Lone Star Brahmas Have Another Big Third Period In Win Over Icerays
By Kirk Estes
Friday night marked the start of a two game series between the Lone Star Brahmas and Corpus Christi Icerays at the NYTEX Sports Centre. Lone Star entered the contest two points behind the NAHL South Division leading Topeka Roadrunners who were on the road in Amarillo. The Brahmas knew that if they took care of business at home and got a little help from the Bulls that first place in the division was within their grasp.
Lone Star got out front early in the first while skating with the man advantage due to a Corpus Christi bench minor. On the play Caleb Thompson fired a slap shot from the far point and Sebastian Vidmar grabbed the rebound just off the right post and immediately moved it to Ludvig Larsson at the near hashmark for a one timer past the glove hand of Andrew Lindgren at 2:50.The rest of the period played out with no further scoring. The scoreless play carried through the second as well and the Brahmas took a 1 – 0 lead into the second intermission.
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With 2:34 gone in the third, Pat Egan had a golden opportunity when he took a pass from AJ Vanderbeck deep in the zone and tried to lift a backhander under the crossbar. The puck ricocheted off the near post and then bounced off Lindgren’s left shoulder into the near circle where the Icerays cleared it. At 5:09 Vanderbeck got behind the defense and was pulled down from behind as he was on a clear path to the goal and was awarded a penalty shot. Vanderbeck took the puck wide left, stick handled into the middle and put it five hole on the Icerays’ netminder.
With 9:20 to go in the period and the Brahmas leading 2 – 1, Vidmar lifted a high arching pass into the neutral zone for Oskar Andren who gloved it down, circled out front and hit Alexey Solovyev at the top of the far circle for a bomb top shelf.
Corpus Christi finally got on the board with 3:23 to go in regulation on a faceoff to TJ Black’s left. The puck bounced around until it found Logan Gestro at the far point and his wrister through heavy traffic found the back of the net before Black could react. With the Icerays on a power play and skating 6 on 4 with an empty net at the other end their hottest hand of late, Tanner Lomsnes, found himself all alone in front with the puck on his tape. He fired one on Black from point blank, but TJ was quick with the glove snatching the shot away.
Solovyev put the cherry on top with a shorthanded empty netter at the 19:49 mark with Larsson and Quinn Carroll getting the assists.
The Brahmas outshot the Icerays 25 – 24 on the night and were 1 – 4 on the power play while holding Corpus Christi to 0 – 7 with the man advantage.
Elsewhere Around Then NAHL South Div.
Topeka – Amarillo
The Bulls used a tally by Luke Novak in the first and a pair of goals by Cody Gylling in the second to take a 3 – 1 lead into the final period. Unfortunately, Topeka tied it up with just 1:49 left on the clock to send the game to overtime. It took former Brahmas’ Captain AJ Duggan just 2:16 to find the back of the net and secure the extra point for Amarillo. Anton Martinsson was peppered with shots all night and made 46 saves in the win.
Rio Grande – Odessa
With the Jackalopes out of playoff contention and looking to play spoiler, they jumped out to a 4 – 1 lead in the first period on the strength of goals from Kenny Hausinger, Hampus Sjodahl, Razmuz Waxin-Engback and Derek Brown. Rio Grande responded with three goals in the second to pull even going into the final frame. Sjodahl and Hausinger each scored in the third to give Odessa a 6 – 4 win and prevent the Killer Bees from making up any ground on Corpus Christi or Wenatchee. Tanner Creel faced only 19 shots allowing four goals to record the win.
Wenatchee – Wichita Falls
After Jake Townsend gave the Wildcats the lead early in the second, Wenatchee tied it up on the power play at 9:19. Wichita Falls came roaring back immediately with Austin Albrecht putting the puck in the net just 28 seconds later to grab back momentum. Colin Staub added a goal in the third and Austin Shaw made 21 saves to claim the 3 – 1 victory.
The Brahmas victory over the Icerays coupled with the Topeka overtime loss, has Lone Star just one point behind the Roadrunners in the chase for the NAHL South Division Crown. Wichita Falls is not out of the picture either setting three points behind the Brahmas with two games in hand. The NAHL South is once again shaping up to be a dog fight to the end.
Current NAHL South Div. Standings
| TEAM | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | PCT |
| xTopeka | 52 | 35 | 11 | 6 | 76 | 0.731 |
| xLone Star | 52 | 34 | 11 | 7 | 75 | 0.721 |
| xWichita Falls | 50 | 35 | 13 | 2 | 72 | 0.720 |
| Corpus Christi | 51 | 27 | 19 | 5 | 59 | 0.578 |
| Wenatchee | 52 | 23 | 22 | 7 | 53 | 0.510 |
| Rio Grande | 52 | 22 | 22 | 8 | 52 | 0.500 |
| Amarillo | 51 | 21 | 26 | 4 | 46 | 0.451 |
| Odessa | 52 | 10 | 35 | 7 | 27 | 0.260 |
x – Clinched Playoff Berth
y – Clinched Division Title