Sunday, October 30, 2016

Manchester, N.H.  – Cory Ward of Las Vegas scored his 4th goal of the season and was selected the Star of the Game for the ECHL Manchester Monarchs in a 4-2 win over the Cincinnati Cyclones before 1981 at the SNHU Arena. Cory is off to a strong start this season with 4 goals, 3 assists.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Innsbruck –  Fairbanks native Hunter Bishop scored two goals, former North Dakota University star Mario Lamoureaux had a goal and Dallas native, former Colgate Hobey Baker finalist Austin Smith got the game-winning goal as the Rob Pallin-coached HC TWK Innsbruck beat Graz from Austria 4-3 here on home ice. Coach Rob’s club is now 8-4-4, tied for 5th place.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Sandy Springs, Ga  – Michael Cichy of Las Vegas was +2 on the ice with two assists for the NA3HL Atlanta Capitals in an 8-1 win over the Louisana Drillers at the Center Ice Arena on Sunday. The Atlanta Capitals are now 5-4-0 this season.

Berlin, N.H. – Brandon Bavis, who played for the WSHL Las Vegas Storm two seasons ago, has signed with the FHL Berlin River Drivers. Brandon, 22, will be playing in his first season of pro hockey.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Moline, Illinois – Captain Chris Francis of Las Vegas scored for the ECHL Quad City Mallards in a 3-2 win over the Tulsa Oilers.  Chris was selected the #3 Star of the game. The crowd was 2456 at the IWireless Center.

Manchester, NH –  Cory Ward of Las Vegas had one goal, one assist and a #2 Star of the Game for the ECHL Manchester Monarchs in a 4-2 loss to the Cincinnati Cyclones. Cory has 3 goals, 3 assists this season. The crowd was 2275 at the SNHU Arena.

Norfolk, Va – Zach Pochiro of Las Vegas dealt an assist for the ECHL Norfolk Admirals in a 4-1 loss to the Toledo Walleye. The crowd was 2222 at the Norfolk Scope Arena.

Also on Saturday night:

//In a battle of BCHL Division leaders Brendan Harris dealt 3 assists and was the #2 Star for the BCHL Wenatchee Wild in a 4-1 win over the Penticton Vees.  Brendan leads in scoring for all Las Vegas players away from home with 8 goals, 26 assists. Wenatchee raised its season record to 13-2-1. Penticton is 15-3-1. There was a loud, massive crowd of 3047 at the Town Toyota Center in Wenatchee, Washington.

//Hayden Knight of Las Vegas scored and dealt an assist for the BCHL Coquitlam Express in a 6-4 road loss to the Prince George Spruce Kings before 1091 at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. Hayden has 3 goals, 1 assist this season.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Las Vegas – Goalie Erik Eidissen got a shutout win as the West #2 ranked UNLV Rebels took apart one of their all-time rivals Long Beach State 13-0 before a large crowd at the Las Vegas Ice Center on Saturday night.

UNLV raised its season record to 12-1-0, then learned that the West’s #1 ranked Utah State had lost to Weber State.

Cody Williams opened the scoring quickly, driving hard and angling in close range to score. It was UNLV 2-0 after the first period.

UNLV’s goal scorers were Cody Williams (3 goals, one short-handed), Viktor Brask (3), Dion Antisin (2), Niklas Giers, Steven Scamorza, Mitchell Province, Steve Terry and Trevor Ruiz.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

RHETT BRUCKNER NEW STAR GOALIE IN TOWN

WSHL LAS VEGAS STORM OUTWORKS ONTARIO AVALANCHE IN SHOCK 6-3 WIN

By Lee Samuels

Las Vegas – There was a timeout with a few minutes to play – the powerful WSHL Ontario Avalanche were losing and in panic mode – when WSHL Las Vegas Storm goalie Rhett Bruckner turned towards his net, took his mask off, brushed a hand through his hair and took a long swig of ice cold water from his red plastic bottle. He looked towards the rink glass and nodded his head to a friend. In a few moments he was about to make hockey history at the Las Vegas Ice Center.

