The San Antonio Rampage opened their annual Rodeo Road Trip on Tuesday and their first stop was not far from home as they faced in their in-state rival Texas Stars.
Texas (21-16-10-1) scored early and often en route to a 6-1 win over the Rampage (27-16-4-0) in front of 4,872 fans inside the Cedar Park Center on Tuesday evening.
The Stars got on the scoreboard Cameron Gaunce beat San Antonio goaltender Dan Ellis at the 17:29 mark opening mark of the opening period, as Texas went up 1-0 going into the second period.
In the middle period, Texas scored four goals to pull away. First, Jamie Oleksiak put home a rebound past Ellis just 40 seconds after the puck drop to put the Stars up by two goals. After a Rampage turnover, Gemel Smith sent a wrist shot that found its way past Ellis to make it 3-0. Backup goaltender Michael Houser entered the game to replace Ellis.
Curtis McKenzie let-go a shot from the right circle to give Texas a four goal lead and Greg Rallo lit the lamp to put the Stars ahead 5-0 going into the third and final period of play.
San Antonio finally got on the scoreboard in the final stanza as Shane O’Brien got the puck past Texas netminder Jussi Rynnas to cut into the Stars lead at 5-1. Smith added another goal for his second tally of the game, sealing the 6-1 win for the Stars.
Ellis stopped 12 of 15 shots he faced in 22 minutes, while Houser made 13 saves on 16 Texas shots in a relief effort in 37 minutes of action. Rynnas made 28 saves on 29 San Antonio shots, earning the third star of the game.
Texas finished 3-of-5 on the power play, while the Silver and Black were 1-of-6 with the man advantage.
The Rampage will return to the ice on Friday evening when they travel to Michigan to face the Grand Rapids Griffins at 6 p.m. inside Van Adel Arena.
Was at that game earlier this year. Despite the loss, my friends and I believe that Rampage fans are nicer than those at the Cedar Park Center. Go Rampage!