By Lee Samuels

Las Vegas – It was a high-speed, high-performance game and when it was over the visiting team got the checkered flag.

Stony Brook University of New York 6, UNLV Rebels 4. That was the final score of this ultra-heated game which had an electric playoff feel to it as both teams blasted up and down the ice before a jammed crowd at City National Arena on Friday night.

Jake Saxe of UNLV worked very hard and scored two goals. Hunter Muzzillo scored, as well as Kane Toriumi for the Rebels. The game was stormy with hard checks right from the start. Rebels goalie Erik Eidissen took on massive firepower from all directions. He made some awesome – like massively great – saves.

UNLV’s defensemen had to deal with Stony Brook’s size, speed and power right to the finish of the game. The temperature of the game action was like a burning 1,000-degrees, maybe more. The hometown crowd was really into the game.

It was UNLV’s first loss on home ice this season. The two teams go right back at it here Saturday, 7 pm.

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From the Blue Line – Rocco was the referee. He had a busy night….UNLV, ranked #14, now has a record of 10-8-1…. Stony Brook, 11-6-0, came into this game ranked #21….First time we’ve seen this: when a young girl began to sing the pre-game National Anthem all in the big crowd stood and sang with her – very touching moment for all…Even more touching Blake Smith, age 10, was helped to center ice to drop the first puck. He’s in a battle with a rare disease. Everyone stood and cheered for him. Blake took it all in, dropped the puck and gently smiled towards the big crowd. Precious moments shared by all…No one in town does big game night promotions and music better than UNLV. We can thank Rebels GM Zee Khan for all of that.