Ice Raiders Get a Holiday Miracle & Grinch Goalie in Split with Growlers

Phillip Goodman
Dec 21, 2025
4 min read

Updated: Dec 29, 2025

By Phillip Goodman

Dec 21, 2025

The Reno Ice Raiders delivered holiday cheer to their faithful fans with a 5-4 nail-biter of a win against the Santa Rosa Growlers on Friday night. Johnny Garrity's goal with seven seconds remaining in regulation capped a wild night of highlight-reel goals, stunning saves, and multiple lead changes and ties. On Saturday, Growler goaltender Mark Shacker played the Grinch when he shutout Reno for the 3-0 Santa Rosa win.

Santa Rosa jumped out to a 2-0 lead first on a highlight goal by Justin Havriliak and then on a broken play with under a minute to go in the period. The Ice Raiders got the crowd into it before the intermission when Johnny Garrity roofed Hunter Sine's rebound with 29 seconds left. Bobby Watson also got an assist for winning the draw on the play. The teams went to intermission with the Ice Raiders trailing 2-1. Alex Barajas was the star of the first period stopping 14 of 15 shots. Both teams were 0-for-2 on their power plays in that first frame.

With Rob Hallowell (Happy Belated Bday on Dec 7, Rob!) in the box for boarding because a Growler turned his back on a hit at the very last second, Andrew Peterson tied the game with a beauty of a shorty. "Petey" stole a Growler pass from behind the Reno net and motored 190 feet up ice, challenging the forward Kulokowski caught in the wrong position. Kulokowski hooked Peterson in the hands but Petey still held control and tucked the puck under Barajas to tie the game at 2-2.

Alex Gunnoe, back in action after an upper body injury suffered in November, put Reno ahead 3-2 with a laser off Barajas' pads.

A mere 45 seconds into the third, Bobby Watson got behind the Growler defense and beat Barajas again for the 4-2 lead. Peterson and Hunter Sine got the assists.

During 4-on-4 skating with under 12 minutes left, Havriliak scored his second of the night by shuffleboarding the puck one-handed over Sand's pad to bring Santa Rosa within one.

Tension grew with each passing second in the third period. At 2:10 the Growlers took a crosscheck penalty giving Reno a chance to slam the door on a win. But the Growlers stole the puck and got the puck ahead to Kulokowski for a breakaway. Alex Gunnoe took out Kulokowski from behind and they both crashed into the net. A penalty shot was awarded but because Kulokowski claimed to be injured on the play, Havriliak took the shot and snuck the puck under Sand's arm for the game-tying, shorthanded penalty-shot goal.

Still on the power play and time expiring in regulation, the Ice Raiders created a mad scramble of rebounds first from Watson, from Sine, and then finally Johnny Garrity sent Reno into a frenzy by pounding in the game winner.

"Hard fought game on both sides," said Garrity after the win. "It was a huge team win.

The hockey gods were with us on that one for sure."

To start Saturday, Reno goalie Justis Gyori held the Growlers off the board until Ryan Sweeny broke through on a power play goal at 12:56 of the second period. Three minutes later, John Heyward's shot on a 2-on-1 rush got a lucky bounce off an Ice Raider stick and over Gyori's shoulder for the 2-0 lead.

With six minutes left in the second, Growler Egan Wolford was ejected from the game for barreling through Gyori. Even though Wolford was slightly pushed from behind, the officials deemed that because Wolford made no attempt to avoid the collision with goalie, a major for charging and game misconduct was assessed. Ice Raiders defenseman and assistant captain Adam Barba was the first to retaliate on Wolford for the infraction and Barba was assessed a fighting major to cancel out the penalties. When the dust settled the Ice Raiders had a two-minute power play but could not convert.

Reno outshot Santa Rosa 12-6 in the final frame and pulled Gyori with three minutes remaining but Santa Rosa's empty netter sealed their 3-0 win.

On the weekend, Reno was a strong 8-for-9 on Peterson Wealth Management Penalty Kills but went scoreless on 12 Brewer's Cabinet Power Play attempts including a pair of two-man advantages.

Reno outshot Santa Rosa 40-26 on Friday but then on Saturday both teams put up 34 shots on net. Faceoffs for the entire weekend were even at 71 wins each – Santa Rosa was +1 on Friday, Reno was +1 on Saturday.

The weekend series against the visiting Santa Rosa Growlers was presented by LT Automotive. Hockey players need a lot of maintenance. So does your car. Take your car, truck, or business fleet to the auto experts at L-T Automotive. Conveniently located at 669 Linden St near the Reno Costco, L T automotive offers rides to or from their shop. Foreign or domestic, routine maintenance or custom rebuilds and fabrication, your source for auto help is www.ltreno.com

The Ice Raiders get to enjoy the holidays off and return to Reno Ice Jan. 9th and 10th when BJ's Nevada BBQ presents the series against the Sin City Kings. Tickets will go on sale Jan 3rd.

On behalf of all the Ice Raiders players and staff, have a safe and happy holiday season and we will see you in 2026!

Friday's LT Automotive Three Stars of the Game

Johnny Garrity
Andrew Peterson
Justin Sand

Saturday's LT Automotive Three Stars of the Game

Mark Shacker
Ryan Sweeney
John Heyward

Happy December Birthdays!

Jake Minton celebrating #29 on Sunday 12/21

Matt Robinson's 33rd bday is Tuesday 12/23

Iron Man Jeff Jiron turns 41 Friday 12/26

High Sierra Restorative Health Injury Update

Goaltender Zack Kellerup - still recovering from hip surgery, no expected return date yet
Forward Phillip Buque - still recovering from summer lacrosse injury, no expected return date yet

Friday, 12.19.25 - Game 7 Highlights: Reno Ice Raiders vs. Santa Rosa Growlers: