Roughriders win Game 1 at Rocky Mountain District Tournament 4-0

Hunter Clark drives hard to the net

Farmers Branch, TX - In the first game of the Rocky Mountain District Tournament, the Rocky Mountain Roughrider U16 team won Game, 1 with a strong showing, 4-0. The Roughriders jump out to a 1-0 showing in the A bracket. The tournament is broken into two brackets, an A pool and a B pool. The Roughriders are in the B pool along with the Thunderbirds, NW Regulators, and Dallas Ice Jets. In the A pool their are the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes, Texas Alliance, Dallas Stars Elite, and Colorado Rampage.

The Roughriders began play in the first period with a strong forecheck and solid control of the play. The Regulators took a penalty at 8:28 of the first period putting the Roughriders on the power play. The Roughriders converted on the power play at 10:10 of the first period when Braiden 'the kid' Miller put away the rebound on Thomas Jarman and Lance Heislers assist, which would prove to be the game winning goal as the Roughriders were able to keep the Regulators scoreless on sound defense and excellent netminding from Joakim Jutras who stopped all 13 shots. The official scoresheet called the shots in favor of the Roughriders 20-13, however I am pretty sure there were a few more shots on both sides of the ice.

The Roughriders continued strong puck possession and were rewarded with another goal at 16:59 of the first when Hunter Clark buried a Joey Marchese pass giving the Roughriders a 2-0 advantage. The Roughriders carried the 2-0 lead into the first buzzer.


The Roughriders came out in the second period playing solid hockey. At 7:46 of the second period Nate Guymon sent in a ripping shot from the point low and on the ice. Braiden Miller tipped the puck up and over the goaltender's shoulder stretching the Roughrider's lead to 3-0. The second period ended with the Roughriders maintaining their 3-0 lead.

The third period began and both teams played very defensively with very few opportunities on either side of the ice. With 1:16 left in the game, the NW Regulators pulled their goalie to get the extra attacker on the ice. Colin Biebel and Michael Buonincontri battled for the puck and managed to get control of it. Biebel sprinted across center ice and after getting over the blue line sent the puck flying towards the empty net. With just 0.6 seconds left on the clock the Roughriders sealed the victory with a 4-0 shutout as Biebel buried the empty net goal.

Next up the Roughriders vs. Colorado Thunderbirds


Official Gamesheet