It was deja vu all over again for the Grit as George Poirier notched a goal, but the Grit relived a 5-1 scoreline in defeat against the El Paso Rhinos at the Ice Haus Saturday night.

Colorado came off strong within the first few minutes of the period when Justin Vlassis made a pass up at the point to William Johnson as he nearly scored at the front of the net, denied by Michael Manzi as he completed a left pad save. Manzi, who finished with 30 saves, filled the shoes of Joey LoVullo as starting goaltender for El Paso after the injury LoVullo experienced on Friday night. With 15:24 to go William Johnson was able to retrieve the puck from El Paso and make his way down the ice, four on three passing it over to Cole Peter’s as he saw the rush and took advantage of the turnover going in for the snap shot although Michael Manzi completed another save. Lucca Ori has made a handful of assists so far this season, he is still looking for a goal of his own. Ori came close with 14:56 left on the clock, when the face off took place on the right side in the Rhinos zone. A shot off the block landing the puck with Lucca Ori, he made a left pass to Junker and back to Ori with an attempted rebound and got denied by Michael Manzi. Colorado was putting pressure on El Paso, leaving Colorado with ten shots on goal compared to the two attempts El Paso had on the board halfway through the first period. Colorado made great progress with their offense in the first period, but it wasn’t enough to get around goaltender Michael Manzi as he defended the net very well, not allowing a single Colorado goal. Colorado netminder Jack Erickson made nine of his 27 saves in the first period as the frame ended scoreless, 0-0.

Just 2:24 into the second period, Lucca Ori made a smart play as he sped down the left side of El Paso territory attempting to forehand a backhanded pass, got his shoulder down to take on an El Paso defenseman who pivoted too late causing a penalty, and earned Colorado an early power play for the period. During the power play, a cross-ice pass at the El Paso blue line was intercepted by Jacob Solano as he was off to the races headed down the ice when George Poirier committed a hooking penalty. A penalty shot was granted and Solano faced goaltender Jack Erickson one on one making a head fake, scoring top shelf, and El Paso jumped on top 1-0 with 16:35 to go in the second period. Special teams and Solano converged with success for the Rhinos again. The Rhinos continued to cycle the puck around on their first power play until Solano was able to flip a shot from the high slot through traffic past a screened Erickson and into the back of the net. The tally doubled the Rhino advantage, 2-0, with 10:20 left in the period. get the puck through the crease and score. 

Colorado made a quick comeback when the opportunity presented itself; Grit defenseman Braden Junker accelerated forward  and was converged on by three El Paso players. His no-look, backhand pass to Justin Vlassis created a two on none down low and George Poirier was able to slam the puck in for his second goal of the season with 8:48 left to play in the second and bring the Grit back within a goal, 2-1. El Paso received a power play from a boarding call on Cole Peters and they made use of the two minute advantage. As the power play expired, Kyle Arias made the first shot and got denied, but the puck had come out loose in front of the net and with Erickson leaned backwards, Solano completed his hat trick with his second power play goal of the period to double the El Paso lead, 3-1, headed into the third period.

Despite the shot count favoring Colorado, 24-15, the Rhinos again made their efforts count. Six minutes into the final period when Ty Gordon was able to maneuver around Cole Peters and slide the puck through the crease for Roope Tuomioksa to add to his goal collection at the expense of Colorado and make the score 4-1 with 13:53 to play. El Paso picked up their final goal with 9:43 to play when Kyle Arias retrieved the puck and made his way down the ice. Arias flew past Braden Junker, as Junker played him well keeping him to the outside, but ultimately scored with a great wrist shot to beat Erickson and add the flourish, 5-1, with 9:43 remaining in regulation.