Lone Star Brahmas – Wenatchee Wild Preview For Dec 9
By Kirk Estes
The Lone Star Brahmas will face the Wenatchee Wild at the NYTEX Sports Centre on Friday and Saturday. This will be the first meeting between these two franchises since the 2010/11 season when the Texas Tornado won three of four against the Wild.
This past week the Brahmas rang up three wins to move into a tie for second place in the NAHL South Division. On Monday night, Lone Star went into Rio Grande and defeated the Killer Bees 3 – 0 as TJ Black registered his first shutout of the season. The offense was provided by Alexey Solovyev with is second shorthanded goal of the season which was followed by empty net goals by Sebastian Vidmar and Pat Egan. Friday they were back on home ice against the Odessa Jackalopes for a dominating 5 – 0 win and Black’s second shutout in as many games. It was a big night for Ludvig Larsson with two power play goals. Roman Uchyn, Sean Giles and Eric Carreras provided the remainder of the scoring. The second period goal by Giles was his first of the season. Odessa held a 2 – 1 lead after the first 20 minutes on Saturday, but the defense clamped down and held them scoreless from there. Quinn Carroll had three points on the night with two goals and an assist to lead the offense. Peter Kessel, Caleb Thompson and Vidmar also found the back of the net. For the second game in a row a Brahmas’ defenseman scored his first of the season with Thompson’s second period tally. Liam Stirtzinger also had a productive evening with three assists.
Wenatchee was in Topeka for a three game set and gave the Roadrunners all they could handle. In game one on Thursday Brendan Harris and Jake Ahlgren scored second period goal to knot the score and force overtime. After a scoreless extra period, Topeka took the win in a shootout. Zach Quinn made 29 saves in regulation, but allowed all three shooters in the shootout to score to be saddled with the loss. Friday night the Wild rebounded to take a 4 – 2 win on the strength of two Ahlgren goals to go along with goals from Colin Burston and Troy Conzo. Quinn faced 23 shots to log the win. The series wrapped up Saturday night with Wenatchee trailing 2 – 0 going into the third period. Ryan Chiasson scored on the power play to pull them within one, but that is as close as they would get with Topeka scoring an empty netter for the final 3 – 1 score. Michael Bullion was in net for the Wild and took the loss allowing two goals on 27 shots.
| Last 5 Games | W | L | OTL | Pts |
| Brahmas | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Wild | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Special Teams
Special teams may play a big part in determining the outcome of the weekend series. Overall Lone Star is 4th (22.9%) in the league on the power play compared to Wenatchee at 21st (13.6%). On the penalty kill the Brahmas have been strong all season and currently rank 4th (87.3%) in the league. The Wild will come in setting at 17th (81.3%). The glaring difference between the two teams is seen in the number of time each has gone on the power play or penalty kill. Lone Star is very adept at drawing their opponents into committing penalties and have been on the power play 166 times which ranks 2nd in the league. Wenatchee on the other hand is the most disciplined team in the league having gone on the penalty kill only 107 times this season. When the tables are turned the numbers are relatively even. Lone Star has been on the penalty kill 149 times 16th most in the league. The Wild power play has been on the ice 140 times which ranks 12th.
At home, the Brahmas’ power play is at 24.5% with 24 goals in 98 opportunities which has them ranked 4th in the league. Wenatchee will counter with a road penalty kill ranked 19th at 79.6% allowing 11 goals on just 54 penalty kills.
Lone Star’s home penalty kill is ranked 3rd allowing only 10 goals on 85 kills or 88.2%%. They will be facing a Wenatchee road power play which is ranked 14th in the league scoring 15 times in 83 opportunities or 15.9%
Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games
| W | L | OTL | SO | GA | GAA | SV | SV% | |
| Brahmas | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 1.60 | 86 | .915 |
| Wild | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 2.80 | 123 | .898 |
Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)
| Brahmas | G | A | Pts |
| Sebastian Vidmar | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Ludvig Larsson | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Pat Egan | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Liam Stirtzinger | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Johan Steen | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Wild | G | A | Pts |
| Jake Ahlgren | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Brendan Harris | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Tyler Rockwell | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Dakota Raabe | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Colin Burston | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Inside the Game
Wenatchee lost to the eventual Robertson Cup Champion Fairbanks Icedogs in the Divisional Finals last season after reaching the Roberson Cup Championship game the year before.
The Brahmas enter the game with the top rated defense in the league along with one of the best offensives attacks as well. Goalies TJ Black and Jake Kupsky have combined with the defense to have the lowest Goals Against Average in the league at 1.97. They are 7th in the league with a 0.913 Save Percentage and are 3rd in the league in Goals Scored per game at 3.58. Wenatchee is 10th in Goals Against Average, 16th in Save Percentage and Goals Scored per game at 0.895 and 2.63.
Lone Star has been unbeatable at home this season with 17 straight wins on the NYTEX Sports Centre ice. They have scored 4.41 goals per game while allowing only 1.53 goals per game.
The Brahmas are 7 – 2 – 1 in their last 10 games while the Wild are 3 – 6 – 1.
Alexey Solovyev 6G – 14A is currently 12th in the league in defensemen scoring. His 2 shorthanded goals leads defensemen and he is tied for 3rd among defensemen in shooting percentage. Solovyev is tied for 7th with Mitch Demario in goals scored by a defenseman.
TJ Black is 3rd with a 1.83 GAA and Jake Kupsky is 9th with a 2.10 GAA. Wenatchee’s Zach Quinn is 21st with a 2.63 GAA.
Sebastian Vidmar 22G – 24A continues to lead the league in several offensive categories. He is first in points scored, goals scored and game winning goals (7). He is 9th in assists, 3rd in +/- Rating (+25), 2nd in power play goals (8), 8th in power play assists (10) and 2nd in shooting percentage (29%).
Jake Ahlgren 13G – 12A leads the Wild in scoring, goals scored and is 2nd on the team in assists.
Four Brahmas defensemen rank among the top 20 defensemen in +/- Rating, Caleb Thompson 6th (+18), Anton Santesson 9th (+16), Alexey Solovyev 16th (+11) and Bud Madej 19th (+10). Tyler Rockwell leads Wenatchee defensemen at +6.
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Every Lone Star skater who has played more than three games has scored at least one goal and all but one have a positive +/- Rating.
Wenatchee averages only 12.77 penalty minutes per game compared to 23.85 for Lone Star. The Brahmas have been whistled for 50 more minor penalties than the Wild in two fewer games played.
In a nod to the old adage “be careful what you ask for” Wenatchee who asked to move to the NAHL South Division this season is 5 – 12 – 2 against South Division opponents while they are 8 – 4 – 3 against their old Midwest Division foes.
Lone Star has a +53 goal differential for the season in contrast to Wenatchee’s -7. The Brahmas have outscored their opponents 54 – 19 in the third period.