward Duke Gentzler and the paid dropped the gloves and were given game misconducts for fighting. With just over six minutes remaining, Reyelts and Many Gray Horses exchanged post-whistle penalties as frustration continued to mount for Colorado down the stretch. The final act was a match penalty for spearing given to forward Luc Bydal with two minutes remaining as the Grit killed off a major power play until the final buzzer sounded.
Nov 9, 2024 | Game Recap
The Colorado Grit wrapped up Military Appreciation weekend at home with a heartbreak overtime loss, 2-1, against the Corpus Christi IceRays in front of a near capacity crowd at the Greeley Ice Haus.
The first period was marked by outstanding Grit defense and goaltending. Colorado killed off an early major penalty to Ben Rakwoski and Colorado’s netminder Pete Sterling made 11 of his 28 exceptional saves during the opening twenty minutes. Only one puck snuck past Sterling in the first period when IceRay forward Cody Kempf wired a wrist shot in to give the visitors a 1-0 lead with 11:49 left in the period.
In the middle frame, the Colorado penalty kill again gave the offense time to settle in. A second successful penalty kill paved the way for center George Poirier to nab the lone goal of the contest. The forward was left wide open in front of the Corpus Christi net and slid the puck in through the five-hole to tie the score, 1-1, 4:30 into the period. Colorado received a major power play opportunity after a major misconduct to the IceRay captain Pierson Sobush but were unable to convert as the second period wound down, tied at 1-1.
For the third period, Colorado stifled the Ice Ray attack. The visitors were limited to just four shots in the final period, a franchise record for the fewest shots allowed in a period. One of the shots was a snap shot from Matthew Green that pinged the crossbar and bounced to the corner as the score remained tied at 1. The Grit had two power play chances at the end of regulation and into overtime.
A four on three man advantage was presented to the Grit to kick off the extra session. Despite a shot on goal and passing to find some way past goaltender Nikita Volsky, who finished with 25 saves, the Grit were unable to find the net. With 34 seconds to go in overtime, an initial shot from Troy Pelton was padded aside by Sterling, but the rebound bounced right to Lars Petter-Eckholm to punch it in the net, securing a win for Corpus Christi on the road.
Nov 8, 2024 | Game Recap
Ben Rakowski scored for the second straight game and the penalty kill continued its run of perfection, but the Colorado Grit fell short in a hard-fought battle, losing 4-2, against The Corpus Christi IceRays.
The IceRays capitalized on a few defensive lapses to secure a lead towards the middle of the first period. IceRay captain Pierson Sobush ripped a snap shot over the glove of Grit netminder Jack Erickson to push the visitors ahead, 1-0, with 8:06 remaining in the first period. The Grit penalty kill showcased its consistency to end the first period – two consecutive penalty kills over the final five minutes of the frame while fending off a 12-shot period brought the Grit into the first intermission, 1-0.
Colorado, who hasn’t played a home game in a month, started off the second period with a major offensive push. They were rewarded on the power play when Chris Graves pumped a wrist shot past Corpus Christi goaltender Nikita Volsky to tie the game, 1-1, and net his first goal of the season with 15 minutes left in the second period. The two teams did not stay on level terms for long when IceRays Cody Kempf scored 28 seconds later, besting Colorado goalie Jack Erickson with a wrist shot that deflected off a skate to make the score 2-1 with 14:26 left in the second period. For the second time in the period, the power play got to work again. Ben Rakowski belted a snap shot past Volsky to tie the score, 2-2, with 1:12 before intermission.
Both teams fended away power play opportunities in the opening half of the third, as for the third time in three meetings, a close finish beckoned between the IceRays and the Grit. The visitors benefitted from a freak carom a second time when winger Stepan Kuznetsov banked a shot off Erickson from below the goal line. The puck squeaked through to provide the IceRays a 3-2 lead with 4:18 to go. The Grit pulled the netminder to hunt an equalizer in the final ninety seconds, but a late empty-netter by Sobush sealed the victory and gave the IceRays a 4-2 lead with 55 seconds remaining.
Nov 2, 2024 | Game Recap
Goaltender Jack Erickson had a career night and made sure that Luc Bydal’s goal held up before a late flurry from the Grit offense that culminated in a 4-0 victory for Colorado to salvage a series split in El Paso.
For the second night of the series, Grit goaltender Jack Erickson turned in a masterful opening frame to give the Colorado offense an opportunity to get started on the road. The Grit’s third line put together a flurry of chances from Ethan McEneany and George Poirier with roughly 11:00 minutes to play in the frame. Both efforts were turned away by El Paso goaltender Michael Manzi. The latter stages of the period were defined by Erickson, as he made 17 of his 42 stops in the opening twenty minutes and take the contest to the first intermission tied at 0-0.
Special teams loomed large during the second period. The Grit nabbed an early power play to begin the second period and pushed three shots on goal at Manzi, but were unable to convert. Colorado got back-to-back successful penalty kills in the early stages of the period to keep the scoreline knotted, 0-0. McEneany made his presence felt again when he scrapped with El Paso forward Jacob Solano, earning stick taps from the bench as headed to the box with 8:55 remaining in the period. The scrum settled the game down and created space as the Grit snatched the lead when Luc Bydal punched his fourth goal of the year past Manzi to give Colorado the edge, 1-0, with 3:17 to play in the second period.
The Grit again turned to their penalty kill in the early stages of the third period to protect their 1-0 lead. After killing off an Alec Babineau high-sticking minor, Colorado had a power play with 12:32 to go, but were unable to convert to add to their lead. The physical tenor continued when Landon West and a Rhino skater got into a post-whistle shoving match and were hit with offsetting minors at the halfway mark of the period. More extra curricular activities between Lucca Ori and El Paso winger Cade DeWolf sent the two speedsters to their respective penalty boxes with 4:30 to play in regulation. The Grit offense exploded with rapid fire to give Erickson the lead he needed down the stretch. Cade Kozak and Sheldon Rioux each found the back of the net, separated by only 33 seconds, to extend the Colorado advantage, 3-0, with 2:27 remaining in the contest. Ben Rakowski picked up a multi-point night when his power play tally in the final minute made it 4-0 before the final buzzer sounded.
GRIT NOTES
– Goaltender Jack Erickson notched his first shutout of the season and second of his career in the win. The White Bear Lake, MN made 42 saves, surpassing hjs previous career high of 41. The shutout puts a stamp on a dominant four-game stretch where the goaltender is 2-1-1 with a 2.20 GAA and a staggering .942 save percentage.
– The four-goal margin of victory continues to be the way of the season series between Colorado and El Paso. For the third time in six games, the victor walked away with a four-goal margin of victory. Whereas the season series in 2023-24 was marked by close contests, only two of the first six meetings have been decided by one goal.
– George Poirier extended his point streak to five games with a pair of assists – the first player in franchise history with a point streak of that length. With eight points (2-6-8) in the stretch, the Arvada, CO product is on pace to hit the 45-point plateau and score 15 goals, both of which would set franchise records.
– Ben Rakowski’s first goal of the season makes him the 16th different skater to notch a goal in a Grit sweater and the 20th to score a point. The second-year forward becomes the second Grit player to score their first career goal (Vlassis) and seventh Grit player to get hit their first North American Hockey League in the 2024-25 season.
