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// APRIL/MAY 2020 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM
EL PASO
The Pride of
As The Rhinos
Continue To Burn Up
The Ice, Their Roots
Are Entrenched In West
Texas Community
By Alyssa Hertel
W
ith his last year of junior
hockey eligibility staring
him in the face, Connor
Beaudet could read the
writing on the wall. His
options seemed to be drying up when he
received a distant call from a coach with a
Western States Hockey League team from
El Paso, Texas.
Fully ingrained in the rich hockey heritage
in western New York State, the Buffalo, N.Y.,
native wasn't sold on lacing up his skates in
the Lone Star State. But Rhinos head coach
Cory Herman convinced him to fly down for
one weekend and take a look around. That
was all it took as Beaudet ended up cancel-
ling his return flight home.
That might have something to do with the
culture. When it comes to fitting into the
Rhinos mold, it has as much to do with the
person you are off the ice as the player you
are on it.
