Lone Star Brahmas Claw Their Way To The Top In NAHL South With 3 – 2 Win

Play got underway Saturday with an NAHL South Division so tight that you could throw a blanket over the top three teams. The Lone Star Brahmas who were one point behind division leading Topeka and three points ahead of Wichita Falls were hosting the Corpus Christi Icerays. Topeka was in Amarillo where they lost in overtime on Friday night and Wichita Falls was at home against Wenatchee. Lone Star had gained a bit of ground on the Roadrunners as the result of a 4 – 1 victory over the Icerays on Friday night combined with the Roadrunners overtime loss to the Bulls.

Just as they had on Friday the Brahmas jumped out to an early lead when Sebastian Vidmar took the puck down the boards in front of the Icerays’ bench and into the attacking zone. Vidmar slid the puck to Oskar Andren in the high slot and he found Ludvig Larsson streaking down the far side for a wrister past Luke Pickar blocker side at 1:26. Alexey Solovyev picked up his third of the weekend at 6:33 on a blast from the far point after gathering in a ring around the boards by Liam Stirtzinger. In addition to giving the Brahmas a two goal lead the Solovyev goal chased Pickar from net and brought Andrew Lindgren into the contest.

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In the second it was the Brahmas power play that converted at 13:17. Anton Santesson took a pass from Vidmar and drove hard to the near post but could not get the puck to settle and pushed it behind the net to Larsson. Larsson bumped it out front to Vidmar who buried it glove side. Moments later the physicality picked up and Storm Wahlrab eliminated Taylor Karel with a devastating check in the corner to free the puck.

Corpus Christi’s Tanner Lomsnes held in a clearing attempt with just 45 seconds gone in the third and caught the Brahmas all deep He ripped a shot from the far point that was redirected in front by Karel and behind Jake Kupsky. The Icerays got their second at the 6:50 mark when Frankie Melton put one past a screened Kupsky short side from the top of the leftwing circle. Mason Kreuger and Joe Chitwood were credited with the assist on the play.

Lone Star made things interesting when they were hit with a too many men bench minor with 44 seconds left. Corpus Christi elected to pull Lindgren to go with the extra attacker for the 6 on 4 power play. The Brahmas won the faceoff to Kupsky’s right and managed to tie things up briefly before the puck squirted loose. Hogan Davidson grabbed it and from the defensive zone, just missed the empty net wide left. While he did not score the shot ate up several valuable seconds. On the Icerays’ rush back up the ice Lone Star forced the play wide with the puck going into the corner where they locked it down.

Lone Star won the shots on goal battle as well 24 – 18 and were 1 – 6 on the power play while Corpus Christi was 0 – 4.

Boxscore

Elsewhere Around The NAHL South Division

Topeka – Amarillo

The Topeka Roadrunners ran into an Amarillo Bulls squad who are in a fight for the last playoff spot and came up on the short end of the stick picking up only one point in their two game series. After falling in a shootout last night, Topeka went into the third period against Amarillo deadlocked at zero. Joey DiBenedetto opened up the scoring at 5:47 of the final period followed by a Will Harrison short hander. After a Topeka power play goal pulled them within one, Riley Christensen picked up the insurance goal with less than a minute to play. Anton Martinsson logged the win with 32 saves.

Rio Grande – Odessa

The Jackalopes provided Amarillo with a little help sweeping the Killer Bees on a 4 – 3 shootout win. Hampus Sjodahl got Odessa going early in the first only to see Rio Grande come back with two to take a one goal lead into the first intermission. The Killer Bees added to their lead in the middle stanza, but Sjodahl potted his second of the night and fourth of the series then Daniel Kiraly pulled the Jackalopes even late in the period. Following scoreless third and overtime periods Andreas Soje scored the only goal in the shootout to make Tanner Creel a winner on 25 saves. Former Brahma, Eric Carreras had three assists and was a +2 in the contest.

Wenatchee – Wichita Falls

The Wildcats kept pace with the Brahmas completing their sweep of the visiting Wenatchee Wild. Wichita Falls entered the second period down a goal, but Kevin Charyszyn netted a power play marker to pull them even then Nick Farmer gave them the lead. Austin Albrecht and Austin Azzinnaro had third period goals to put the game out of reach. Austin Shaw got the start and gave up the loan Wild goal. David Zevnik replaced Shaw midway through the first period and turned aside all 13 shots he faced for the win.

By virtue of their sweep of the Icerays and Amarillo’s sweep of the Roadrunners, the Brahmas have vaulted into the top spot in the NAHL South. Wichita Falls remains three points back of the Brahmas and two behind the Roadrunners with two games in hand over both teams ahead of them.

Current NAHL South Division Standings

x – Clinched Playoff Berth
y – Clinched Division Title