San Antonio Rampage Fall 3-2 to Houston Aeros - AHL

SAN ANTONIO – On a Saturday evening designated “Spurs Night” to commemorate the San Antonio Spurs 1999 NBA championship, the San Antonio Rampage fell to their AHL West Division rival Houston Aeros, 3-2, in an overtime stunner at the AT&T Center. Wearing white uniforms with a large fiesta-colored Spurs logo on their chests in place of the Rampage logo, San Antonio was unable to protect a 2-0 lead with five minutes remaining in the third period before falling in overtime.  
 
The contest opened with back-and-forth play and saw both teams accustom themselves to the flow of the game by finishing checks at both ends early on. Throughout the first, San Antonio netminder Josh Tordjman weathered a flurry of Houston shots to maintain the scoreless tie heading into the first intermission.
 
San Antonio emerged from the dressing room in the second stanza looking to salvage an early lead. Former University of Michigan teammates Chad Kolarik and Kevin Porter would answer the call and provide the Rampage with the lead they were looking for at the 3:21 mark of the second. Following a Houston turnover in the neutral zone, Kolarik and Porter worked a give-and-go heading into the Houston zone with one Aeros defenseman to beat. With the puck on his stick at the top of the right slot, the right-handed Kolarik held it for a split second to freeze the defender, before sending a quick one-timer pass to the left-handed Porter, who then beat Aeros netminder Wade Dubielewicz on his forehand to give the Rampage a 1-0 lead.
 
At the 8:15 mark of the middle frame, Houston appeared to score on a power play, but the goal was waived off soon thereafter as referee Ghislain Hebert deemed that the puck entered the net as a result of an illegal hand pass. For the remainder of the period Tordjman continued to stifle the Houston offense, turning away all 14 shots he faced in the second session.
 
The Rampage added to their lead early in the third, shortly after the expiration of a San Antonio power play. Rampage center Kyle Turris fired a spin-around pass from the left point to San Antonio left wing Jeff Hoggan just outside the crease. Hoggan then deked Dubielewicz before backhanding the puck into the net for a 2-0 Rampage lead.
 
However, just as the Rampage began to mentally prepare for the final five minutes left in the game, Houston stormed back with two goals in a 26-second span to tie the game at two goals apiece.  
 
The Aeros first goal of the evening was attributed in part to Houston head coach Kevin Constantine’s decision to pull Dubielewicz and replace him with an extra skater near the five-minute mark of the third. After a faceoff in the right circle of San Antonio’s zone, Houston left wing Robbie Earl found the puck on the right boards and sent a pass to Aeros defenseman Jamie Sifers. Sifers then fired a shot from the right point into traffic that was redirected by Houston right wing Danny Irmen past a screened Tordjman to close the deficit to 2-1.
 
To the disbelief of the Rampage and the 5,360 fans in attendance, Houston scored again 26 seconds later on an identical play. After Aeros center Peter Zingoni sent a puck into the right corner of Houston’s offensive zone, Earl beat a San Antonio defenseman to the corner and carried the puck up the right boards to the top of the right circle before firing a spin-around shot on net that hit the stick of a Rampage defenseman and deflected past a screened Tordjman high into the San Antonio goal. Aeros left wing Duncan Milroy was also credited with an assist on Earl’s goal.
 
Neither team would score in the remaining minutes of the third, thus sending the game into overtime.
 
The extra session would end promptly as a direct result of a passing miscue by Rampage defenseman Shaun Heshka with 1:20 remaining in overtime. After gathering a puck that was dumped into the right corner of the Rampage defensive zone by Irmen, Heshka felt the pressure of a forechecking Aeros forward and attempted to send a pass across the crease to fellow Rampage defenseman David Schlemko. However, Heshka’s pass was off the mark and hit a surprised Tordjman in the skates and trickled into the Rampage net. On account of the fact that he was the last Houston player to touch the puck, Irmen was credited with the game winner.
 
With the loss, San Antonio fell to 6-2-2-0 while Houston improved to 4-4-0-0 on the 2009-10 campaign. Despite making 40 saves on 43 Aeros shots, Tordjman suffered his first loss of the season. On the other side, Dubielewicz stopped 28 of 30 San Antonio shots en route to his first victory of the year.
 
The two clubs will reunite for an afternoon matchup tomorrow at 3 p.m. at the AT&T Center.

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