El Paso Rhinos Return Home To Play Wichita Thunder

After their biggest road test of the 2012-13 season, the El Paso Rhinos return home this week to face one of the youngest teams in the Western States Hockey League. The Wichita Thunder enter Wednesday night's game with the Rhinos in fourth place in the Mid West Conference and a record of 6-9. Still, Rhinos head coach Cory Herman is cautious about his opponents. "They are a new team, that play a very good system" Herman said. "They are well coached and work hard.  This will be a very good test again for us."

The Rhinos enter play at the top of the Mountain Conference with a record of 11-3 and 23 points. Their last series included a big win on the road against the Idaho Steelehads, which  had not lost a game all season. Herman said he was happy to come out of the tough road trip with three points, but still was not satisfied. The Rhinos came just seconds away from winning the first game of the series, but the Steelheads tied things up in the closing seconds, only to win it in a shootout.

"When you play against a good team like Idaho you need to play 60 minutes," Herman said. " A perfect example was Friday night, when we let up and they tied the game. Idaho is once again picked to win the league and we have a lot of work to do to compete with them in a playoff series. In two months, I think we can be there to compete with them."

The Rhinos and Thunder will face off Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night at the Sierra Providence Events Center.  All game times are 7:30pm. Single game tickets start as low as five dollars and can be purchased at the Coliseum Box Office or any Ticketmaster location. For more information, call 479-PUCK (7825) or visit www.elpasorhinos.com.