Huge Night For Ludvig Larsson In Lone Star Brahmas’ Win

The Lone Star Brahmas went into Saturday night looking to complete a sweep of the Odessa Jackalopes in their final home series of 2014. With the exception of a seven plus minute stretch in the second peroid, the Brahmas controlled the pace of play and took advantage of an undisciplined Odessa squad.

Sebastian Vidmar got the Brahmas offense going on a five on three power play opportunity after Oskar Andren controlled the puck at the near point and fed it to Ludvig Larsson low on the right wing. Larsson curled out front taking the defenseman with him then slid it to Vidmar at the near hash mark. Vidmar made a stick handling play drawing Forbes Ploszaj out then put it short side for his 18^th goal of the season.

The Brahmas second of the game came on the power play as well, when Anton Santesson sent it from the top of the near circle to Alexey Solovyev at the point. Solovyev gave it to Larsson in the right wing circle and as the two traded places, Larsson cruised out front and fired a wrister bar down, stick side at 1:23 of the second.

Things got a little dicey from there for the home team. Andrew McLean took the puck off of Solovyev’s stick as he tried to exit the zone and gave it up to Alex Alger who skated it into the high slot. Alger dropped it to Corey Hoffman and his shot from the top of the far circle went off the shaft of Bud Madej and behind Jake Kupsky. Time of the goal was 6:45. The same three Jackalopes evend the score at two just past the midpoint of the period. This time it was Hoffman who got things started with a pass from the point to McLean in the slot. His shot was blockered aside by Kupsky, but Alger was just off the far post to put back the rebound. Alger picked up his second of the game on the power play at 14:39. Kupsky made two big saves on https://sportdfw.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpRazmuz Waxin-Enback and McLean before Alger chipped it in from just outside the crease to give Odessa the lead.

At the 15:26 mark, Sean Giles and Ian Mansfield got tied up behind the play in the Brahmas defensive zone. As a result the gloves came off with Giles connecting with a couple jabs before both missed with right hands. While the linesmen were busy with Giles and Mansfield, Tim Faulkner dumped Liam Stirtzinger from behind at the Odessa blueline. Alternate Captain Quinn Carroll took exception and dropped them with Faulkner despite giving up seven inches and thirty pound to the much larger Odessa defenseman. Neither were able to connect with anything before going to the ice in a heap.

After the scrums, the faceoff came just outside the zone in front of the Brahmas’ bench. Larsson pulled the draw back to Solovyev then went to the front. Solovyev put it deep into the corner for Vidmar who skated it behind Ploszaj’s net and sent a centering pass to Larsson for a wrister stick side at 15:35. The scraps and the goal ignited the Brahmas and they piled on the pressure the remainder of the period.

Lone Star carried the momentum into the third and Larsson completed the Hat-Trick at 4:51 with the Brahmas once again on the man advantage. Madej made a strong play to keep in a clearing attempt at the point putting it deep for Larsson. Ludvig skated it up top then ran the give and go to perfection with Vidmar and scored from the top of the crease.

With the offense buzzing and the defense shutting down every Odessa foray into the zone, the Jackalopes did not register a shot on goal until 12:20 of the third. When they did it was off a desperation stretch pass to Hoffman behind the defense. Hoffman went speeding in on Kupsky, but the big netminder flashed out the right pad to preserve the one goal lead.

With just over seven minutes to go, Johan Steen sprung Vidmar on a breakaway that he carried in on Ploszaj who went for a diving poke check. The play put the puck right on the tape of Oskar Andren and he did the rest sending it over the sprawled Jackalopes goalie.

Although the Brahmas held a two goal lead, the fireworks were not done for the evening. At 17:20 Solovyev chased a puck into the far corner where he was checked from behind dangerously by Christian Hausinger. Stirtzinger came to Solovyev’s defense and gave Hausinger a shot. In the meantime, Ryan McKellar got in Solovyev’s face and immediately regretted the decision. Solovyev quickly landed an overhand right followed by a right uppercut. McKellar tried to come back throwing two wild rights that hit nothing but air. Solovyev finished it off with another big right that landed square on the button sending McKellar to the ice for the clear and decisive win.

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For good measure, just 13 seconds before the final buzzer, AJ Vanderbeck set up in the far corner and found Larsson in the slot for a onetimer off of Ploszaj. Peter Kessel who had missed much of the season due to injury cleaned up the rebound for his first goal of the year.

Lone Star outshot Odessa 41 – 14 on the night and dominated special teams play as well going 4 – 6 while holding the Jackalopes to 1 – 5. The win continued Lone Star’s perfect season at the NYTEX Sports Centre extending their home win streak to 15 games.

Boxscore

Elsewhere Around The NAHL South Division

Wenatchee – Topeka

Topeka came from behind twice to steal one from the visiting Wild. Sam Rennaker and Daniel Brickley set the stage for some late game heroics from Shawn Brennan who tied it up at 18:02 of the third then put it away with just eight seconds to go. Drew Vogler faced 33 shots in the win.

Wichita Falls – Rio Grande

Nikita Litviak and Austin Albrecht had first period goals for the Wildcats followed by Tommy Apap in the second then Austin Shaw made it stand up with 11 saves for the win.

Current NAHL South Division Standings