Champs Open the Barn: Raiders Hammer Renegades 8–3

Friday, October 16 — Reno Ice Raiders 8, San Diego Renegades 3

Now listen to me. You want to see how a champion starts a season? You start it like the Reno Ice Raiders did Friday night — right out of the gate, no messin' around, no warm-up period.

The road to repeat opened at home, and Rob Hallowell had the champs on the board at 4:24 of the first. Johnny Garrity made it 2–0 before the period was out, and you could feel it. The Renegades came a long way up from San Diego for this one, and it was gonna be a long night.

Now San Diego did push. Zack Villars got one back early in the second, and Cole Diamond buried one with nine seconds left in the middle frame. Good for those kids — good hockey players, they never quit. But in between, Reno poured in four: Adam Barba, Hunter Sine on the power play, Matt Pederson, and the boys were rollin'.

Then the third. Tyler Hanson. Nate Hogge. Will McDonnell. Goodnight, Irene. Matt DeMoulpied got a late one for San Diego, but by then the champs were countin' the house.

Forty-two shots for Reno. Forty-two! Vince Sorgentoni stood in there for all 60 minutes for the Renegades and made 34 saves — that kid deserves a steak dinner. At the other end Justin Sand turned aside 13 of 16, and Reno's penalty kill went a perfect 6-for-6. That's coachin'. That's discipline. Well — mostly. Six minors, boys. Let's tidy that up.

Garrity led the way with a goal and two helpers. Roger Hutchison, Jake Minton and Alex Gunnoe each set up two.

Scoring

1st: RNO — Hallowell (Tyrrell, Hutchison) 4:24 · RNO — Garrity (Peterson, Gunnoe) 3:57
2nd: SD — Villars (Chaney, Hanbury) 18:08 · RNO — Barba (Garrity, Hutchison) 16:47 · RNO — Sine (Garrity, Minton) PP 10:03 · RNO — Pederson (Jiron, Minton) 9:20 · SD — Diamond (Lempiainen, DeMoulpied) 0:09
3rd: RNO — Hanson (McDonnell, Nash) 17:07 · RNO — Hogge (Gunnoe, Peterson) 8:10 · RNO — McDonnell (Barba, Montgomery) 5:59 · SD — DeMoulpied (Oliver) 4:37

Shots: Reno 42, San Diego 16 · Goalies: Sand (RNO) 13 saves, W · Sorgentoni (SD) 34 saves

Opening weekend presented by Cure Biomedical. Full box score on the MHL stats page.

— From the Office of the MHL