Lone Star Brahmas – Odessa Jackalopes Preview For Dec 12
By Kirk Estes
In their final home series before the calendar turns to 2015, the Lone Star Brahmas will face off against the Odessa Jackalopes at the NYTEX Sports Centre. The two teams have met twice before this season with the Brahmas taking a pair of three goal wins in a series that generated a combined 265 penalty minutes.
In game one of their previous meeting Cody Wickline and Sebastian Vidmar had first period goals to stake Lone Star to an early lead. Vidmar completed a Hat Trick with goals in the second and third periods to support a 23 save performance by TJ Black for a 5 – 2 win. In game two the Brahmas scored twice in each period and Jake Kupsky faced 20 shots in the 6 – 3 win. Brahmas goals came from Liam Stirtzinger, Anton Santesson, Wickline, Vidmar and a pair of tallies by Ludvig Larsson.
This past weekend the Brahmas returned home for a pair of games against Rio Grande. Friday night Oskar Andren had the only scoring in the first period, but the Killer Bees scored twice in the second to take a one goal lead into the third. Bud Madej who posted a Gordie Howe Hat Trick on the night pulled Lone Star even in the third then Vidmar and Quinn Carroll added scores to put the game away. Black got the 4 – 2 win. Saturday night saw Madej and Andren with goals for the second night in a row to go along with two from AJ Vanderbeck. Kupsky posted the first shutout of the season for the Brahmas.
Odessa is coming off a tough series against the Amarillo Bulls at the Ector County Coliseum. In the first game of the series the Jackalopes jumped out to a two goal lead on tallies from Razmuz Waxin-Engback and Max Rasberg before the Bulls scored four time to take a commanding lead. Leo Lumm found the net to pull Odessa within one, but they could not get another and lost 4 – 3. On Saturday Lumm was the only Jackalope to score as Odessa came up on the short end of a 4 – 1 score. Robin Johansson took the loss both nights.
| Last 5 Games | W | L | OTL | Pts |
| Brahmas | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Jackalopes | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Special Teams
Lone Star’s hold a definite advantage when it comes to special teams, their power play is currently ranked eighth in the league at 20.2% compared the the Jackalopes who come in at 16.3% good for 14th in the league. The penalty kill is where the biggest difference shows up. Lone Star is third in the NAHL at 87.0% while Odessa is 20th at 77.1%.
At home the Brahmas’ power play is at 18.8% on 15 goals in 80 opportunities which has them ranked 11th in the league. They will be up against a Killer Bees road penalty kill ranked 18th at an even 80.0% allowing 17 goals on 85 penalty kills.
Lone Star’s home penalty killing has been outstanding thus far allowing only 7 goals on 72 kills which ranks second in the league at 90.3%. They be facing a Jackalopes road power play which is ranked 18th in the league scoring 10 times in 69 opportunities or 14.5%
Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games
| W | L | OTL | SO | GA | GAA | SV | SV% | |
| Brahmas | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1.80 | 101 | .918 |
| Jackalopes | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 3.80 | 125 | .868 |
Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)
| Brahmas | G | A | Pts |
| Oskar Andren | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Sebastian Vidmar | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Bud Madej | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Ludvig Larsson | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Pat Egan | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Jackalopes | G | A | Pts |
| Kenny Hausinger | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Razmuz Waxin-Engback | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Leo Lumm | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Hampus Sjodahl | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Lane Valimont | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Inside the Game
Lone Star is 1st in the league in Goals Against Average at 2.00, 4th in Save Percentage at .915 and 4th in Goals Scored Per Game at 3.46. Odessa is 24th in both Goals Against Average and Save Percentage at 4.44 and .863. They are 14th in Goals Scored Per Game with 2.85.
The Brahmas are the only team in the league that have not gone to a shootout so far this season.
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Sebastian Vidmar 17G – 16A is tied for 3rd in the league in scoring while Kenny Hausinger 13G – 18A is tied for 7th. Vidmar’s 17 goals is 2nd in the league and his 6 game winning goals lead the league.
Jake Hamilton is tied for the league lead in major penalties with 3 in 21 games.
Jake Kupsky is 3rd in the league with a 1.76 GAA and TJ Black is 5th with a 2.16 GAA. Odessa’s Robin Johansson is 4th in minutes played with 1131:30 and 2nd with 554 saves.
Lone Star is averaging 23.96 minutes in penalties per game. Odessa averages 23.07 minutes.
The Brahmas have a 12 / 2 / 21 goal differential per period. Odessa on the other hand has a -23 / -6 / -11 differential. The third period should be good for the Brahmas as only 3 teams in the league have scored more third period goals than Lone Star. Of those teams Janesville has played 4 more games than the Brahmas and Fairbanks has played 5 more games. Odessa has allowed more third period goals than every team in the league except Kenai River.
The Brahmas are riding a 14 game home win streak which is the longest in the league this season. Odessa is on a 12 game road non-win streak.
There will be a total of 9 Swedish born players in the series. Sebastian Vidmar, Ludvig Larsson, Oskar Andren, Anton Santesson and Johan Steen for the Brahmas along with Andreas Soje, Razmuz Waxin-Engback, Hampus Sjodahl and Robin Johansson for the Jackalopes.