Snipers Sweep Stampede

Dallas Fights Through Cold, Power Outages in rout of Weekend Sweep

Snipers Corral the Stampede for First Wins of Season

By Jason Felts

            After a tough season opening weekend against El Paso, the Snipers were back in action this past weekend in Cheyenne, Wyoming against the Cheyenne Stampede, sweeping the series in three incredibly closely-contested games. Both teams came into the weekend looking for their first wins, but Cheyenne will be forced to keep looking as Dallas won each game by counts of 5-4, 6-4, and an overtime victory 3-2 on Sunday.

            The recurring motif of the series was Dallas’ offense came to life at exactly the right time, as the Stampede never held a lead for more than a few minutes in any of the three contests. The Snipers were led in scoring by veteran center Eric Eaton, who netted 3 goals and had 3 assists on the weekend. Also helping bolster the scoring was Belarussian forward Karolis Krasilnikovas, who dished out 5 assists and was all over the ice on the offensive side of the puck for Dallas.

            Dallas was forced to scramble on the defensive end as the team was without defensive captain Arvidas Domeika, forcing forward Todd Thompson to drop onto defense for the series. A hard fought and aggressive series saw its fair share of ejections as a fight broke out in game two, resulting in 1-game suspensions for defender Nicklas Pehl and goalie Danny Jamison for game three on Sunday. In their absence, both Thompson and goalie Alexander Aleshkin shined, holding Cheyenne to just two goals on 47 shots.

            Despite the sparks flying on the ice, it was the exact opposite in the rink, as a blizzard rolled into Cheyenne late Saturday night, causing city-wide power outages that affected the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center. After two delays midway through the game, the Snipers were able to come together to finish off the series sweep.

            Several Snipers got their first points of the season as Danil Trenikhin, Simon Birkehorn, Gasper Konc, Karsten Portell, and Axel Orongan all found their name in the stat book at the end of the weekend. Thanks to the new WSHL rules, Dallas received 8 points on the weekend, 3 for each win in regulation, and 2 for the overtime win. This puts Dallas in 3rd in the Division and 7th in the WSHL through the first 6 games of the year.

            The Snipers take a weekend off before being back in action in Plano on October 26th – 28th against the visiting Steamboat Wranglers. Game 1 will take place at 7:45 PM, game 2 at 7:30 PM, and game 3 at 11:15 AM on Sunday (all times central).

            If you’re unable to make our next weekend series, the games can always be found on the livestream at BDEHockey.com, and game updates are regularly posted to our twitter and Instagram pages, @DallasSnipers.