From the Rampage Desk: Week 24 - Spoilers

The beloved Rampage are on a bit of a hot streak with points in their last 6 games. Never mind that the wins were against bad teams and the loser points were against good ones, it’s a big change from being ineffective against everyone. The guys flew out to the West Coast for the final time yesterday to face Ontario and the hapless Roadrunners.

Roster/Injury Report

- Julien Nantel’s LBI cleared up and he was sent back to Colorado and played in the Eagles 3-2 win over Rapid City on Wednesday. Two more starts and he’s in for the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

- Garry Nunn’s undisclosed injury has healed and he took Gabe Bourque’s place on Tuesday vs Tucson. Bourque was out with illness and was a game-time decision.

- Brady Shaw’s Amateur Try Out came to an abrupt end on Wednesday for unknown reasons. Big Ben Storm remains with the team, we’ll see if he ends up getting any PT down the stretch. I guess he could be a candidate to be sent to the Eagles once Nantel gets his 5 games in. The Eagles have 7 more games in the regular season but this weekend’s pair will be the last at home. The Eagles will be a Cup favorite until the conference finals at least.

- Reminder that the Avs have one more non-emergency callup this year. I’m taking bets on if they’ll use it or not.

Fast Facts: Tucson

SAR 4 - TUC 2

Shots: 32-23 (58.2%) Turner Elson led the team with 4, Gelly and Bourke had 3

PP: 1/4
PK: 2/3

Spencer Martin stopped 21/23 (.913)

Goals: Bourke (9), Belzile (5), O’Brien (9), Grimaldi (26)

Solid game against a weak team. Duncan Siemens doubled his season assist total with 2 and got 2nd star of the game. Former captain Joe Whitney had issues holding on to the puck all night for the PDORunners, it wasn’t just us. AJ Greer’s struggles put him on the 4th line and off the power play. He played a good game, hopefully whatever message was sent worked and he can get back on track. FWIW, he and St-Amant seem to have some good chemistry together.

Preview: Ontario

The Reigns sit in 3rd place in the Pacific with a 30-18-10 record but the Rampage have played them well so far this year, going 2-2 including a dominating 5-1 win the last time they met on the road. Ontario is pretty much a lock for the playoffs but haven’t clinched yet so they’ve got more on the line. San Antonio can play loose and be the spoilers here and I’ll bet they take a win out of one of these games.

Lines/Pairs from Tuesday

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

Bigras - Clark
Boikov - Siemens
Geertsen - Gelinas

Martin
Cannata

Scratch: Nantel, Young, Storm, Shaw, Bourque (ill) + the chronics

Other than Bourque getting back in the lineup if healthy I don’t see any changes looming. I think it would be a good idea if Cannata played one of these or he’s going to be useless if they actually need him. Would be nice to see Gus Young again but the D are playing well for the most part.

Schedule

Friday at Ontario 10pm ET
Saturday at Ontario 9pm ET

All games on Ticket760

/ / / / / /

Tonight’s late game runs unopposed while tomorrow’s begins an hour before the Avs get destroyed in the 3rd period by Edmonton again. Enjoy!