Mar 26

Written by: DukeKeith
3/26/2008 9:01 PM

(MARLBOROUGH, MA) – The El Paso Rhinos got head coach Cory Herman his 100th win in a big setting in one of their biggest games, edging the Minnesota Junior Owls, 5-4, in the Silver Cup tournament Wednesday.

Defenseman Costi Hinn scored twice and the Rhinos went 3-for-7 on the power play to propel themselves back into the thick of the race for a spot in the Tier III Junior A tournament semifinals Friday morning.

Herman earned his 100th win in just 115 games over two seasons – a remarkable and unprecedented run in American junior hockey for a new franchise and its equally new coach.

The game didn’t start well for El Paso, as the Owls’ special teams play got the Minnesotans a 2-0 lead by the first intermission.

A power play goal by Edwin Hudick at 15:33 was followed exactly 1:37 later by Jakub Simicek’s shorthanded strike.

But defensemen Hinn and Tad Norris scored just over two minutes apart to tie the game early in the second period. Hinn blasted a slapshot top shelf past Owls goaltender Phil Poeschl 1:06 into the second frame, followed by Norris’ power play goal delivered from low in the left circle at 3:07.

After the two sides played to a standstill the rest of the period the Rhinos caught fire again to open the third by rattling off three more unanswered goals, as Hinn struck again less than two minutes in with a power play goal at 1:18.

Austin Balko delivered a third score on the man advantage at 4:28, breaking away to beat Poeschl unassisted.

Eric LaBounty notched an unassisted goal at 12:51 for the Western States Hockey League champions to make it 5-2 before Hudick scored two more for the hat trick, making the final five minutes of the game a nail-biter for El Paso’s ever-present fans.

Hudick got a power play goal at 15:12, then scored the game’s last just 34 seconds from the end of regulation.

An empty net in the final half minute did not yield results for Minnesota.

After giving up nine goals in his first game against the New Hampshire Monarchs, Arthur Hollinger was solid in net for the Rhinos, stopping 41 of 45 shots for El Paso and showing no ill effects from Tuesday’s loss.

El Paso is now second in its bracket of four teams – the Third Division – with a 1-1-0 record.

Each of the three division winners moves into the semifinals, along with the team with the next best record.

New Hampshire leads the Third Division at 2-0-0 after beating the Rhinos’ next opponents, the Dubuque Thunderbirds, 3-2, Wednesday.

Both the Owls and Thunderbirds are 0-1-1 after tying in their game Tuesday, 3-3.

El Paso puts itself back into contention for what would be a wild card berth in the semifinals, but needs help because goal differential is the main tie-breaker for teams with like records.

The Rhinos goal differential is minus-6 after their 11-4 loss to New Hampshire, followed by the one-goal win over Minnesota.

Of course, El Paso must first beat Dubuque Thursday afternoon.

The Thunderbirds are defending champions of the Central States Hockey League and have a long tradition of playing tough, physical hockey.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” said Herman. “Dubuque plays close games and they love to hit. It sure slowed New Hampshire down.

“But we don’t mind a good, physical game. We just need to take care of the puck and play solid playoff-style hockey.”

A simple message, but it’s also simple math: the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Including the line from 0 to 100, with only 15 detours.

The Rhinos and the Thunderbirds will play Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. MDT. B2 Networks (www.b2livetv.com) will once again provide a free audio webcast of the play-by-play with the link provided at www.elpasorhinos.com.

Live game tracking will also be provided at www.pointstreak.com. Just key “USA Hockey” into the hockey searchbar and follow the link to “USA Hockey Junior Hockey Championships” for the latest scores, stats and information.

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