Once again, the Rhinos simply out-shot, out-worked and out-hit their visitors. After out-gunning the Hawks Saturday night, 75-5, in a 14-1 win, the shot total was almost as outlandish Sunday – 53-6, as Dallas was held without a shot in the first period and had just one in the third.
El Paso was perfect on the power play, going two-for-two with the man advantage, and had three short-handed goals as well. The Rhinos have notched nine “shorties” this season, second behind the league-leading Phoenix Polar
Bears.
Zach Kohn tallied two of the short-handed scores and Nick Gorup, the other. After scoring three hat tricks in the prior four games, Hayden Kowalski finished Sunday scoreless, but still had four assists. Marcus Wilhite, who also scored
is eighth in the league in scoring (22g, 24a, 46 points), while Kowalski (24g, 21a) and Kohn (15g, 30a) are tied for ninth in the league with 45 points. Austin Balko, who had two assists Sunday night, is tied for 14th with 18 goals and 21 assists for 39 points.
Arthur Hollinger picked up his first shutout, stopping all six shots he faced, taking his goals-against average down to 2.02, which puts him fourth in the league and a step ahead of fellow Chicagoan and Rhinos teammate Anthony Natali’s 2.28.
The Rhinos hit the road next weekend for the WSHL Showcase, an event pairing teams from the Mid-West Division against their Western Division counterparts. The league showcase this year will take place at the Ice Center at Northwoods in San Antonio, TX, home of the Mid-West Division’s San Antonio Diablos.
El Paso will play the Valencia Flyers at 9:30 a.m. MST Friday morning, the San Diego Surf at 3:30 p.m. MST Saturday, and will wrap up the showcase with a highly-anticipated game against the defending league champion Polar Bears Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. MST.
Phoenix has not lost to El Paso, besting the defending Mid-West Division champs in the league showcase last season, then winning the WSHL championship with two straight victories in the best-of-three league finals
played at the Sierra-Providence Events Center.
El Paso will kick off the New Year on Friday, January 11th, returning to the Sierra-Providence Events Center to start a three-night series against Dallas.
