Alamosa, CO. – The Adams State Grizzlies faced off against the Otterbein Cardinals for an afternoon match-up on their home field. Unfortunately, the Grizzlies fell to the Cardinals in a tough, rough, and gritty game, losing their home opener.
 
It was a rocky start with Otterbein going on an 8-goal run before the Grizzlies answered. Defenseman Terry Trudgian was the one that slowed the Cardinals momentum by going coast to coast, running it all the way down field and firing a rocket into the back of the net. Not too much later Chase Rodine put one in the back of the net off a good pass from Tim Crouse. Although the two goals were spectacular, the deficit was still quite big. After the 2^nd period, the Grizzlies were trailing 2-9.
 
Going into the 3^rd period, the Grizzlies held the Cardinals offense silent for quite a bit, despite being man-down for parts of it. The defense held the Cardinals to only two goals for half of the period, allowing the Grizzlies offense to get some more looks. Jacob Austin helped the Grizzlies out, giving Crouse quite the feed to cash in on. Otterbein countered, scoring some of their own and Rodine, who scored earlier, answered with only 2 minutes remaining in the period. Coming out of the third period, Adams was trailing 4-13.
 
Kicking off the 4^th period was Jacob Austin, beating his defenseman and putting it in the back of the net unassisted. Less than a minute later, Kyle Butler made himself known by dodging his defender and tip-toing around the crease to get on past Otterbein. The Cardinals would counter with a few of their own goals, but Alexander Kelly would answer in the final two minutes of the game with a low sling from a difficult angle, hitting the back of the net. Unfortunately, Otterbein padded their lead to the point the Grizzlies wouldn't be able to comeback. The Grizzlies fell to the Cardinals 7-17 after an extremely tough game and spectacular effort.
 
The Grizzlies offense was balanced today, different players making their presence known and tallying a goal for the team. Not only that, but the Grizzlies helped one another out and set up their teammates to tallying an assist and get a goal on the board. Together, the team combined for a total of 36 shots with 21 of those shots being on goal.
 
Defensively, Adams stood strong and did what they could to help their goalie out. The defensive unit combined for a total of 7 caused turnovers. Otterbein had 8 man-up opportunities but were only able to score only two of those, the Grizz defense shutting them down. They also helped their goalie, Brendan Williams who had 7 saves, go 17-18 on clear and render Otterbein's ride useless.
 
The face-off tandem of Luke Meyers and Connor Kuykendall gave the Grizzlies a fighting chance, battling against a few different face-off men from Otterbein. Meyers went 6 for 14 at X, and Kuykendall went 6 for 13, the two combined for a total of 12 face off wins out of 27, only winning three less than Otterbein.
 
Although the game wasn't the home opener the Grizzlies were looking for, they still performed well against a tough Cardinals offense. The Grizzlies never gave up, battling until the very end of the game. Adams now sits at an overall record of 0-3 with an RMAC record of 0-2. They will look to build off the positives from the three losses, continuing to play the game as they know and learn from the experience.