The UNLV Skatin Rebels lost their first game of the year on the road Friday night after a 2-1 loss to Central Oklahoma.
Friday’s action kicked off with a very evenly paced first period, with little to no offensive zone time for either squad.
The game would get testy in the first period while still locked at zero, when UNLV’s Ezekiel Estrada was ran into by a UCO player after an offsides whistle.
UNLV forward Michael Boutoussov came in late, and leveled the UCO player from behind, knocking him to the ice. A crowd would gather around the two, and the officials began to break the scrum up.
Boutoussov would be sent to the box and get two minutes for roughing, while Skatin’ Rebels defenseman Alec Johnson would be ejected after tangling with the official on his way to the penalty box.
The Rebels were faced with a tall order; a 5-on-3 penalty kill, one of which being a five minute major assessed to Johnson.
UNLV killed off both penalties to end the first period, while still tied at zero.
Boutoussov found himself in the penalty box once again to begin the second period, going with UCO forward Carter Eha. Eha was ejected shortly thereafter following him tossing a water bottle from the penalty box onto the ice, upset with the call.
Midway through the middle period, Boutoussov found his way onto the scoresheet with a rebound to pot his first goal as a Rebel.
UNLV took their 1-0 lead into the second intermission, but their lead would only last two more minutes in the third period after UCO tied the game.
Both teams remained even at one a piece, Bronchos defenseman Davin Burton ripped a shot from the top of the circle over Wickson’s glove with 58 seconds remaining.
The Scarlet and Gray took their timeout in hopes of drawing up a play to tie the game, and pulled Wickson to gain an extra attacker, but to no avail.
The Bronchos held on for the final minute to advance to 8-0 on the year.
"We didn't play our best game,” Skatin Rebels Head Coach Anthony Greener said. “We played into their game, we let the crowd into it early, you live and you learn and you move on.”
The Rebels were matched over the course of the game in terms of tempo, and were hemmed in their own zone a fair amount of time, especially during their long penalty kill in the first period.
"If it wasn't for Wickson it would have been way worse,” Greener said. “In the third period he stood on his head.”
Despite the scoreboard and the matching of tempo between the clubs, there is still work to do for the Rebels to attempt a series split Saturday night.
"We gotta get off to a better start, be more disciplined, [and] get more shots on net,” Greener said. “We didn't really test this goalie [tonight] and when we did, the puck went in the net.”
The Rebels take the ice for the final game of the series Saturday night at 5 p.m. PST. The game can be found via live stream on the UCO Hockey YouTube channel.
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