Mar 23, 2024 | Archived
Defenseman Alex German collected a second multi-goal game in two weekends as the Grit dropped their 2023-24 home finale in heartbreaking fashion, falling 3-2 in overtime to the New Mexico Ice Wolves. After receiving a pass from Grit winger Chris Graves, German got the goal scoring started midway through the first period. German raced down the right wing, used a cut move to split two New Mexico defenders, and powered a shot past Ice Wolve goaltender Andy Vlaha to give Colorado a 1-0 lead with 10:33 to play in the first period. The goal would hold up as the only tally in a first period in which Grit goaltender Jack Erickson made eight of his 34 saves while a 1-0 Grit lead carried into the first intermission.
Similarly, the second period featured just one tally. However, this came off the stick of New Mexico forward Rasmus Leijonhelm. After the Ice Wolve forecheck forced a turnover, the puck squirted loose in the top of the crease. Erickson was able to make an initial pad save, but Leijonhelm slotted the puck past the left pad and into the back of the net to tie the game, 1-1, with 4:11 gone in the second period. The New Mexico goal occurred between three Grit penalties, including a major unsportsmanlike misconduct penalty to Jordan Gudridge. After a tough showing on Friday night, the Grit penalty kill bowed up to stop New Mexico twice in the middle frame and finished the night a perfect 4-for-4.
The third period got off to a fast start for the visitors who grabbed their first lead of the period. Under two minutes into the third period, Ryan Seelinger fed a cross-ice pass from the right wing into the slot and Ethan Hull redirected the pass over the glove of Erickson and into the back of the net. Hull’s goal pushed the visitors ahead, 2-1, with 18:12 remaining in the third period. Colorado responded immediately, thanks to German and the power play unit. After George Poirier was hauled down by Jordan Tacheny’s stick, the Grit made their fourth power play of the afternoon count.
After receiving a rinkwide pass from Landon West, German found a pocket of space from the left point, glided to the top of the left circle, and punched a wrist shot past the glove of Vlaha to tie the game, 2-2, with 16:01 left in regulation. The final five minutes of regulation became a parade to the penalty box; four penalties were whistled and gave the Grit an abbreviated power play to start overtime.
Hunting for their first overtime victory of the season, the Grit pushed a pair of shots at Vlaha, who finished with 35 saves, before New Mexico got back to full strength with a minute gone in overtime. With 2:55 remaining in overtime, Dillion Kuntz flipped a shot at Erickson and a rebound fell loose in front of the Grit crease. Seelinger’s first effort was kicked aside, but Olivier Lamothe lobbed the third effort into the back of the net to seal the extra point for New Mexico.
Colorado is back in action on the road in El Paso on Friday night at 7:00 pm at the El Paso County Events Center.
Mar 22, 2024 | Archived
Milestone goals for Quinn Bowden and Sheldon Rioux brightened the night for the Grit, but they were unable to overcome three shorthanded goals from the visiting New Mexico Ice Wolves and fell 6-3 on Friday night at the Greeley Ice Haus. 8:45 into the first period, the Ice Wolves started the scoring with a booming slap shot from Dillion Kuntz. The clapper pinged off the crossbar and into the back of the net past Grit netminder Aden Gariepy to give New Mexico a 1-0 lead. Barely a minute later, Colorado had tied things back up. Wilder Jacober took advantage of a stumbling New Mexico defender to start a 3-on-1 down the left wing; Jacober slid the puck to the front of the net and Quinn Bowden punched the loose change past Ice Wolve goalie Jackson Fuller for his first career NAHL goal and tied the game 1-1 with 10:12 remaining in the first period. Late in the first period, Christian Carter threw a heavy shoulder check on Ice Wolve forward Yusaku Ando; the hit left Ando bloodied and forced to exit the game while New Mexico went to the power play.
Ty Tuccitto took advantage of a helpful bounce off the end glass from an off-the-mark effort to power a wrist shot past Gareipy and give New Mexico a 2-1 lead with 4:37 to go in the first period.
