Lone Star Brahmas – Rio Grande Killer Bees Preview For Dec 29
By Kirk Estes
The Lone Star Brahmas have used a very strong performance on home ice to put themselves in a tie for second in the NAHL South Division standings, the problem for the Brahmas is when they go on the road. Away from the NYTEX Sports Centre, where they are literally unbeatable at 15 – 0 – 0, Lone Star slides to a rather pedestrian 5 – 8 – 2. With the Brahmas firmly in the South Division playoff hunt, the question is what do they have to do to right the ship on the road where they will have to be able to put up wins to advance in the post season.
This week gave the Brahmas an opportunity to start a turnaround of their road record with a two game series in Odessa followed by a single game in Rio Grande. Friday night they got off to a good start downing the Jackalopes 6 – 2, but followed that up with a disappointing 4 – 2 loss to the last place team in the division. In game one, Cody Wickline and AJ Vanderbeck scored in the first with Odessa getting one back in the second. Lone Star played another strong third period getting goals from Sebastian Vidmar, Roman Uchyn, Pat Egan and Liam Stirtzinger. In game two, the Brahmas found themselves down two entering the third. Vidmar and Vanderbeck got them on the board in the final period but it was far too little too late. Now they will faceoff against Rio Grande a team they are 4 – 0 against on Monday evening with the chance to win two of three on the road trip.
Rio Grande was in Corpus Christi on Saturday night and dropped a 2 – 1 overtime decision to the Icerays after Guy Roby had staked them to a lead in the first. Nick Schmit faced 30 shots in a losing effort.
| Last 5 Games | W | L | OTL | Pts |
| Brahmas | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Killer Bees | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Special Teams
Overall the Brahmas’ special teams are figuring prominently in their success this season. The power play is fourth in the NAHL on both the power play and the penalty kill. The power play is hitting at 22.58% while the penalty kill is at 86.96%. Rio Grande has not seen near the success with the power play ranked 21st at 13.49% and the penalty kill 22nd at 76.30%. Against the Killer Bees, the Brahmas are 4 – 20 on the power play and have held Rio Grande to 1 – 16.
On the road the Brahmas’ power play is clicking at 21.9% on 14 goals in 64 opportunities which have them ranked 4th in the league. They will be skating against a Killer Bees home penalty kill ranked last in the league at 68.2% allowing 14 goals on 44 penalty kills.
Lone Star’s road penalty kill has allowed 9 goals on 60 kills which ranks 6th in the league at an even 85.0%. Rio Grande comes into the contest with a home power play which is ranked 14th in the league scoring 7 times in 41 opportunities at 17.1%
Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games
| W | L | OTL | SO | GA | GAA | SV | SV% | |
| Brahmas | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 2.80 | 110 | .887 |
| Killer Bees | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 3.00 | 111 | .881 |
Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)
| Brahmas | G | A | Pts |
| Sebastian Vidmar | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| Ludvig Larsson | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| AJ Vanderbeck | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Cody Wickline | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Pat Egan | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Killer Bees | G | A | Pts |
| Kyle Stephan | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Logan Wendling | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Guy Roby | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Wayland Williams | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Dallas Gerads | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Inside the Game
The Lone Star Brahmas netminders are in the top 9 in Wins and Goals Against Average even though neither TJ Black nor Jake Kupsky are in the top 20 in minutes played. As a team they are 3rd in Goals Against Average and 6th in Save Percentage. The Killer Bees are 20th in Goals Against Average and 22nd in Save Percentage.
There is at least one member of the Brahmas roster in the top 6 of every offensive category except Shorthanded Assists, this despite the fact that the highest ranking Brahma in shots on goal is Sebastian Vidmar at 65th. The two highest ranking Killer Bees are Stephan tied for 26th in Game Winning Goals and Stathis Soumelidis tied for 26th in Power Play Goals.
When you look at rankings of defensemen, the Brahmas have at least one member in the top 13 of every offensive category except Assists and Shorthanded Assists. Again this in spite of Bud Madej being the highest ranked in shots on goal among defensemen at 38th.
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Parker Wood 1G – 2A and Anthony Croston 0G – 3A are the only Killer Bees with multiple points against the Brahmas in their four previous meetings.
Sebastian Vidmar is riding a six game point streak with 14 points on 4G – 10A over that time frame. He is currently leading the league in Goals, Points and Game Winning Goals.
Rio Grande’s Connor Wood leads the NAHL in penalty minutes with 126, of those 47 have come against the Brahmas.
Anton Santesson and Caleb Thompson are tied for 7th among defensemen with a +13 +/- ranking. Alexey Solovyev with 5G – 12A is tied for 14th in defensemen scoring.
Lone Star’s defense has allowed Rio Grande to register only 58 shots on goal in games while the Brahmas offense has pumped 102 shots at Ben Johansson and Nick Schmit.
The Brahmas have 9 skaters who have tallied goals against Rio Grande led by Vanderbeck with 3, Oskar Andren and Madej have contributed 2 goals apiece.