Bruckner stopped incoming big blasts all night long, Las Vegas got a collective all-out effort from forwards, defensemen, coaches, you name it – and took apart the 11-2-0 Ontario Avalanche 6-3 in a staggering performance on the North Rink at the Las Vegas Ice Center.

And Bruckner, the new star goalie in town, is only 17.

It was a decisive play from Las Vegas defenseman Vito Carlo who during an all-out maddening late-game attack by Ontario, used his stick blade to tip a pass and send a puck flying over to a teammate which helped win the game. Las Vegas, leading 4-3, then got an empty net goal for a 5-3 lead enroute to three goal win.

Storm coach Gabe Gauthier said “…Rhett Bruckner was calm and smart in the net during all of the game which is important and Vito Carlo at the end did exactly what we practice – when under attack and defending keep your stick down on the ice in passing lanes.”

Las Vegas has gifted players who are about to break out. In the first period Nikita Pintsuv scored two short handed goals to give Las Vegas a 2-1 lead. Isaiah Letendre, a quick, fast forward who has tremendous acceleration, scored as did two new players for the Storm, Taylor Karr and Alex Roth. Jean-Christophe Lachapelle, a leader on ice, had one of his greatest games. Jake McKenna, one of the best defensemen in the WSHL, had two assists for the Storm. Jake and Vito helped shut down Ontario in their late-game attack runs from all directions.

“We played together tonight,” said Rhett, smiling and sizing up the three-goal win against an Ontario team which will definitely make the playoffs.

Rhett last season played for legendary coach Jack Bowkus with the AAA L.A. Jr Kings 16u team. Rhett’s goalie coaches were Tommy Tartaglione – who years ago was such a big star for the AAA Cal Wave – and Jamie Storr who played in the NHL.  Here in Las Vegas Rhett’s goalie coach is Alex Bjbrk from Wisconsin.

And on Saturday night a very young Rhett kept his temperature on the cool level when Ontario’s fire-breathing forwards charged towards him the last moments of the game.

Bruckner is so good wanted to play for the USHL Tri City Storm, the parent club of the WSHL Las Vegas Storm. The Tri City folks suggested he play in Las Vegas for a season and get more familiar with the intenseness of junior hockey.

From the Blue Line – Rhett Bruckner said he used to put Blue Powerade into his water bottle at the net but this season switched to cold water “right out of the tap.”….Rhett has battled back from two hip operations….Seth Bergeron, a callup from the AAA Nevada Storm 16u team, played very well…Jasper Fitzi, from Switzerland, made some tricky effective moves on the ice…#9 Jeffery Morgan has the look and feel of a bigtime goal scorer – it’s the smooth way he skates and how he drives towards the net…Vito Carlo is best friends with Las Vegas skater Jimmy Samuels who is now playing for ACHA D3 Kansas University…The WSHL initally posted the final score as 5-3 for Las Vegas but it was actually 6-3 according to our notebook….Las Vegas is now 3-8-1 overall this season.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Las Vegas – There is a big doubleheader of action tonight at the Las Vegas Ice Center.

6 pm – WSHL Ontario Avalanche at WSHL Las Vegas Storm

8:30 pm – Long Beach State at West #2-ranked UNLV

Friday, October 28, 2016

Las Vegas – West #2 Ranked UNLV had a smooth ride and balanced scoring in a 5-2 win over Long Beach State before a large crowd at the Las Vegas Ice Center on Friday night. UNLV raised its season record to 11-1-0. Cody Williams, who had 39 goals last winter, got his 12th to open this game. Niklas Giers, who wears #5 jersey, is one of the greatest defensemen who has ever played for UNLV. 

Alex Feese, was very strong in the net for UNLV. He is now 3-0. Alex, 21, is from Colorado Springs. He played the last two seasons with the NA3HL Gillette Wild in Wyoming.

UNLV’s top goalie Terry Martin (hand injury) of Canada is expected to be back in action soon. Terry said his right hand got struck with a puck which was blasted towards him in a recent game.

