Lone Star Brahmas – Amarillo Bulls Preview For Dec 19
By Kirk Estes
What has become known by many as the “Battle of the Cattle” will resume on Friday as the Lone Star Brahmas stampede into the Amarillo Civic Center to face the Amarillo Bulls. The teams have faced each other five times so far this season with Amarillo taking the first game by a 2 – 1 score. Since then the Brahmas have controlled the series with four straight wins outscoring Amarillo 23 – 8 in the five games.
Last weekend the Brahmas swept the Odessa Jackalopes on the NYTEX Sports Centre ice to run their current win streak to four games. Lone Star has now won 14 of their last 16 games. On Friday night, the Brahmas got goals from Alexey Solovyev, Eric Carreras, Oskar Andren, AJ Vanderbeck and Anton Santesson in front of a 10 save performance by TJ Black for the 5 – 1 win and Black’s ninth win of the season. The following night, Lone Star jumped out to a lead on goals by Sebastian Vidmar and Ludvig Larsson only to see the Jackalopes go in front with three straight goals. Larsson tallied late in the second to pull the Brahmas even then again early in the third for the game winner. Andren and Peter Kessel added two more goals for the 6 – 3 final. The goal by Kessel was his first in the NAHL after missing much of the season due to injury. Jake Kupsky got the call in net and logged his tenth win making 11 saves.
Amarillo was in Corpus Christi for a pair of games last weekend and would up on the short end of an 8 – 4 and 3 – 2 scores. In game one, the Bulls found themselves down three goals before Trent Dillinger broke the ice midway through the first. Charlie Combs added a second period goal for Amarillo which was more than offset by three more Icerays’ tallies. The Bulls tried to make a game of it with goals from Riley Christensen and Luke Novak in the third, but Corpus Christi score twice to eliminate any comeback attempt. Jacob Weatherly started in goal and was pulled in favor of Anton Martinsson with 7:39 to go. Weatherly allowed 4 goals on 26 shot faced and Martinsson gave up 3 on 8 shots on goal. Game two had Amarillo up by two on goals from Will Harrison in the first and Joey DiBenedetto early in the second. However, the Icerays scored twice to tie it up and send the game into overtime where they scored with one second left on the clock for the win. Weatherly took the loss again, but made 33 saves.
| Last 5 Games | W | L | OTL | Pts |
| Brahmas | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Bulls | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
Special Teams
Lone Star’s special teams have been a big factor in their success this season as they currently set at fourth in the league on both the power play and penalty kill. With the man advantage, Lone Star is clicking at 22.86% less than 1.5% behind the leader while the penalty kill is at 85.95%. Amarillo on the other hand is 18th on the power play at 14.58% and 20th on the penalty kill at 77.92%.
On the road the Brahmas’ power play is playing at 22.4% on 11 goals in 49 opportunities which have them ranked 4th in the league. They will be facing an Amarillo home penalty kill ranked 20th at 77.3% allowing 20 goals on 88 penalty kills.
Lone Star’s road penalty kill has allowed 8 goals on 43 kills which ranks 14th in the league at 81.4%. Amarillo comes in with a home power play which is ranked 16th in the league scoring 12 times in 80 opportunities or an even 15.0%
Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games
| W | L | OTL | SO | GA | GAA | SV | SV% | |
| Brahmas | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1.60 | 82 | .911 |
| Bulls | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 4.20 | 142 | .871 |
Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)
| Brahmas | G | A | Pts |
| Sebastian Vidmar | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Oskar Andren | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Ludvig Larsson | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Alexey Solovyev | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| AJ Vanderbeck | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Bulls | G | A | Pts |
| Will Harrison | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Luke Novak | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| AJ Duggan | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Charlie Combs | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Two at | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Inside the Game
The Brahmas currently have the third best winning percentage in the league at .750. Unfortunately number one Wichita Falls (.792) and number two Topeka (.758) are both in the NAHL South Division with the Brahmas. The only other team in the league over .700 is North Division leading Janesville at .717.
Lone Star is 1st in the league in Goals Against Average at 2.00, 6th in Save Percentage at .912, 1st in Shots Against per Game with 22.73, and 3rd in Goals Scored Per Game at 3.62.
Amarillo is 22th in Goals Against Average at 3.93, 21st in Save Percentage at .886, 22nd in Shots Against per Game at 34.37 and 18th in Goals Scored Per Game with 2.59.
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Sebastian Vidmar is the reigning Second Star in the NAHL Easton Stars of the Week for the South Division. Ludvig Larsson and Amarillo’s AJ Duggan both received Honorable Mention.
The Bulls lead the league in penalty minutes with 798 and in 10 minute misconducts with 24. They have 194 minor penalties in 27 games compared to 145 for the Brahmas in 26 games.
Sebastian Vidmar 18G – 20A is tied for 2nd in the league in scoring, tied for 1st in goals scored, tied for 2nd in power play goals with 7 and 1st in game winning goals with 6.
Cody Gylling 11G – 7A in 27 games played leads Amarillo in scoring. Five of his goals and four assists have come via the power play.
Ludvig Larsson is tied for 2nd in the league in power play assists with 12 in only 18 games played since joining the Brahmas in mid-October. Sebastian Vidmar is tied for 9th with 9 and Oskar Andren is tied for 15th with 8 in 18 games played. As with Larsson, Andren joined the Brahmas’ roster in Mid-October.
Jake Kupsky and TJ Black are 3rd and 4th in the league in goals against average at 1.86 and 2.07 respectively.
Alexey Solovyev 5G – 12A is tied for 13th in the league in defenseman scoring, is tied for 8th in goals scored with Bud Madej.
Kasper Emanuelsson at +3 and Addison Runey at +2 are the only Bulls with a positive +/- rating. Every member of the Brahmas roster that has played more than seven games has a positive rating, with Sebastian Vidmar +19, Caleb Thompson +13, Anton Santesson +12, Ludvig Larsson +11 and Bud Madej +10 all being in double digits.
After seeing their 10 game win streak (tied for longest of the season) snapped in Topeka, the Brahmas have a 4 games streak underway that is the third best current streak.
Amarillo traded Paul Vella to the CCHL. Vella had 0G – 1A in three games against Lone Star. Since their last game against Lone Star, the Bulls have added forward Trent Dillinger 1G – 1A in six games played, defenseman Joe Leonidas 1G – 1A in four games played and forward Jacob Loman who is scoreless in two games played.