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.