Stars Fall to Rampage in Season Finale, 6-3
Apr 15, 2017
Texas Takes Nine of 14 Matchups Against Rampage in 2016-17
CEDAR PARK, Texas -- The Texas Stars knotted the game with a pair of goals early in the third, but the San Antonio Rampage pulled away in the end for a 6-3 win in front of a sellout crowd of 6,863 in attendance on Saturday night at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park to end the 2016-17 season.
Colin Smith finished with a hat trick for the Rampage (27-42-5-2). Remi Elie and Dillon Heatherington each scored 26 seconds apart in the third to tie the game for the Stars (34-37-1-4) before San Antonio pulled away. Despite the loss, the Stars won this year’s edition of the I-35 Rivalry winning nine of their 14 matchups against San Antonio.
After Texas tied the game at 3-3 six minutes into the third, Smith snapped home his second of the night from the top of the slot at 11:06 to push the Rampage back in front. Three minutes later, former Star Brendan Ranford set up Felix Girard in the slot to make it a two-goal Rampage lead, and Smith added an empty-net goal late to complete the hat trick.
Ranford finished with four assists against his former team for the Rampage. Spencer Martin earned the win with 28 saves. Justin Peters suffered the loss stopping 17 of 22 shots for Texas.
The Rampage opened up the scoring off Reid Petryk’s deflection goal 2:25 into the game. Midway through the period, Rocco Grimaldi made the Stars pay with a power play strike for his 31st goal of the season and a 2-0 San Antonio lead entering the break.
Matej Stransky put Texas on the board 2:18 into period two with a wrist shot from the left circle to finish the season with a career-high 27 goals. Smith scored for San Antonio just over a minute later, again on the power play, to make it a 3-1 score.
Ending a 35-year run in professional sports by retiring after this season, Texas Stars President Rick McLaughlin was honored during the game’s second intermission. He spent the last eight seasons with the Texas Stars and also served as General Manager of H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Previously, he has served on the management teams that oversaw the NHL’s Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins, plus Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers. He was a part of the 1990 and 1999 Stanley Cup Championships, plus the Texas Stars’ 2014 Calder Cup Championship. To commemorate his time and dedication to professional sports in Central Texas, the atrium of the main entrance to H-E-B Center was renamed the Richard L. McLaughlin Atrium in his honor.
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Three Stars:
1. Smith (SA)
2. Stransky (TEX)
3. Ranford (SA)
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Goaltenders:
W - Martin
L - Peters
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Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars