Roughriders drop close game to Thunderbirds, 1-1 in Tournament

Farmers Branch, TX - This will be a brief update on the game, further updates will follow. In a very close game on Friday afternoon, the Roughriders drop a close and well played game to the Colorado Thunderbirds. The game ended 4-1, but was closely battled all the way through.

Thomas Jarman leads the Roughrider attack

The Rocky Mountain Roughriders have faced off against the Colorado Thunderbirds exactly 6 times this season with a 2-2-2 record. This game would tilt the scales one way or the other. Both teams were about as even as could possibly be. Whoever showed and made the least mistakes was going home with the win.

The Thunderbirds started out taking two back to back penalties, the first at 1:49 of the first period when Ben Hull was called for interference and then Griffin Foulk was called for roughing at 3:16 of the first, however the roughing was called as a matching minor as Hunter Clark was called for hooking also at 3:16 of the first. The Roughriders were unable to convert on the powerplay.

At 11:37 of the first period, Brad Donokowski beat Joakim Jutras on a nasty rebound giving the Thunderbirds the 1-goal lead. As a side note, and I try to be very objective and unbiased when watching the game, the officiating was down right horrible no matter which team you were rooting for. Penalties were called for plays that looked fine, penalties were not called for clear infractions...it was just mind blowing.

At 12:39 of the first period things went a little south for the Roughriders. Lance Pennington was involved in an altercation along the boards and was caught retaliating for a missed called and got called for a roughing. As Pennington was defending his case with the official he was nailed with an unsportsmanlike penalty resulting in a 4-minute double minor. The Roughriders managed to kill off the penalty.

The Roughriders skated into the second period and got things back under control. The Roughriders were leading the play and putting up more shots than the Thunderbirds. At 1:20 of the second period Nate Guymon was called for cross-checking and managed to get a 4:00 double minor. The Thunderbirds were able to convert on the power play when Jacob Slavin grabbed a 2-0 lead for the Thunderbirds at 2:50 of the second period.

At 5:46 of the second period the Roughriders found themselves on the powerplay courtesy of a Gustav Olofsson trip. Robert 'RJ' Salvato razzled and dazzled his way across the blueline, dangled a few Tbirds and beat the netminder for the opening score for the Roughriders trimming the Thunderbirds lead back to one.

The rest of the game was a back and forth battle with each team swapping scoring chances. The Thunderbirds earned one more goal late in the third period and then grabbed an empty net goal with time expiring in the third to win the tilt 4-1. However the score is not entirely indicative of the tough, close game that we watched on the ice.

The Roughriders outshot the Thunderbirds 24-19 and played a great game. In the end too many penalties and too many missed scoring chances kept the Roughriders from victory.


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