Lone Star Brahmas vs Rio Grande Killer Bees Preview
By Kirk Estes
The Lone Star Brahmas will close out their home stand with a weekend series against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. The two games will also signal an end to the season series with Rio Grande who currently occupies the fourth and final playoff spot in the NAHL South 16 points ahead of Lone Star. The Brahmas and Killer Bees have faced each other 10 times so far this season. So far the Brahmas have a 3 – 4 – 3 record against Rio Grande with 6 of the games going beyond regulation. Four of the six were decided via a shootout.
Lone Star is coming off a sweep of the Corpus Christi Icerays which was their first two wins of the season against Corpus Christi. On Friday evening the Brahmas got three second period goals from Michael Crowley, Conner Enciso and Alexey Solovyev in front of a shutout performance by TJ Black for the win. Saturday was a bit more dramatic with the game going to overtime. Liam Stirtzinger’s second period goal tied the score up before Gordie Helmuth put the Brahmas up one in the third. The Icerays pulled even with a goal of their own setting up Matt Lison for the extra period game winner. Again Black was in net for the win.
Rio Grande on the other hand suffered a sweep at the hands of the Amarillo Bulls. In both games the Killer Bees were the first to get on the score board but could not hold their leads. Game one saw Amarillo rack up four second period goals for a 4 – 2 win. Ian Janco and Evan Schmidbauer had the two tallies for Rio Grande while Nick Schmit gave up the four goals on 39 shots for the loss. In game two it was Tyler Bruneteau who staked the Bees to a lead. Three unanswered from the Bulls resulted in the final 3 – 1 score. This night it was Olli Kalkaja who suffered the loss with 29 saves on 31 sots faced.
| Last 5 Games | W | L | OTL | Pts |
| Brahmas | 2 |
2
1
5
Killer Bees
2
3
0
4
Special Teams
Overall the Brahmas power play has been slowly moving up the league rankings and currently holds down the 19th spot. The penalty kill is still near the bottom at 23rd in the league.
It is at home that Lone Star’s special teams have been playing their best. The Brahmas’ home power play is converting 16.1% of their power play opportunities. They have scored 14 goals on 87 opportunities to rank 11th in the league. Rio Grande has a decent road penalty kill at 12th in the league. They have allowed 11 goals on 67 penalty kills for 83.6%.
On the penalty kill the Brahmas have been better at home as well. They are at 83.5% killing off 81 of 97 penalty kills. Good for 17th in the league. The Killer Bees’ road power play is playing at 13.9% with 10 goals on 72 power plays. They are holding down the 11th spot in the league.
Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games
GP |
W
L
OTL
SO
GA
GAA
SV
SV%
Brahmas
5
2
2
1
1
14
2.80
150
.915
Killer Bees
5
2
3
0
0
12
2.40
110
.902
Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)
| Brahmas | G |
A
Pts
Alexey Solovyev
2
2
4
Michael Crowley
2
1
3
Matt Lison1
2
3
Sebastian Vidmar1
2
3
Anthony Mousseau0
3
3
Killer BeesG
A
Pts
Evan Schmidbauer
1
3
4
Ian Janco
2
0
2
Ben Greiner1
1
2
Jared Dedenbach1
1
2
Four Tied at
0
2
2
Inside the Game
Matt Lison with 4G – 3A, Alexey Solovyev 2G – 4A and Liam Stirtzinger 2G – 3A lead the Brahmas in scoring against Rio Grande. Ben Greiner has 2G – 8A, Anthony Croston 5G – 3A and Tyler Bruneteau 4G – 3A lead the Killer Bees.
Ben Greiner is currently eleventh in the league in scoring with 32 points. He is also second in shots on goal with 162 in 38 games played.
Brahmas’ Forward Alex Dagnal leads the league in PIMs and Defenseman Nick Blase is second. They have 127 minutes and 121 minutes respectively. Rio Grande Forward Adam Morris is 7th with 100 penalty minutes.
Nick Schmit is 7th in the league with a 1.90 GAA and is 17th with a .916 SV% while Olli Kalkaja is 8th in GAA at 1.91 and 24th with a .914 SV%. The Brahmas TJ Black has a 2.12 GAA good for 10th. His .922 SV% has him at 11th. Jett Salinas has a 2.45 GAA and a .919 SV% which would rank him at 19th and 15th if he had enough playing time to qualify for the league leaders.
In his last 8 games TJ Black has a 1.92 GAA and a .930 SV%.
Matt Lison and Ben Greiner are tied for 12th in the league with 14 goals scored each.
Alexey Solovyev’s 5 goals are good for 7th in the league among Defensemen.
The Brahmas are leading the league in PIMs per game at 26.11 and the Killer Bees are 8th at 19.29 per game and are 3rd in majors at 35.
The Brahmas have a winning record at home going 9 – 8 – 1 compared to a 4 – 14 – 2 record on the road. The Killer Bees are 10 – 6 – 3 on the road. In games that extend beyond regulation, the Brahmas are 2 – 1 in overtime and 4 – 2 in shootouts while the Bees are 1 – 1 and 4 – 6.
Lone Star averages 2.16 goals per game and Rio Grande averages 2.37. Where the two teams differ is in goals allowed per game. The Brahmas allow 3.39 and the Killer Bees allow 2.24 per game.
Recent Roster Movement
The Brahmas released Forward Cole Rose.
Rio Grande has made no moves this month.