There was good news and bad news for Rio Rancho High School coach Tim Camacho Tuesday evening at Blades Multiplex Arenas.

The good news? His team blew out host St. Pius X 8-2, on the strength of some exceptional defense, a hat trick by Robbie Webb and two goals apiece by Elliott Pope and Mike Kalaber.

The bad news? Webb, a sophomore, told Camacho he’s going to move to Scottsdale to play in a higher competitive league next season. Camacho has lost high-scoring forwards before, but usually to graduation. Losing someone with two years of eligibility remaining is something different.

Still, it shouldn’t put a damper on this season, which saw the Rams improve to 8-1 in the high school standings after another romp over the Sartans (2-9-2), the team they beat last February for their second state championship.

By game’s end, the Rams had unleashed 47 shots at Sartans goalie Patrick Hughes; St. Pius managed just 10 shots at the Rams’ goalie, Erin Machek.

Kalaber started the scoring a mere 34 seconds into the game. Pope and Patrick Brewer were credited with assists.

After the Sartans, who lost an 8-1 game to the Rams at Blades on Jan. 8, were unable to take advantage of a power play opportunity, Rio Rancho made it 2-0 on Webb’s first goal of the game, of the unassisted variety, at the 4:28 mark.

Webb closed out the first-period scoring with 2:05 left in the first period; Austin Short and Jordan Farnholtz received assists.

The Rams kept the shutout through the second period, when they scored four times: Kalaber, Pope, Webb — closing out his hat trick at the 10:40 mark on a breakaway — and Steve Casaceli, who scored an unassisted goal with just seven seconds left in the period.

Then, 13 seconds into the final period with no doubt left as to who would win, the Sartans notched a power-play goal off a rebound to beat Machek and spoil the shutout bid.

Pope matched that goal with an unassisted tally of his own for an 8-1 lead, and the Sartans closed out the scoring with another power-play goal with 2:20 left on the “running” clock, the game played under the mercy rule through most of the final period.

Ian Hotton, Camacho and assistant coach Bob Pope said, earned the “hard hat” award for his efforts on the ice.

Asked for the word that best describes his team this season, Camacho didn’t hesitate: “Intense.

“The key word for us is intensity,” he continued. “Here on out.”

An upcoming five-games-in-10-days stretch should have his team peaking for the playoffs at Santa Ana Star Center next month.

“We’ll find out Friday (Jan. 25); we play Los Alamos,” he said. “That’s supposed to be our competition. We’ll find out what they bring n and what we bring.”

The game at Los Alamos is a make-up game from the original date in the Hilltoppers’ city of Dec. 1, when it wasn’t cold enough to sustain ice at the outdoor rink. The teams meet again at Blades on Super Bowl Sunday.

The Rams were in second place as this weekend began; Santa Fe had a slight edge, points-wise, thanks to having more victories overall, but the Blue Jackets have two losses to just one for the Rams.

“They’re healthy, they’re young — they can keep going,” Camacho said of his team. “They’re eating right.”

Despite the romp over the Sartans, Camacho said, “There’s always room for improvement.

“The key was, we had on the board (in the dressing room) 50 shots, 10 goals, 30 hits, so we’re pretty close,” he said. “We wanted 10 goals, just because that’s our big rival from last year.

“You know, goaltending is the key for me,” he concluded. “Everybody sees that. Goaltenders have to work hard, day-in and day-out, at practice and at games.”

“I’m tickled pink with them,” Bob Pope said. “They’ve worked hard and it’s paying dividends.”

Later, Camacho said he hadn’t heard about Webb’s planned move until earlier in the day.

Webb said he’d lost count of how many hat trick games he’s had this season — “like three or four,” he said.

“I still have to work for it,” he said, calling his team “hard working.”

Despite back-to-back state titles, Webb said he thinks this year’s team is the best yet.

“We’ve got a couple new freshmen who are hot,” he said. “This weekend’s going to be a lot of games. I just got back … I had a tournament in the Springs; one game I had five goals, another game I had a hat trick and three assists.”

That team, the New Mexico Storm, plays a Midget A Division schedule.

“We played double-A last year and we lost a lot,” he said. “I started playing (at Blades) when I was 4, when this was still roller (hockey).”

Blades no longer has roller hockey; indoor soccer has replaced that.

And, next year at this time, the Rams no longer will have Webb.

Camacho and the Rams will need to enjoy him while they have him, along with his occasional hat trick.

Slap shots: The Rams play the Albuquerque Outkasts today at6:45 p.m. at the Outpost Arena in Northeast Albuquerque. The Rams face Eldorado at Outpost Monday at 7, and then meet the Outkasts again Tuesday evening at Blades at 8:15.