Park City Drops First Home Loss

PARK CITY, UT — The Park City Outliers (8-3-0-0) suffered both their first stretch of back-to-back losses and first home defeat 5-2 to the Casper Warbirds (3-6-2-0) on Sunday evening.

Taking the lead two and a half minutes into the contest on forward Colin Lundie’s first N.C.D.C. goal, the advantage only held for one minute and 15 seconds. Head coach Richard Bohan laid the blame on a lack of consistency, but praised the rookie Outlier. He said, “He’s a smart player and a really hard worker… We just have to limit the penalties.”

Five trips to the penalty kill for Park City resulted in one of Casper’s scores. “We need to have a little bit of pride,” he continued.

Casper scored again at the 7:22 mark before ending the first period ahead 3-1. Finishing the opening frame on the powerplay, forward Jonathan Lee buried the puck to the back of the net, but the officials waved off the would-be Outliers score for goaltender interference. Six and a half minutes into the third period, Alex Small recorded an upheld powerplay goal, but that represented the high watermark.

The Warbirds added two goals within 22 seconds to set the tone in the third period and finish the scoring at 5-2.

Previewing what he says he expects in the upcoming games against Casper, Bohan broke down some of the factors he thinks makes the Warbirds beatable. He said, “I just don’t think they have great team speed. That’s definitely something that we can exploit.”

Park City rematches with Casper for three contests on the road from Thursday to Saturday. Play starts at 1 p.m. MDT on Thursday before two 7 p.m. tilts on Friday and Saturday. The Outliers next host the Vernal Oilers on Sunday, Nov. 8. Puck drop stands set for 5:05 p.m. at the Black Rock Mountain Event Center. Fans can purchase tickets online at www.pcoutliers.com/tickets.