A tripping penalty as time expired in the first period allowed the Grit to start the second period on the power play. However, it was New Mexico that converted when Ryan Seelinger finished off a breakaway by beating a prone Gariepy to push New Mexico in front, 3-1, just 1:12 into the second period. The Grit returned to the power play after Christian Carter was retaliated against for a hit he threw in the first period; Carter absorbed multiple punches from Ice Wolve forward Johnny Johansson before the officials intervened. Johansson was issued a game misconduct and the Grit got a major power play in return.
For the second time in as many power plays, a shorthanded breakaway proved to be Colorado’s undoing. Ethan Hull picked off a cross-ice pass, raced the other direction, and slipped a snap shot past Gariepy’s right pad to expand New Mexico’s lead, 4-1, with 15:13 to go in the second period. The goal led to Jack Erickson entering the game in relief between the pipes. The Grit found an immediate response from rookie Sheldon Rioux. Rioux popped the bottle with a one-timer for his first career goal and pulled the Grit back within two, 4-2 just 5:33 into the second period.
The Ice Wolves struck short-handed for the third time in the game early in the third period. Graham Harris raced coast-to-coast, sidestepped a Grit defender, and ripped a shot over Erickson’s blocker to push the lead back to three, 5-2, with 13:31 to play in regulation. For the third time in three periods, the Grit’s response was swift.
Tomas Vlcek tipped a rebound past Fuller for his eighth goal of the year under 90 seconds later to pull Colorado back into the game, 5-3, with 12:15 to go in the third period. The deficit stayed at two until a late Rasmus Leijonhelm tap-in on the right wing post put the game to bed, 6-3, with 3:28 to play in regulation.
Mar 17, 2024 | Archived
Noah Grolnic grabbed his third goal in two games, but Colorado’s early lead vanished after four unanswered Wrangler goals, as the visitors knocked off the Grit 5-2 at the Greeley Ice Haus Sunday afternoon.
For the third day running, the Wranglers got off to a fast start behind Connor McNaughton. The Wrangler forward redirected a rinkwide pass from Roman Zap past Grit goaltender Aden Gariepy and gave the visitors the 1-0 lead within 90 seconds. Young forward Nolan Shaw brought energy back into the building after his authoritative tilt against Grayson Gerhard ended with Shaw pancaking Gerhard onto the ice. The forward egged on the crowd as he headed to the dressing room, drawing cheers from the crowd of over 500 with 15:34 to go in the first period.
Colorado then leveled the score on a backhand finish to a breakaway from Brayden Fryfogle; the fourth-year vet grabbed his third goal of the season to tie the game 1-1 with 14:28 remaining in the first period. With 5:27 to go in the first period, Grolnic’s fifteenth goal of the year was a carbon copy of his tally on Saturday; a screened wrist shot from the right circle left Amarillo netminder Connor McDonough no chance to make the save, and the Grit grabbed a 2-1 lead headed into the first intermission.
A bad line change early in the second period cost the Grit their lead. Wrangler center Jack Ivey snuck behind the Grit defense and converted on a breakaway from the blue line, lifting the puck past Gariepy and tying the game 2-2 with 18:36 to play in the second period. An unfortunate bounce allowed Amarillo to take their second lead of the game; a slapshot from the point was blocked by Alex German and the carom bounced directly to the tape of Amarillo forward Jack McDonald. McDonald pumped the puck past Gariepy to give the Wranglers a 3-2 lead with 11:29 left in the second period.
For the third consecutive period, the visitors got onto the scoresheet early. A cross-ice pass to the right wing found the stick of Jack Ivey, who roofed a wrist shot over a sliding Gariepy to extend the Wranglers’ advantage, 4-2, only 1:11 into the third period. The Grit continued to pepper McDonough, finishing with 38 shots, but were unable to find the back of the net and close the gap. Instead, the Wranglers found more insurance on a Grit giveaway at their own blue line. Morley Phillips took advantage of the loose puck and delivered the knockout blow, a wrist shot through the five-hole on Gariepy to open the Wrangler lead to 5-2 with 6:26 to play in the period.
Mar 16, 2024 | Archived
A milestone night for Alex German and a dominant second period weren’t enough to get the Grit back in the win column, dropping an 8-4 decision to the visiting Wranglers on Saturday afternoon at the Greeley Ice Haus.
