Lone Star Brahmas Down Amarillo Bulls 4 – 1 On Monday Afternoon

In their eighth and final meeting of the regular season, the Lone Star Brahmas welcomed the Amarillo Bulls into the NYTEX Sports Centre for a Monday afternoon game. Lone Star held a 4 – 2 – 1 record in the Battle of the Cattle coming into the contest and looked to go into the off week on a high note after a weekend split in Topeka.

The Brahmas got on the board early on an offensive zone face off to Anton Martinsson’s left. Cody Wickline picked up the loose puck and took it into the near corner then cycled it to Roman Uchyn behind the cage. Out front, Amarillo defenseman Joe Leonidas dumped AJ Vanderbeck in the slot and thinking he was out of the play left him all alone. Vanderbeck scrambled back to his feet just as Uchyn exited from behind the net on the near side and put a centering pass right on Vanderbeck’s blade for the shot over Martinsson’s shoulder. With the goal the Brahmas picked up momentum which was added to by Alexey Solovyev and Storm Wahlrab delivering devastating hits along the board to set the tone.

At 9:42 of the second Wickline pulled a draw back to Solovyev at the near point. Solovyev wound up and sent a bomb on net through an Uchyn screen and past Martinsson before he could even react.

Amarillo came right back with a goal that looked a lot like the Brahmas’ first tally with AJ Duggan left all alone in front. JJ Huerena pulled the puck behind the net and slid it to Duggan in the slot for a shot back across the grain and behind Jake Kupsky. Time of the goal was 10:00.

With the Brahmas on the penalty kill early in the third there was a faceoff in the Bulls’ end. Amarillo won the draw and were carrying the puck up the near boards with speed. Solovyev stood up his man in front of the Lone Star bench dislodging the puck that was picked up by Wahlrab in the corner. Wahlrab spun and hit Hogan Davidson in stride just outside the Amarillo blueline. Davidson went steaming in on Martinson and fired it over his glove hand at 4:01.

Down two, the Bulls called Martinsson to the bench with 2:24 to go for the extra attacker. Lone Star cleared the zone and as Amarillo came back up the far boards, Hayden Hanson was whistled for a checking from behind putting the Bulls on a 1:38 6 on 4 power play. Off the ensuing faceoff, Kyle Hartman fired one on net through traffic, but Kupsky made a huge pad save to protect the lead. Amarillo was once again cycling the puck in the Brahmas’ zone when Quinn Carroll stole it cleanly from Will Harrison in the high slot, put it between the legs of Hartman and carried it to the redline before sending it into the empty net at 19:26.

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The Brahmas outshot the Bulls 27 – 25, but saw their power play woes continue going 0 – 2. However, the penalty kill continued to be outstanding holding Amarillo to 0 – 5 and scoring two short handed goals. The win was Dan Wildfong’s 300^th as a Head Coach. The Brahmas will be off until January 30^th when the Wichita Falls Wildcats come to town.

Boxscore

Elsewhere Around The NAHL South

No other games scheduled

Current NAHL South Division Standings