Bolts, Rampage play wild three game series

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Scott Ludwig — Leave a comment

RMJHL expansion team Breckenridge Bolts hit the road last weekend for a three-game series in Monument against the Colorado Rampage. By the end of the series Breckenridge had four points to move into third place in the standings, just five point back of league leading Steamboat Wranglers (7-4-0-0) with three games at-hand.

Game one was a preview on how the entire weekend would go; huge momentum swings in every game. The Rampage came out flying pounding 31 shots in the first period, scoring just once as Bolts goaltender Douglas Wakelyn stood tall keeping his team in the game. That same pressure continued throughout most of the second period with the home team getting goals from Ethan Swedlund and a second by Christian Perry to lead 3-0.

Despite just seven shots on net in the period the Bolts broke through at 17:20 of the second period when Tanner Caldarola scored to give life to his team. Both teams battled in the third before Trey Bruggeman made it 3-2 at the midway point. Jayden Dale tied the game at 13:25 while Alexsander Goussarov scored the game winner at 17:20 to complete the comeback.

Shot totals were 60-34 in favor of the Rampage with Wakelyn finishing the game with 57 saves to earn the victory.

Breckenridge seemed to carry that momentum into the second night and would take a 2-0 lead into first intermission. Dale and Luke Noble were the goal scorers. What played out next was almost a carbon copy of the first game, with the teams reversed.

Jimmy Adams and Jack Rousseau tallies in the second would even the game at 2-2 heading into the third. It was just :27 into the third before Perry had given the Rampage the lead 3-2. Swedlund would find the back of the net just over four minutes later to make it 4-2, which is how the game ended.

The Rampage once again would be the busier team in the offensive zone ending the game with a 46-31 shot advantage. Noah Vanderbeck would help shut down the Bolts offense for the final 44 minutes to pick up the ‘W’ in net.

In the series finale it was the Colorado Rampage who carried the comeback victory momentum into the game, scoring twice (Perry and Rousseau) in the first period. Then like the previous two games the opponent fought back. Breckenridge would get goals from Luke Gosnell, Dan Risch and Luke Gosnell to take a 3-2 advantage into the second intermission. Trey Bruggeman would add an insurance goal at 8:10 of the third before Marsh found the back of an empty net in the final minute to make the final 5-2.

Declan Rooney made 49 saves to help the Bolts complete their second come-from-behind win in 43 hours.