Wrangler defenseman Nolan Gagnon got the scoring started, thanks to a coast-to-coast attack that culminated in a powerful wrist shot past Grit goaltender Jack Erickson, to give Amarillo the 1-0 lead with just 2:27 gone in the first period. A tic-tac-toe passing play found the trailing Jacob Miller on the left wing just 41 seconds later, who fired the puck into the back of the net to give the Wranglers a 2-0 advantage. Colorado’s response was immediate through defenseman Alex German. German accelerated out of his own zone, sped by three Amarillo players, and potted his fifth goal of the year past Amarillo goaltender Andrew Peterson, to make it 2-1 with 14:55 left in the first period. The Wranglers tacked on two goals later in the period, thanks to Connor McNaughton and Jack McDonald, and glided into the first intermission with a 4-1 advantage over the home side.
At the start of the second period, Colorado again began to climb the comeback mountain. German grabbed his second tally of the afternoon, along with his first multi-goal game of his career, by snapping a shot past Peterson from the low slot to make the score 4-2 with 19:05 left in the second period. Despite outshooting the Wranglers 14-3 in the middle frame, the Grit were unable to gain any ground at the end of forty minutes. Luke Morris squeezed a shot between Erickson and the left wing post to restore a three-goal lead for the visitors, 5-2, with 10:37 to go in the second period.
The third period brought another Grit push back into the proceedings. With 16:45 to play in the third, forward George Poirier barreled down the right wing and powered a shot off the right pad of Peterson; the rebound kicked right to Noah Grolnic who gladly pushed the biscuit into the basket to make the scoreline 5-3. Barely two minutes later, the Wranglers responded through Grayson Gerhard to once again stretch the lead back to three, 6-3, with 14:32 to play. Grolnic wasn’t done scoring, however, lifting a screened wrist shot from the right wing faceoff circle and pulling the Grit back within two, 6-4, with 7:57 left. Two late goals from Henry McRoberts and Jack Ivey would stall the comeback effort for the Grit, swelling Amarillo’s lead to 8-4 as the final buzzer sounded.
Mar 15, 2024 | Archived
The Grit couldn’t overcome a slow start in the first period, falling behind the visiting Amarillo Wranglers 2-0, before eventually dropping Friday night’s contest, 5-1, at the Greeley Ice Haus.
Amarillo’s first power play goal came off a fortuitous bounce for forward Connor McNaughton. A slap shot from the right point was stopped by Grit goaltender Pete Sterling with the left pad, caromed off the end glass, and back to the crease. McNaughton’s third effort at jamming the rebound home gave Amarillo a power play goal and 1-0 lead with 10:49 left in the 1st period.
The visitors doubled the lead shortly before the first intermission when forward Ben Ivey’s wrist shot from the right wing faceoff circle snuck through Sterling and into the back of the net with 47 seconds remaining in the period; Amarillo took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Wranglers used the power play for the second time in two periods to expand their advantage. A back door pass found Ben Ivey on the left wing post; Ivey slipped the puck past Sterling to open up a 3-0 lead with 13:56 in the 2nd period. Just over a minute later, a cross-seam pass found trailing forward Luke Morris, who rifled a wrist shot in the top corner past Sterling. The 4-0 deficit with 12:45 left in the second period spelled an end to Sterling’s night, making way for Jack Erickson.
Colorado found a spark to start the third period, thanks to rookie Lukas Mann. In just his fourth junior game, Mann cleaned up a loose puck at the edge of the crease and punched in the Grit’s first goal of the game just 32 seconds into the third period. The Grit then marched onto the power play after Wrangler defenseman TJ Richey took a high-sticking penalty. Colorado created three shots, part of a third period where they outshot Amarillo 13-6, but were unable to convert and finished 0-for-4 on the power play. Their fourth power play came with under four minutes to play and Colorado pulled the goaltender to jump start their offense. Moments after getting back to full strength, Morley Phillips iced the game for Amarillo by banking a shot off of Grit defenseman Jordan Gudridge to make it 5-1 with 2:27 to play.
