Lone Star Brahmas Secure First Round Bye With 5 – 4 Win
By Kirk Estes
The final weekend of the season got off to a rather inauspicious start for the Lone Star Brahmas who were looking for a win to secure a first round playoff bye. Just 34 seconds into the contest Wichita Falls’ Collin Staub took a pass from Austin Beaulieu and snuck it past the right skate of Jake Kupsky on the first shot of the game. Nikita Litviak picked up the secondary assist on the play.
Caleb Thompson and Anton Santesson teamed up to bring the Brahmas back to even at the 3:20 mark on the power play. Thompson took a pass from Ludvig Larsson at the near point then he and Santesson traded spots along the blueline. Thompson gave the puck to Santesson who delayed then fired a wrister through traffic and tipped past the blocker of Austin Shaw by Oskar Andren. Lone Star went on top just past the midpoint of the opening period when Liam Stirtzinger corralled a loose puck in the Brahmas’ defensive zone and flipped a breakout pass to Hogan Davidson who had gotten behind Wildcat’s defenseman Jeff Baum. Davidson carried the puck in on net and slid it through Shaw, five hole. Lone Star just missed a second power play goal in the closing seconds of the period when Sebastian Vidmar put the puck off of Shaw’s backside and in just a split second after the horn sounded.
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Wichita Falls killed off the carryover of the power play, but the Brahmas had the puck deep and were cycling it in the zone when Alexey Solovyev pounded one on net from the far halfwall and off a body in front. Vidmar who just missed to close out the first was stationed just outside the paint on the backdoor and put the loose puck into the twine. Larsson was credited with the secondary assist on the play that came at 0:40 of the second.
The visitors got one back on a broken play with a bouncing puck off of several sticks and onto the tape of Staub at 6:07 with assists to Konstantin Chernyuk and Litviak.
At 10:47, Storm Wahlrab reestablished the two goal lead on a shot from the blueline after Cody Wickline sent AJ Vanderbeck behind the Wildcat’s cage and he found Wahlrab all alone at the point.
The back and forth second continued with Wichita Falls’ Nick Farmer scoring after a Larsson clearing attempt went off of Jonathan Lazarus and fell right at Farmer’s feet in the high slot. He immediately pounded it on net over the glove hand of Kupsky.
Lone Star opened the third period with a bang-bang play that resulted in Chad Guderian beating Shaw glove side off a pass from the far corner by Pat Egan with Thompson picking up his second assist on the night. The Guderian goal came at 2:12 and the Brahmas back up two.
A misplay of the puck by Vanderbeck deep in the Brahmas defensive zone turned Matt Koch loose at the bottom of the near circle. He quickly found Kevin Charyszyn crashing the far post and he put it over Kupsky’s left pad at 15:42.
In what turned into a physical high tempo game there were only four penalties handed out. The Brahmas converted on one of three power play opportunities while denying Wichita Falls on their one and only opportunity. Shots on goal were even at 30 apiece. With the win the Brahmas guarantee themselves a first round bye and set themselves up to lay claim to the NAHL South Division Crown.
Elsewhere Around Then NAHL South Division
Amarillo – Corpus Christi
Despite the fact that the Bulls missed the playoffs for the first time since joining the league, they continue to play their way through the rest of the schedule looking for wins. Tonight was no exception as they jumped on the Corpus Christi Icerays for two first period goals from Riley Christensen and Cody Gylling to set the tone for the contest. Gylling added another in the second and Will Harrison sandwiched a pair of goals around the Icerays’ lone score in the third for the 5 – 1 win. Anton Martinsson faced 28 shots in the victory.
Odessa – Rio Grande
The Jackalopes continued their recent surge as they raced out to a 3 – 1 lead over the Killer Bees in the first on the strength of two Kenny Hausinger tallies along with one from Hampus Sjodahl. After a scoreless second Rio Grande closed the gap to within one, but Ryan MacKellar built the lead back to two and Hausinger completed the hat trick into an empty net to close out the game. Tanner Creel picked up the win in net for the Jackalopes with 20 saves.
Topeka – Wenatchee
In a game that held the most potential for impact to the Brahmas, Topeka opened the game with a score just 1:53 after the opening faceoff. From there, it was all Wenatchee with goals from Stevie Bryant, Chris Jones and Jake Ahlgren. Michael Bullion faced 24 shots in the win.
Current NAHL South Div Standings
| TEAM | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | PCT |
| xLone Star | 59 | 39 | 12 | 8 | 86 | 0.729 |
| xWichita Falls | 59 | 39 | 15 | 5 | 83 | 0.703 |
| xTopeka | 58 | 38 | 14 | 6 | 82 | 0.707 |
| xCorpus Christi | 59 | 30 | 24 | 5 | 65 | 0.551 |
| xWenatchee | 58 | 26 | 25 | 7 | 59 | 0.509 |
| xRio Grande | 59 | 24 | 25 | 10 | 58 | 0.492 |
| Amarillo | 59 | 25 | 30 | 4 | 54 | 0.458 |
| Odessa | 59 | 15 | 37 | 7 | 37 | 0.314 |
With the Brahmas’ win over Wichita Falls and the Topeka loss to Wenatchee, Lone Star is in a position to clinch the NAHL South Division Crown with a win or overtime loss on Saturday night regardless of what Topeka does in their final two games against Wenatchee. A Lone Star loss in regulation would leave the door open for Topeka if the Roadrunners were to run the table against the Wild to finish in a tie with the Brahmas. Topeka would hold the first tie breaker with 40 wins compared to the Brahmas 39 and steal the division title.