Lone Star Brahmas - Corpus Christi Icerays Preview

The Lone Star Brahmas home opener will kick off their NAHL home schedule as they welcome the Corpus Christi Icerays into the NYTEX Sports Centre on Friday Oct 10 at 7:30pm. The Brahmas are currently setting five points behind the Icerays in the standings, but have played two fewer games.

The two teams have met once so far this season at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi for the Icerays home opener. The Brahmas lost that game 2 – 1. After the Icerays scored in both the first and second periods, Lone Star made a game of it with a goal in the third but could not cash in the equalizer.

Lone Star is coming off a big three point weekend in Wichita Falls where they faced one of the hottest teams in the league. The Wildcats were riding a four game win streak going into the series and defeated the Brahmas 3 – 2 in overtime to extend the streak to five. The Brahmas came up big on Saturday night with a 5 – 1 win to gather some momentum going into the home opener.

Corpus Christi played host to the Wenatchee Wild last weekend and swept the series by scores of 3 – 2 and 2 – 1. On Friday night the Icerays entered the third period with a three goal lead and survived a Wenatchee comeback bid for the win. Game two saw the Icerays once again enter the third with a lead, but the Wild tied it up at one early in the period. Corpus Christi got the go ahead goal at 13:48 to claim the victory.

Last 5 Games

OTL

Pts

Brahmas

Icerays

Special Teams

The Brahmas currently set at 17.2% tied for 10^th in the league with the man advantage. They have converted 5 of 29 opportunities. Head-to-Head Lone Star is 0 – 3 against Corpus Christi in their one game played. On the penalty kill, the Brahmas are 7^th in the league at 85.3% allowing 5 goals on 34 kills. Lone Star has averaged 4.14 power play opportunities and 4.86 penalty kills per game in the early going.

Corpus Christi is fairing slightly better on both the power play and the penalty kill. They have scored 8 power play goals on 36 opportunities for 22.2% good for 5^th in the league. When a man down, they have allowed 5 goals on 42 penalty kills which has them 4^th in the league at 88.1%. The Icerays are averaging 4 power plays per game and 4.67 times short handed.

Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games

OTL

GAA

SV%

Brahmas

2.60

142

.916

Icerays

1.60

135

.944

Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)

Brahmas

Pts

Icerays

Pts

3 Tied At

Inside the Game

The Brahmas’ Sebastian Vidmar was named NAHL Easton South Division Player of the Week after scoring 2G – 2A in the series against Wichita Falls.

Seven of the Icerays 22 goals this season have come from the blueline. Defenseman Anthony Cortese’s 5G – 4A is leading Corpus Christi in scoring.

Vidmar and Cortese are currently tied for 7^th in the league in goals scored.

Pat Egan and Roman Uchyn are tied for 6^th in the league at a +7 rating and Vidmar is tied for 14^th at +6. Cortese is the highest rated Iceray at a +3.

Corpus Christi netminder Andrew Lindgren is undefeated in regulation suffering only two shootout losses for a 4 – 0 – 2 record with a 1.79 GAA (8^th in league) and a .935 SV% (7^th in league). The Brahmas Jake Kupsky is also undefeated in regulation and is 2 – 0 – 1 with a 2.17 GAA (9^th in league) and a .929 SV% (10^th in league).

Lone Star Brahmas – Corpus Christi Icerays Preview

By Kirk Estes | Oct 8, 2014