ECHL: Kansas City Mavericks vs. Rapid City Rush | 10/17/2025

Opening weekend is here and the first puck drop of the 2025-26 ECHL season is upon us. 

Game one of the Kansas City Mavericks season was against the Rapid City Rush. From the opening face off, the teams were at each others’ throats. Not even 20 seconds into the game, the officials had to break up a small scuffle. No gloves were dropped and no penalties were called in that event.

The starting goalie for the Mavericks, Jack LaFontaine, is clearly a fan favorite. As the starters were announced, his cheers were the loudest by far. Every save he made was met with a roar of cheers and every time he was touched, a rain of boos poured over the arena.

Kansas City opened the match with a near-instantaneous power play, but could not cash in. The team found itself in a similar position nearly 10 minutes later, but David Cotton found the back of the net after a fight at 11:27 in the first caused a 4-on-3 situation. Bobo Carpenter snagged his first assist as a member of the Mavericks and Casey Carreau got his first assist of the season.

Rapid City knotted the game at 1-1 off of a Blake Bennett strike, assisted by Ryan Wagner and Chase Pauls. 

Just over a minute later, Nolan Sullivan gave the lead back to KC. This goal also saw Justin Janicke get his first ECHL point in his debut off the assist, alongside Marcus Crawford. 

The first half of the second period was a whole lot of nothing. There were no fights, penalties, or goals for the first 10-plus minutes of the period. However, the latter nine minutes made up for it. 

The Rush broke the ice in the period, scoring the game-tying goal with nine minutes left in the period. Brett Davis tallied his first goal of the season, assisted by Blake Bennett and Billy Constantinou. With his goal and assist, Bennett surely would have been one of the stars of the game had the Rush won.

Kansas City had its first penalty called with just under five minutes left in the period. Chase Brand was called for cross checking. However, it was quickly negated after Blake Bennett was called for a high sticking double minor less than 30 seconds later.

Shortly after Brand’s penalty expired, the Mavericks scored a second power play goal. This time, it was the rookies making an impact. Jackson Jutting scored the goal off of assists by Luke Loheit and Lucas Sowder. 

Immediately following the goal, a fight broke out in front of the Rush net. Luke Loheit and Quinn Olson were both called for roughing minor penalties to make it 4-on-4.

About 40 seconds later, a tripping minor was called on Bobo Carpenter, leading to three penalties crossing over into the third period.

The third period lacked much action. It began with a mildly controversial goalie interference penalty on Brett Davis. That penalty led to a 3-on-3 that turned into a short Mavericks power play.

Aside from a slashing penalty on KC’s Landon McCallum with under eight minutes left, there was nothing of note until the final horn sounded. 

Near the end of the game, the Mavericks had a few pucks almost find an empty net, but none did. The final shots on goal numbers were incredibly lopsided. The Mavericks had 43 total shots compared to the Rush’s 22. 

LaFontaine ended the night with 20 saves and two goals allowed. But, he was not one of the three stars of the game. Those honors went to the three goal scorers; Nolan Sullivan, David Cotton, and the first star, Jackson Jutting. 

The Mavericks will begin the season 1-0. While there is a long road until the race for the Kelly Cup narrows to its winner, Mavs Country can rest easy after an opening night win.