Chicago Syndicate Leads Lone Star Brahmas To Eighth Straight Win
By Kirk Estes
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The puck dropped at the NTEX Sports Centre with the Lone Star Brahmas looking to extend their current win streak to eight games against the visiting Amarillo Bulls. It didn’t take long for the home crowd to get into the game as Lone Star came out with determination from the get go.
As is the Bulls penchant, being the most penalized team in the NAHL, they went to the box early on a cross checking penalty which they managed to kill off. However, Lone Star picked up the momentum from the advantage and carried it through to even strength. Once the power play expired, the Brahmas kept up the pressure and took the early lead. It started with Sebastian Vidmar corralling a loose puck in the Lone Star defensive zone and sent Ludvig Larsson the other way. Larsson found Nick Ford cruising down the near side and hit him in stride. Ford carried it to the top of the right wing circle and rifled it over Anton Martinsson’s left shoulder.
At 14:49 Amarillo netted a power play goal on a redirect in front by Cody Gylling of a shot from Kasper Emanuelsson that just got past TJ Black. Jesper Synnelius picked up the secondary assist.
It took the Brahmas only 28 seconds to respond to the Bulls goal with Bud Madej burying one from the right point on a pass from Larsson to reestablish the Lone Star lead. With 25.3 seconds to go in the period Paul Vella was awarded a questionable penalty shot on a great hustle play by Johan Steen getting back to break up the lone man rush. On the shot, Black came out to challenge Vella, backed in and flashed out the right pad to preserve the Brahmas lead.
Coming out of the first intermission the Brahmas continued their attack. With just 32 seconds gone in the second, they increased their lead to two when Pat Egan knocked Synnelius off the puck in neutral ice turning Vidmar and Roman Uchyn loose on a two on one break. Vidmar skated around the defense forcing Martinsson to the near post then slid it across to Uchyn who had an easy chip in with the open net.
Amarillo scored at 3:47 on a goal that Black would like to have back. Nick Le Sage gave the puck to Brady Crabtree who skated into the zone and threw what looked like a harmless shot on net. The puck went off Black’s glove and in. Time of the goal was 3:47
Madej found the back of the net for his second of the night with 7:57 gone in the period on a blast from the far point. The play started with Quinn Carroll winning a puck battle on the end boards then sliding it to Hunter Stanley in the corner who found Madej alone at the blueline.
Liam Stirtzinger and Ben Jentsch decided to have a go early in the third period, they dropped the gloves circled each other at center ice then started chucking. Jentsch landed the first right, but Stirtzinger responded with two rights of his own with the second being an overhand shot that landed dropping Jentsch to the ice. Ford picked up his second of the evening with just 2:19 to go when he batted the puck out of mid-air from just off the right post. Eric Carreras put a shot on goal that Martinsson made the initial save on but it went right into Ford’s wheelhouse. Steen received the secondary assist on the play that iced the game away for the Brahmas.
Shots on goal were 33 – 20 in favor of the Brahmas Amarillo was 1 – 5 on the power play while Lone Star was 0 – 5. All five of the Brahmas goals were scored by natives of the Chicago area in front of Black who is also from Chicago. Four Brahmas had two points apiece on the night.
Elsewhere Around The NAHL South
Odessa – Corpus Christi
The Icerays scored five times in the first period on their way to a 6 – 2 win over the visiting Jackalopes. Corpus Christi scoring came from Pierre Crinon, Connor Bucsis, Tanner Lomsnes, Nic Laburn and Frankie Melton in the first followed by Lomsnes second of the game in the third. Luke Picar faced 26 shot in the win.
Springfield – Topeka
The Roadrunners shook off their recent struggles and downed the Jr Blues who had swept Topeka last weekend. Daniel Brickley and Mike Gornall had second period goals for Topeka and then Daniel Rzavsky and Sam Rennaker added goals in the third. Matej Tomek came back from injury to pick up the win facing only 14 shots.
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Rio Grande – Wichita Falls
The Wildcats got a goal from Austin Albrecht sandwiched between Killer Bees goals in the first followed by a Colin Staub goal in the second for the only tally in the middle frame. Austin Beaulieu scored early in the third only to see Rio Grande tie it up at 15:26. Nick Farmer found the back of the net with 1:31 to go in the game to seal the victory. David Zevnik recorded the win making 26 saves.
Current NAHL South Standings
TEAM | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | PCT |
Topeka | 23 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 34 | 0.739 |
Wichita Falls | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0.778 |
Lone Star | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 27 | 0.750 |
Corpus Christi | 21 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 26 | 0.619 |
Wenatchee | 20 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 18 | 0.450 |
Rio Grande | 20 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 18 | 0.450 |
Amarillo | 21 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 16 | 0.381 |
Odessa | 22 | 5 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 0.295 |