OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Oklahoma Warriors, proud members of the North American Hockey League, fell 4-2 to the El Paso Rhinos on Friday night.
Ben Osiashvili opened up the scoring at the 13:00 mark of the first period, tapping home a backdoor feed from Nolan Beddow and Owen Koller, putting the Warriors up 1-0. Raphael Laviolette potted home the equalizer on the man-advantage at 9:22, set up by Austin Michaud and Chase Nyitray to end the period 1-1.
The lone second period goal came from Tyler Wilmoth deflecting a feed from Denny Oh and Jack Dunne at 15:57, putting the Warriors back in front, 2-1.
Miscues plagued the Warriors in the third, as Aidan Bergner forced a turnover at the blueline, leading to a breakaway goal at 16:33 to even it back up to 2-2. Just 20 seconds later, Bergner forced another turnover and found a feed to Jacob Solano, who made it 3-2 after the play went under review at 16:13. Austin Michaud logged the exclamation point at 15:03, with Aidan Bergner and Mikey Tate collecting the helpers, securing the 4-2 final for El Paso’s first win of the season.
Jakob Hanlan stopped 16-of-20 in the Warriors’ effort, and Luke Brassil stopped 22-of-24 in the Rhinos win.
