Rampage Game Thread: Tucson 3/21/17

The beloved Rampage got a couple loser points against a strong SD Gulls team this weekend but that left you wanting more. Game 2 on Saturday was especially tough with a blown 3rd period lead and a horrifying overtime performance leading to a shootout loss. At this point it’s progress looking at ways they should have won rather than how they got blown off the ice, so that’s a good thing.

Injury/Roster Notes

- Justin Hamonic was reassigned to the Eagles after the weekend. He’s a good kid, glad he got a few shifts while he was in town.

- Julien Nantel has a minor LBI and wasn’t available for this past weekend’s games. Remains to be seen whether he returns to Colorado but you have to feel that getting playoff eligible is part of the plan.

- The Rampage signed a couple ATOs over the weekend. Ben Storm, a gigantic (6’7 230#) forward drafted by the Avs in the 6th round back in 2013, and Brady Shaw, a more reasonable sized (6’1 205#) LW out of the University of Vermont. Coach Veilleux said they would get a few practices this week and the staff would go from there on how, when, if and for what team they would be used.

- With Hamonic sent down you have to think Gus Young is finally healthy enough to play.

- Garry Nunn’s been out with a minor injury and no word on when he’ll return

- Big Sam Henley and Trent Vogelhuber are done for the year. Nathan Lieuwen is sort of still with the team we think, but not in a playing capacity.

- Reminder that the Avs still have 1 non-emergency callup left this year.

Preview: Tucson

The Roadrunners sit just in front of the Rampage in 7th place, same number of wins (24) but thanks to the bullshit California schedule they’ve played 7 fewer games. They are not a very good team and the Rampage are 3-0-1 vs them this year. 5 games left vs TUC and TX and the Rampage need them all plus another to get to the semi-respectable 30 win mark.

Lines/Pairs from Saturday

Greer - O’Brien - St Amant
Elson - Smith - Grimaldi
Ranford - Girard - Bourque
Bourke - Belzile - Petryk

Bigras - Clark
Boikov - Siemens
Geertsen - Gelinas

Martin
Cannata

Scratch: Hamonic (nacho), Nantel (LBI), Nunn, Young (?BI) + chronics

Might see a lineup change or two. The Smith and Girard lines were awful on Saturday and there was blendering towards the end of the game to no avail. On the other hand the OB and Belzile lines were fantastic, Reid Petryk scored 2 goals, so they should stay the same. On defense everyone besides Mat Clark was pretty solid, even Gelinas, so it might be nice to give him a rest and put Gus Young in for a game.

Schedule

Rampage vs PDORunners, Tuesday 8pm ET on Ticket760

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This one goes pretty much directly vs the Avs/Bloos, but it’s almost a guarantee to be a better game.