From the Rampage Desk: Week 25

The beloved Rampage have 9 games left this season, this weekend has a quick 2 game set vs Stockton before a trip to the Queen City of the South next week.

Roster/Injury Report

- Brady Shaw was signed to another ATO this week after spending a little time with the Eagles. Made it just in time to be included in the team photo

- Justin Hamonic was recalled from the Eagles yesterday, we presume as an insurance policy since the staff seems to be reluctant to play him much in game situations

- Chris Bigras was not on the ice at practice yesterday but was riding the bike on site. He’s missed a couple games with LBI and designated as day-to-day

Preview: Stockton

The Heat are a game back of Bakersfield for the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division so they’re going to need some urgency in the AT&T Center this weekend. The Rampage went 0-for on their recent trip out West and it would be nice to see a bounce back.

Lines/Pairs from Tuesday

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

Siemens - Clark
Geertsen - Gelinas
Young - Boikov

Cannata
Martin

Scratch: Greer (nacho), Nunn (nacho), Storm (not ready), Bigras (LBI)

This is a horribly jumbled lineup that was totally ineffective against a terrible Tucson club. Putting Clark and Duncan together is a great way to emphasize both of their weaknesses, same goes for Boikov and Young. Whatever message the staff sent to Greer, I hope both parties understand what’s up now. O’Brien’s first start at wing for the Rampage went ok I guess, the guy that really needs some time there is Colin Smith. Like I’ve said for a few years, he is not a center, don’t get fooled into thinking he is. Make a few rational changes and I’m pretty sure there’s a decent lineup in here somewhere. Let’s hope EV finds it before San Antonio runs out of games.

I’d like to give a shoutout to Mason Geertsen. After struggling with injuries for the first half of the year he’s really made some good progress over the past few weeks, at this point he’s never looked better offensively and his defense is calm and collected. It’s starting to look like he’s carrying the pair with Gelinas and actually making him a better player, which is fantastic to see. If what we’re looking at next year in San Antonio is a defensive prospect core of Geertsen, Boikov, Butcher and Meloche, hopefully with Duncan back as the vet leader and some other Jardine/Young types to fill in, things are pretty bright on the D front.

Schedule

Friday vs Stockton 8:30pm ET
Saturday vs Stockton 8pm ET

All games on Ticket760

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Tonight’s game is concurrent with Tyson Jost’s NHL debut so that’s going to be saved for later. Tomorrow’s is free and clear.