Panthers announce affiliation with AHL’s Portland Pirates + Rampage Roundup (3/18/15)

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“Rampage Roundup” is a weekly feature at The Sunshine Skate to keep you in touch with your favorite future Panthers.


News:

The Florida Panthers confirmed today that starting next season, their AHL affiliate will no longer be the San Antonio Rampage. They have signed a four-year agreement to partner up with the Portland Pirates. This is particularly devastating to me as I live in Texas and love making subtle cowboy puns here and there (but I look forward to piratical puns in the future). Logistically however, the move to affiliate with the Portland Pirates in Maine is a good one for the Panthers, as it would bring the team into the same time zone and decrease travel costs. The players, coaches, and hockey operations staff will be moving to the east coast over the summer as the Rampage’s new NHL affiliate is yet to be revealed (though it will be unsurprising if it’s the Coyotes, who were the Pirate’s affiliate for the past four seasons). The move that makes sense as the decreased travel will benefit the players in ways that were previously disadvantageous with the Rampage. Despite a growing hockey market and an avid fan base in San Antonio, the team had travel far more to compete within the AHL. A few current Rampage players are also not under contract with the Panthers, including Matthew Corrente and Wade Megan, as well as new goalie Jacob DeSerres, who just signed an amateur tryout agreement with the Rampage and will likely relieve Michael Houser within the next three games.


Summary:

The Rampage had a successful and busy week, winning their three of their last four games, as the playoff push continued.

Last Wednesday night, the Rampage hosted the Milwaukee Admirals for their first matchup of the season. In a relatively straightforward game, the teams went scoreless in the first period before Brett Olson put up a short-handed goal 15 minutes into the second. The Admirals’ Mark Van Guilder tied it up two minutes later. San Antonio retook the lead in the third period with a goal from Dany Heatley, his first as a Rampage player, until Milwaukee’s Austin Watson re-tied the game, forcing overtime. In his first goal since the end of January, Jesse Blacker notched the game-winning goal 18 seconds into OT.

Playing another game on Friday the 13th, the night ended in a truly horrible fashion for the Rampage, with a 0–4 loss to the Lake Erie Monsters. While the night wasn’t all Monsters, all the time, the Rampage weren’t able to convert any of their opportunities, including three power play chances. Ben Street starting off scoring a second before the end of the first period. The second period fared not much better, as the Monsters notched a power play goal by Ben Youds with less than five minutes to go in the middle frame. The third saw Kenny Ryan score a goal at the 14th minute, with the Monsters solidifying the victory with an empty netter with over three minutes to go. Despite outshooting the Monsters 31–30, the Rampage were not able to convert, suffering their fourth shutout loss of the season.

However, the Rampage had a chance for redemption the following night, taking advantage of the opportunity to win 5–2. San Antonio had an explosive first period, with Wade Megan scoring a shorty at the halfway point. Dany Heatly followed up with another goal for the Rampage in the 17th minute, followed by Blake Parlett’s power play goal with 13 seconds to go. It would be four unanswered goals leading into the second, including Garrett Wilson’s in the 16th minute, before the Monsters were able to get on the board. Andrew Agozzino scored less than a minute after Wilson in the middle frame. Heatley got on the board once again in the third, scoring an empty netter. Despite getting another puck past Houser with twenty seconds left in the game, the Monsters weren’t able to mount a threat.

The Rampage also had a game on Tuesday night with another visit from the Charlotte Checkers. Andrew Yogan started off an impressive game with an unassisted goal barely a minute into the first period. Mark Mancari followed up a couple minutes later for his 12th of the season. Charlotte scored a power play goal towards the end of the period to stay with the Rampage, until Blake Parlett scored less than 50 seconds later to extend the lead to two goals once again. The middle twenty were more formidable for the Checkers, scoring less than a minute into the period but the Rampage scored again, with the shot coming from John McFarland in the 14th minute. The game really took a turn in the third, as the Rampage scored five goals to the Checkers’ one. Bret Olson continued his impressive streak of the past few weeks, scoring on the power play, followed by a goal from Shane O’Brien, who picked up his 11th of the season. Yogan got on the board again less than 40 seconds later, with all three goals all happening before the 5th minute of the period.

Charlotte tried to stay in it, testing the Rampage’s power play, with Brendan Woods scoring nearly halfway through the final frame for the second PPG for the Checkers of the night. That didn’t stop the Rampage as they scored two back–to–back power play goals of their own, the first coming from new defenseman Matthew Corrente and the second from Brett Olson. In another physical game, Corrente fought the Checkers’ Kyle Hagel and picked up a game misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct along with Jonathan Racine, and Tony Turgeon, as did Trevor Carrick and Ben Holmstrom. The massive win for the Rampage ended 9–3, as all but two players picked up at least a point – the exceptions being Dany Heatley and shockingly, Bobby Butler. Yogan and O’Brien picked up three points, while Olson, Corban Knight, and Jesse Blacker had two points on the night.


Impact Players:

Dany Heatley (5G, 5A) picked up his first points this week as a member of the Rampage, notching a goal against Milwaukee and two goals against Lake Erie. Andrew Yogan, after being without a point for 15 games, dating back to January 17th, picked up 2 goals and an assist last night.

Brett Olson (13G, 26A) has been having a great couple of weeks, picking up 7 points in 5 games. He had a goal and an assist against the Admirals, two assists against the Monsters, and two goals against the Checkers.

Michael Houser has been impressive in goal for the Rampage. His loss against the Monsters on Friday the 13th was his first regulation loss since the middle of February. In the 7 games he’s played since Dan Ellis was called up to the Panthers, Houser has posted a 0.925 SV%, a marked improvement over the rest of the season.


Upcoming games:

On Friday, the Rampage will travel to OKC for another game against the Barons before returning home to host the Hamilton Bulldogs on Saturday and Sunday. There is exactly a month of the regular season remaining, with the final game for the Rampage coming on Saturday, April 18th at Texas. Until then, the team has 13 other games, eight of which will be at home. San Antonio currently sits as the fourth team in the Western Conference, three points ahead of the next ranked IceHogs and only four points behind the Conference leading Griffins.


Natalija can be reached for contact on Twitter.

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