AMBUSH BLOW LEAD, LOSE TO CEDAR RAPIDS

by Jim Fossell

Cedar Rapids, IA 

In a battle of winless teams, the Cedar Rapids Rampage scored their first ever franchise victory when defeated the St. Louis Ambush 9-7 Saturday night at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Rampage improved to 1-7, while the Ambush dropped to 0-7.

St. Louis Ambush Head Coach Tony Glavin addresses the players in the locker room prior to his first game as Head Coach December 19, 2015 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

With the score knotted at two in the second quarter, St. Louis went on an offensive frenzy, scoring four in a row, and it looked like things were going their way. With the Ambush enjoying a 7-2 lead, the Rampage roared back with seven unanswered goals to win the game 9-7.

Ambush goalkeeper Marcelo Moreira took a blow to the head in a collision with Rampage forward Alex Megson just four minutes into the contest, was helped off the field and did not return. Piotr Sliwa took over in goal and turned in a solid performance overall.

Ambush goals came from Anthony Arico, Daniel Berko, two from Richard Schmermund and three from Gordy Gurson. It was the second consecutive game in which Gurson registered a hat trick.

Scoring for the Rampage came from Patrick Kelly, Alex Tozer, two from Chile Farias, two from Sam Guernsey and a natural hat trick from Alex Megson.

The contest was very physical, with officials handing out 39 fouls (22 to the Ambush and 17 to the Rampage) and 10 penalties (five blue cards for Cedar Rapids, four blue and one yellow for St. Louis) totaling 23 penalty minutes.

For new Ambush Head Coach Tony Glavin, this is not how he wanted his debut to go, but he now has a week to find answers and develop solutions to the team’s woes. Glavin took the reigns of the team just four days before Saturday’s contest. The Ambush are back in action next Sunday, December 27 when they host the Milwaukee Wave at 5:35 p.m. at the Family Arena.

Season, group and single game tickets are now on sale for all remaining home games. Call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363 for more information. Keep up with Ambush news anytime by visiting the team’s official web site, stlouisambush.com, the Ambush Facebook page, facebook.com/stlouisambush, or on Twitter, twitter.com/stlouisambush.