Riptide Fall Short to San Diego at Home

The New York Riptide dropped their second straight contest as they fell short to the San Diego Seals by a final score of 15-11, Saturday, January 25th at NYCB Live.

The Riptide came firing on all cylinders in the opening period as they went on a 3-1 run, led by Tyson Gibson, who got the Riptide on the board at the (1:22) mark, followed by goals from Connor Kelly and John Ranagan.

It was an evening to forget about for goalie Alex Buque, as he allowed five unanswered goals, which led to him being pulled for backup Gowah Abrams. Abrams recorded 29 saves on 37 shots-on-goal attempts.

The Riptide offense would wake up again as they tied the game up at seven after being down 6-3.

The Seals made adjustments to the Riptide defense during halftime as they would go on a seven to two-run, giving them a 14-8 lead, but the Riptide kept fighting as they would go on to score two more goals, but it was too late.

The Riptide finished the game with two players recording a hat trick. Gibson recorded his second hat trick of the season, scoring three goals along with two assists. Jean-Luc Chetner got his first hat trick of the season, scoring three goals to go along with two assists.

Tyler Digby added two goals of his own, as Kelly, Ranagan, and Kieran Mcardle each had one goal.

General manager and head-coach Regy Thorpe says, “It’s tough being one and seven, but I’m proud of our guy’s effort.” “We battle, we don’t quit. We’re still putting the pieces to the puzzle and trying to get the right lineup out there. I’ve talked about all season with an expansion team, we have to play a full 60 minutes, and we did not do that tonight. We’re going into a bye-week, we’re going to keep grinding, hit the film, and learn from tonight’s game, and from our game in Philadelphia, and we’ll be ready for Calgary.”

The Riptide is set to have a bye-week, they will then hit the road for a two-game road trip as they will take on the Calgary Roughnecks on February 8th, and later a rematch with the Georgia Swarm on February 15th, and will return home for a divisional matchup with the New England Black Wolves on February 28th.

After recording his first hat trick of the season, Jean-Luc Chetner was named third star player of the game.