Arizona edges Scorpions to split series

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

Saturday was the New Mexico Scorpions’ annual “Salute to the Military” night, and both the home team and visiting Arizona Sundogs game armed and ready.

A night after ending a six-game home losing streak against Arizona, the Scorpions and defending league champions engaged in another shootout. After combining for eight goals in the final period on Friday, it was Adam Perry’s goal with 7.5 seconds left in the second period that proved to be the difference in Arizona’s 5-4 victory in the rematch at the Santa Ana Star Center.

Perry’s goal capped two nights of wild hockey where the Southwest Division rivals each earned one victory and two points. That leaves the Scorpions in third place in the division, five points behind Odessa and two behind Arizona. Odessa won at Rio Grande Valley 3-2 on Saturday after losing to them the night before.

Arizona scored first and last in the opening period and held a 3-2 edge after the end of the first 20 minutes. The Scorpions came back to score twice to take the lead only to give it up again as both goalies continued to be under attack.

The Sundogs tallied first, with Corey Stillman slamming home a slap shot from just right of the point off a feed from Joel Irving, who emerged from behind the net from the feed. 

But the lead didn’t last long. Back-to-back penalties on Arizona’s Henrick Ivarsson for interference and Sean Zimmerman for hooking that came 30 seconds apart gave New Mexico a 5-on-3 advantage. The Scorpions converted, with Neil Trimm sneaking around from behind the net and camping on the stick side corner post to beat Arizona goalie Joel Gistedt off a feed from Craig Macdonald and Aaron MacInnis.

New Mexico’s lead stood for all of 44 seconds, which is how long it took for Arizona’s Mark Kolanos to step in front of a New Mexico perimeter pass and break free for an unassisted goal, beating New Mexico goalie Andrew Martinto the glove side.

When New Mexico’s Chris Robertson drew an interference penalty with 7:43 left in the period following Dylan Row’s penalty for hooking, Arizona had its own 5-on-3. Seconds after the Scorpions killed the first penalty, Cory Stillman whipped a pass from the right side of the goal behind Martin to Irving, who tipped it in to give Arizona the 3-2 lead.

The score stayed that way until 18:23 remained in the second period, when Adam Blanchette redirected a Seth Leonard slapshot to tie the game at 3-3. Less than four minutes later Leonard got a goal of his own off passes from Mitch Stephens and Craig Macdonald, but Irving countered with another goal 1:37 later to tie the game again.

At one 5:10 minute stretch New Mexico was not at full strength because of five consecutive penalties called against them.

After Friday’s wild fight-filled contest won by the Scorpions 7-5, the rematch was relatively tame with only Arizon’s Kyle Hood and Macdonald drawing fighting penalties after mixing it up in the corner to the left of the Arizona goal in the first period. But on three occasions several players met in front of the New Mexico goal and battled for the puck, and on the third occasion with 7.5 seconds left in the period Perry pounded the puck home to give Arizona the advantage entering the third period.

From there, it was if each team was tired after back-to-back frenetic nights. Both teams had only one power play in the period, and the best opportunity for a goal came in the final 30 seconds of New Mexico’s advantage when Arizona’s Tyler Lybel was stopped by Martin. 

The Scorpions are on the road for games Wednesday (at Arizona), Friday (at Odessa) and Saturday (at Oklahoma City). Their next home game is Friday, Dec. 5 against Amarillo.