Lone Star Brahmas Fall To Two Questionable Calls

The top two teams in the NAHL South Division took to the NYTEX Sports Centre ice on Friday night with the Lone Star Brahmas looking to pull within one point of the Topeka Roadrunners.

After more than 13 minutes of Lone Star controlling the pace of play, Oskar Andren picked off a clearing attempt at the far point then delayed waiting for Sebastian Vidmar to join the play. Andren slid it across to Vidmar who went skate to stick then ripped a wrister off of Drew Vogler. Andren had followed his pass and was in perfect position to bump the rebound behind the Topeka netminder at 13:40.

The Roadrunners would get a gift with just over four minutes to go in the opening period. On a faceoff to TJ Black’s right following a Brahmas icing, Topeka’s Dominic Lutz won the draw back to the near point. Ryan Polin took a slapshot, but Black made a stick save which resulted in the puck jumping straight up in the air. Tyler Irvine who had gone to the front swatted it out of midair with a high stick was given credit for a goal by Referee Michael Zalcman. Time of the goal was 15:57. Topeka made a bid for their second of the period at 16:56 when they pushed a defensive zone faceoff forward and Lutz went racing into the zone all alone. Black came out to face him, calmly backed in and made a huge stick save sending the puck into the netting and keeping the score knotted at one apiece.

Zalcman did his best Santa Claus impersonation handing Irvine a power play goal at 5:36 of the second when he went into the zone off a home run pass from Polin. Irvine drove the net put the puck on goal while falling down. Black clearly stopped the puck, but Irvine slid into him pushing Black and the puck into the back of the net.

With 2:39 to go in regulation Vidmar had a golden opportunity to knot the game at two on the wrap around into an open net, but Vogler made a desperation diving glove save leaving Vidmar in disbelief. Unfortunately the Brahmas could not get the equalizer in the closing moments despite some stiff pressure and fell 2 – 1.

Lone Star outshot the Topeka 31 – 19 in the game but they came up 0 – 7 on the power play while allowing the Roadrunners to go 1 – 7.

Boxscore

Elsewhere Around The NAHL South Division

Wichita Falls – Amarillo

After falling behind by two in the first half of the opening period, the Bulls came storming back to score seven of the next eight goals to win going away. Charlie Combs led the way with two goals to go along with goals from Riley Christensen, Will Harrison, Joe Leonidas, Joey Benedetto and Luke Novak. Jacob Weatherly made 31 saves in the win.

Rio Grande – Corpus Christi

The Killer Bees continued their push to make the post season with a 4 – 1 win over the Icerays. Daniel Nilsson opened the scoring for Rio Grande on the power play in the first period followed by a goal from Logan Wendling. Stathis Soumelidis added one in the second and Anthony Croston had an empty netter. Ben Johansson faced 32 shots for the win.

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Wenatchee – Odessa

Dakota Raabe scored twice to go along with goals from Christ Jones and Mike Coyne as the Wild took a four goal lead into the third. Zach Quinn faced 19 shots in the third and 31 overall as Wenatchee held on for a 4 – 2 win.

Current NAHL South Division Standings