In the first of the final two games in conference play, the San Diego State Aztecs were defeated in a 19-1 blowout loss by the University of Las Vegas Rebels, the second-ranked team in all of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA).
The Aztecs are still searching for their first conference win of the year, which consists of seven teams in the top 25 in the nation. Meanwhile, the Rebels have been a consistently top-five team in the ACHA all season, even beating the University of Denver, the defending NCAA champions, in a huge upset during an exhibition game.
The Rebels proved exactly why they are the second-ranked team after scoring 26 seconds into the game. Forward Tristan Rand made a perfect pass to fellow forward Cole Wyatt, who put the puck past Aztec goaltender Liam Dee.
San Diego captain Marcus Kim was called for a slashing penalty, but the Aztecs successfully killed off the penalty against a power-play who scored four times on five chances in a previous matchup between the teams.
As the penalty expired, forward Mason Brown drew a tripping penalty putting the team on the power-play. However, the power-play was nullified after defenseman Connor Hennigan got a roughing penalty. San Diego, once again, killed the ensuing penalty to keep the score 1-0.
After extended pressure from the Rebels, captain Mattias Dal Monte hammered home his own rebound to make it 2-0 Las Vegas with a little over two minutes to go.
The first period was all Rebels as they outplayed the Aztecs, but Dee remained strong and kept the Aztecs in the game.
Just over a minute into the second period, it was a perfect tic-tac-toe passing play that led to Rebels’ leading point-getter Bradley Golant scoring his 17th goal of the season to extend the lead to 3-0.
Cole Wyatt scored his second goal of the game four minutes into the period on a wrist shot that just went under the glove of Dee to make it a four-goal lead for the Rebels.
A minute later, forward Dylan Jensen showed perfect patience on a backhand shot to score the fifth goal of the game for Las Vegas.
Brown caught a perfect breakaway pass and was in all alone against Rebel goaltender Luke Fundator but his shot went over the net.
The Rebels made it 6-0 on a shot from leading goal scorer Tristan Rand who scored his 19th of the season. 30 seconds later, Cole Wyatt scored his third goal of the game, to make it a hat trick and a 7-0 game.
Jensen scored his second goal of the game on a spin shot that got under the glove arm of Dee to make it 8-0. Las Vegas would make it 9-0 on forward Hayden Siegel’s backhand shot on the breakaway
With two minutes to go in the second, San Diego defenseman Sean Yeo got his second goal of the season after his shot was squeezed by Fundator to get the first goal of the game for the Aztecs.
However, Las Vegas answered right back to get their 10th goal of the game after tons of chaos in front of the net with defenseman Jaxsen Wyatt getting credit for the goal.
The Rebels played perfectly in the second period scoring eight goals and controlling a 10-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Just over a minute into the third, Golant scored his second goal of the game to extend the lead to 11-1. 40 seconds later, Justin Stathopoulos scored on a wrap-around, making it a 12-1 game.
Forward Evan West’s positioning in front of the net put him in a perfect spot to score the 13th goal of the game for Las Vegas. The lead was extended to 14-1 on a wrap-around shot from Caleb Strong. Siegel scored his second goal of the game, also a wrap-around, as the puck bounced perfectly to him in front of the net where he was left all alone to make it 15-1.
Jaxsen Wyatt scored his second goal of the game after a great spin move gave him space to shoot it under the glove hand of Dee, the Rebels now lead by 16-1 and making the third time they have done so.
Rand shot a laser one-timer that went past Dee to score their 17th goal of the game, the most they have scored in a game this season. Two minutes later, forward Preston Brodziak scored his 15th of the season on a shot from in front of the net to make it 18-1 Rebels.
Defenseman Dillon Kuntz scored on a perfect wrist shot over the glove of Dee to make it a 19-1 game with 12 seconds remaining.
The final horn signaled the end of a tough blowout loss for the Aztecs as they lost by a score of 19-1. Las Vegas moves to 24-4-1-1 while San Diego falls to 4-22-0-1.
“Just disappointing, you know, it seems like we gave up tonight,” head coach Dean Wilson said. “We’ve been blown out before, but in those blowouts, we gave it our all for three periods, we gave up tonight. So it’s quite disappointing.”