From the Blue Line – At the rinkboards was hockey dad Tony Robone father of UNLV coach Nick Robone. “Was hoping to see Larry Sanford here tonight,” Tony said. Larry is a seven-time Las Vegas Roller Coach of the Year….Athletic trainer Kendall Galor’s father is Oren who was a top roller coach for many years…..Adam Hendren was referee and Chris Crowley was one of the linesmen.  Chris, when he played roller years ago, had one of the hardest long-range shots in roller history here in town. When he wound up to fire a shot defensemen moved out of the range of fire – seriously….Hockey mom Sue Greener at the game wearing her Chicago Cubs baseball gear – a blue Cubs cap and Cubs jersey.

UNLV scoring:

UNLV – Cody Williams 12th goal of the season (Bas Assaf assist)

UNLV – Niklas Giers 3rd (Viktor Brask, Bas Assaf)

UNLV – Viktor Brask 8th (Cody Williams)

UNLV – Steven Scamorza 3rd (Connor Hetzel, Trevor Ruiz)

UNLV – Dion Antisin 7th (Niklas Giers)

Goalie – Alex Feese (3-0-0)

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ACHA D2 Final Score

#1 ranked Utah State 5, BYU 3

NAU 8, Grand Canyon 3

San Jose State 9, Cal Davis 1

Cal State 6, UCLA 2

Boston University – off weekend

ASU Maroon 5, Rhode Island 4

Kansas University (Jimmy Samuels, Las Vegas) – off this weekend

Friday, October 28, 2016

By Lee Samuels

Las Vegas –  Eric Williams’ summertime tryouts at five different NAHL level clubs ended in heartache. No one picked him, not even the NAHL Fairbanks Ice Dogs where he really wanted to play. So Williams, born and raised in Henderson, Nevada, signed with the WSHL Ontario Avalanche. He wore the ‘C’ on his Ontario jersey and had great on-ice presence in a 5-0 win over the WSHL Las Vegas Storm on Friday night at the Las Vegas Ice Center.

Holding back Eric’c NAHL tryout attempts was his age. “I’m 20, my last season of junior hockey. The NAHL teams just said they wouldn’t take a chance on me or have enough space on their rosters,” he said after the Friday night game at the Las Vegas Ice Center. “But I knew the head coach, a great person, with the (WSHL) Ontario Avalanche and this is where I am.”

Eric last played in Las Vegas for a Rob Pallin-coached Las Vegas Jr Wranglers midget minor team. He then played for the legendary Jack Bowkus with an AAA L.A. Jr Kings 18u team which advanced to the U.S. Nationals, then played for the NPHL Wenatchee Wolves and SJHL Melville Millionaires. Somewhere among all of those teams was some shoulder surgery.

“Learned a lot of Rob Pallin and Jack Bowkus. They each took a lot of time with me,” Eric said. “I still keep in touch with Vito (Carlo) of the Las Vegas team. Some Vegas players don’t like me as much so there’s some contact out there on the ice but that is ok.”

So what is the big hockey picture for Eric Williams.

“Have a big season this year with Ontario, then be recruited and play for a NCAA Division lll school. That would be awesome,” he said.

From the Blue Line – After a very long absence from the game, referee Cody Fulwiler made first appearance in years. “I missed the game so much. And with a NHL team coming to town there is much to be excited about.”…..The linesmen were Adam Stio and Jared Joeger…Las Vegas defenseman Jake McKenna had a lot of grit to his game and played very well. He is one of the best defensemen in the WSHL……The Storm’s Vito Carlo snapped off some fiery on-target passes all game long….The game got dicey at the finish with hard checks and a scrap.

Friday, October 29, 2016

Kalamazoo, Michigan – Gage Quinney of Las Vegas scored early then Las Vegas teammate Ross McMullen scored a game-winning OT/Shootout goal to help the ECHL Wheeling Nailers jolt the hometown Kalamazoo 3-2 before 1247 at the Wings Event Center on Friday night. Ross was selected the #2 Star of the Game.

Also on Friday night….

//Brendan Harris of Las Vegas had one goal, two assists, a #2 Star of the Game for the BCHL Wenatchee Wild in a 5-3 win over the Merritt Centennials before 2218 at the Town Toyota Center in Wenatchee, Washington.