Lone Star Brahmas – Wenatchee Wild Playoff Preview For Apr 10
By Kirk Estes
The stage is set for the Lone Star Brahmas to open their NAHL playoff schedule against the Wenatchee Wild at the NYTEX Sports Centre on Friday April 10 and 11. Lone Star made a late season push to climb to the top seed in the NAHL South Division and therefore had a first round bye as Wenatchee had to play their way into the First Round in a Play-In series against the Corpus Christi Icerays. The 5th seeded Wild continued their late season hot streak knocking off 4th seed Corpus Christi in two games on the Icerays’ home ice.
Wenatchee possesses a lot of team speed which can present some problems for Lone Star. The Brahmas will have to use their size and strength to play a physical game and make it uncomfortable for the Wild to handle the puck. On average Lone Star skaters are over an inch taller and 12 pounds heavier than the Wenatchee skaters. However, they have to be disciplined about their approach and limit trips to the penalty box because the Wild simply do not give up a lot of power play opportunities and the Brahmas can’t get into a special teams battle despite their superior special teams numbers.
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In four head-to-head games this season, the Brahmas hold a 2 – 1 – 1 record against the Wild with a 1 – 0 – 1 record on home ice. Lone Star outscored Wenatchee 15 – 13 in the four games with only one game decided by a margin greater than a single goal.
01/09/15 Wild 5 at Brahmas 6
01/10/15 Wild 3 at Brahmas 2 OT
03/20/15 Brahmas 3 at Wild 4
03/21/15 Brahmas 4 at Wild 1
This past week in Corpus Christi, the Wild won a pair of 3 – 2 games to move into Round 1 of the playoffs. In game one, Wenatchee got a first period goal from David Powlowski and from Brendan Harris in the second to go into the third period tied at two. After a scoreless third, Chris Jones scored at the 2:13 mark for the game winner. Zach Quinn made 31 saves to pick up the win. In game two the Wild jumped out to a two goal lead in the first off goals from Colin Burston and Mike Coyne. August Von Ungern-Sternberg put them up three midway through the third before Corpus Christi made a comeback effort that fell just short. Michael Bullion was in net for the series clenching game and faced 26 shots in the win.
Team Records In March
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Special Teams
Overall the Brahmas finished the regular season with the 7th best power play unit in the league at an even 19.6% on 55 goals in 281 attempts. Wenatchee comes in at 14th in the league at 15.1% on 36 goals in 239 opportunities. On the penalty kill Lone Star was stellar all season to finish ranked 2nd in the NAHL. The Brahmas allowed only 32 goals in 267 penalty kills to finish at 88.0%. Wenatchee also allowed 32 goals, but on only 193 penalty kills. The Wild had the fewest times shorthanded in the league. They finished 11th in the NAHL at 83.4%.
At home, Lone Star’s power play unit is slightly better than their overall numbers at 22.9% to finish 6th. The Brahmas converted 32 of 144 power play opportunities at home. Wenatchee comes in with the 12th ranked road penalty kill at 83.2%. They have allowed 16 goals in only 95 times shorthanded.
The Brahmas’ home penalty kill is currently at 90.2%, killing off 119 of 132 penalty kills to rank 2nd in the league. Wenatchee has scored 20 road power play goals in 116 opportunities to rank 11th at 17.2%
In their head-to-head games, the Brahmas have converted only 1 of 17 opportunities while Wenatchee is 3 of 19.
March Goaltending Comparison
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Who is Hot March
| Brahmas |
| G | A | PTS | |
| Sebastian Vidmar | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| AJ Vanderbeck | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| Hunter Stanley | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Oskar Andren | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Ludvig Larsson | 3 | 4 | 7 |
Wild
| G | A | PTS | |
| Chris Jones | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Jake Ahlgren | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| David Powlowski | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Tyler Rockwell | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| August Von Ungern-Sternberg | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Inside the Game
The Brahmas’ defense and goaltending was outstanding during the regular season and finished with the 2nd best Goals Against and Shots Against averages in the league with a 2.14 GAA and 24.07 Shots Against. TJ Black and Jake Kupsky combined for a 0.910 SV% which was 6th in the NAHL to go along with an offense that also ranked 6th scoring 3.47 Goals per Game. Wenatchee closed out the season with a 2.85 GAA and an 0.889 SV% which were good for 10th and 20th in the league while they allowed 25.73 Shot Against per game which was 5th. Offensively they scored 2.95 Goals per Game to rank 12th.
Both TJ Black and Jake Kupsky ranked in the top six of NAHL goaltenders. Black had a 1.99 GAA and Kupsky had a 2.16 GAA. Wenatchee’s Zach Quinn was 23rd with a 2.78 GAA.
Sebastian Vidmar (35G – 45A) captured the NAHL scoring crown. The Malmo Sweden native finished 1st in goals scored and 2nd in assists.
Wenatchee was 14 – 14 – 2 on the road while the Brahmas were 26 – 3 – 1 on the NYTEX Sports Centre ice which was the best home record in the NAHL.
Ludvig Larsson (21G – 34A) was 5th in power play goals with 11 and 3rd in power play points with 29.
Jake Ahlgren (20G – 25A) was the leading scorer for Wenatchee this season.
Alexey Solovyev (10G – 24A) paced Lone Star defensemen in scoring and was 10th overall in the league among defensemen.
Oskar Andren’s four goal outburst against Wenatchee on Jan 9 in a big come from behind win was tied for the most goals scored in a game this season.
The Brahmas averaged 19.7 PIMs per game compared to Wenatchee who averages 13.47. Lone Star was whistled for 316 minor penalties which was 85 more than the Wild.
Lone Star compiled a 30 – 4 – 5 in games where they scored first.
Wenatchee reached the playoff on the strength of their play outside the South Division. Against teams outside the division the Wild held a winning record at 12 – 5 – 4 while against the South Division they slid to 15 – 20 – 4. Their 0.436 winning percentage against South Division teams was next to last in the division besting only Odessa.
In games against playoff teams this season the Brahmas were 25 – 9 – 7 and the Wild were 14 – 20 – 6.
Lone Star more than doubled their opponents output in the third period outscoring them 81 – 34.
The Brahmas 19 game home win streak was the longest on the season by four games.