Dec. 09, 2011
EL PASO , TX – On a somber night of remembrance for the late-sister of an ex El Paso Rhino player, the Rhinos had a hard time recalling how they defeated the Fresno Monsters the night before. In a penalty ridden game, things would not end well for the boys in black and orange.
After getting the opening three goals of the contest all in the first period, a hat trick by Jason Beisinger, the undisciplined Monsters eventually rolled to an 8-4 victory against an undisciplined El Paso team. In the course of the night, eleven of the Rhino’s twenty skaters sat for at least one penalty, four of them were repeat offenders. With the team already struggling on defense, letting goalies Trent Casper and Brandon Smolarek face 49 shots combined, the penalties opened the door for Fresno to go 2-8 on the power play.
The Rhinos fought with back-to-back goals by Trey Hughes to start the second period, but just minutes later Fresno scored a pair of their own by Beisinger; the first of which was with a two-man advantage and the other on a penalty shot to give him five goals for the evening. This 5-2 deficit going into the second intermission would prove to be insurmountable for the Rhinos as they would notch two more in the third period (Oddy and Koopmeiners) but continued to struggle against the firepower of the Monsters offense who scored three more (Kolander, McKee, and Kann) to seal it off.
After a sloppy performance by both teams who together posted 112 penalty minutes on 38 infractions, these two will face off again on Saturday at 7:30pm where Rhinos Head Coach, Cory Herman says his team “will be fired up and ready to go”.
Matt Prosser|El Paso Rhinos|Follow on Twitter @kssuMattProsser
WRITER BIO: Matt Prosser is a freelance writer from the San Francisco Bay Area. For the past two seasons he has been the voice of California State University, Sacramento Hockey and is the host of The Sports Cycle with Matt Prosser on KSSU 1580AM in Sacramento and KSSU.com as well. He also broadcasts Hornets football, softball, and baseball. To get in touch with Matt please e-mail him at MProsser58@gmail.com
