Ice Tigers take two against the Coronado T-Birds of El Paso
The Ice Tigers won both games of a two-game series against the Coronado T-Birds of El Paso, Texas, played at the Taos Youth and Family Center Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 15-16).
After the series, the Ice Tigers are 5-2-1.
Saturday
Saturday’s game was a fierce one. Though the score was 10-2, the teams were tied with penalties at nine apiece, including one on each team for checking from behind – a “2 and 10” penalty that has the offender off the ice for 12 minutes total and a teammate serving with them for the first 2. Both penalties were the result of checks from behind.
Leandro Richert had a hattrick plus two assists to top off his three goals.
Sunday
The rowdiness of the Dec. 15 game was absent from the first two periods Sunday morning game. The first period was scoreless until Richert (assisted by Grayson Nayfor) broke the game open, scoring with 2:56 to go in the first period.
After controlling the puck the first couple of minutes of the second period, Finn McMullen assisted by Lachlan Henderson made it 2-0 Taos.
Under two minutes later, El Paso returned with a goal of its own, and for almost five minutes it seemed that it might be a tight game. It was also a mellow game. With one penalty in the first period, one in the second, and two earned just after the second period expired – one on each team.
Before heading into the locker room after the second period, the Ice Tigers began to pull away, putting up 3 more points in the second.
The teams took the ice again with Taos ahead 4-1, and Taos put three into the goal within the first 3:15 of the third period to make it 7-1. As the gap widened the T-Birds seemed more desperate. The penalties on both sides exploded, with 10 between the two teams in the third period.
It didn’t help El Paso. Ice Tiger goalkeeper Skylar Spriggs played the third period, picking up where John Delany left off. Delany defended 7 of 8 shots between the first two periods, while Spriggs defended 6 out of
8 in the final period. Energized by the eighth Taos goal with 1:36 to go, El Paso scored two of its own, ending the game with a final score of 8-3, Taos.
Up Next for the Ice Tigers
Next weekend the Ice Tigers face their rivals, the Los Alamos Hilltoppers in a two-game series. The first game will be played on the Ice Tiger home ice at 5:15 p.m. Friday, (Dec. 21). The second will be hosted by Los Alamos on Saturday.
At stake in each of these games is the North Star Trophy. Since 2006, the trophy is at stake during every Ice Tiger / Hilltopper matchup.
The Ice Tigers are currently in possession of the trophy.
‘Since 2006, the trophy is at stake during every Ice Tiger / Hilltopper matchup.’