Lone Star Brahmas vs Topeka Road Runners Preview
By Kirk Estes
The Lone Star Brahmas and Topeka Road Runners will faceoff this weekend at the NYTEX Sports Centre. The series will start an eight game home stand for the Brahmas that will close out the home half of their NAHL season schedule.
The teams have split their previous six meetings with two of the Brahmas’ three wins coming via the shootout. Each of their series have started and ended the same way with Topeka winning the opener and Lone Star rebounding for the game two win. Anthony Mousseau 0G – 5A has led the Brahmas in scoring against Topeka while Matt Lison 3G – 0A and Ryan Watson 3G – 0A have led in goals scored. TJ Black is 1 – 1 in his two games against the Road Runners with a 3.84 GAA. His win came in Topeka allowing only one of four Road Runners to score in the shootout. For Topeka, Tyler Poulsen 4G – 2A and Jake Kamrass 2G – 4A both have six points with Mike Gornall chipping in 3G – 1A. Drew Vogler has a 2 – 1 record against the Brahmas while PJ Bridges is 1 – 2 with the losses coming in shootouts. Both Topeka netminders have a GAA under 2.00 against Lone Star.
The Brahmas are coming off a tough weekend in Amarillo where they were swept by the Bulls on scores of 9 – 2 and 4 – 0. Sebastian Vidmar had both of the Brahmas goals against Amarillo with Roman Uchyn getting the primary assists on both goals. Matt Lison and Anthony Mousseau had the secondary assists. Black had a rough start on Friday night getting the hook midway through the first after allowing three quick goals. Jett Salinas came on to replace Black and faced 40 shots the rest of the way turning aside 34 of them. On Saturday Black was once again in goal and made 37 saves in the loss.
Topeka was in Wichita Falls last weekend to take a pair from the Wildcats. After falling behind on a goal from former Brahmas Todd Koritzinsky, the Road Runners fought back for the win. They had a second period goal from Cody Champagne and a third period score from Jake Kamrass which proved to be the game winner. Bridges made 39 saves in the win. On Saturday Vogler’s 30 save shutout was supported by goals from Zach Glienke, Jerad Tafoya and James Ring.
| Last 5 Games | W |
L
OTL
Pts
Brahmas
3
2
0
6
Road Runners
4
1
0
8
Special Teams
The long home stand will give the Brahmas a chance to pump up their special teams numbers a bit as both the power play and penalty kill have been much better on NYTEX ice this season. Topeka on the other hand has been better on the road with their special teams. Head to head, the Brahmas are 2 for 18 on the power play while the Road Runners are 3 for 31.
The Brahmas’ home power play is 14th in the league at just 14.2% having scored only 15 goals on 106 opportunities. They will be skating against a Topeka road penalty kill that is 7th in the league at 87.0% allowing 14 goals on 108 power plays.
When they find themselves down a man, the Brahmas home penalty kill is at 82.0% which is 18th in the league. They have allowed 20 goals on 111 penalty kills. Topeka’s 4th ranked road power play will look to take advantage this weekend. They have scored 23 times on 127 opportunities or 18.1%.
Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games
W |
L
OTL
SO
GA
GAA
SV
SV%
Brahmas
3
2
0
1
18
3.60
157
.897
Road Runners
4
1
0
2
10
2.00
126
.926
Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)
| Brahmas | G |
A
Pts
2
4
6
Roman Uchyn
1
4
6
2
2
4
Sebastian Vidmar
2
1
3
Matt Lison
1
2
3
Road RunnersG
A
Pts
Tyler Poulsen
2
6
8
Jake Kamrass
3
2
5
3
2
5
1
4
5
3
1
4
Inside the Game
Topeka’s Tyler Poulsen 22G – 22A is currently tied for 5th in the league in scoring while Jake Kamrass 18G – 24A is tied for 8th.
Anthony Mousseau 3G – 21A is tied for 13th in the league for defenseman scoring. His 11 power play assists has him tied for 6th in the league with Poulsen.
The Road Runners’ Clint Garris (143 min.) is leading the league in PIMs and in minor penalties with 39. Alex Dagnal (129 min.) leads the Brahmas and is 3rd in the league.
Alexey Solovyev is tied for 9th in goals scored by a defenseman with 6 and leads all defensemen with 3 shootout goals.
Topeka goal tender PJ Bridges is 2nd in the league with a 1.42 GAA and a .945 SV%. He has built a 13 – 3 – 0 record to go along with 7 shutouts in 24 games played.
TJ Black has 3 shutouts in 24 games, tied for 8th in the league.
The Brahmas are leading the league in 10 Minute Misconducts with 19 and Game Misconducts with 14.
The Brahmas are 3rd in the league averaging 23.84 PIMs per game. The Road Runners are 12th with an 18.41 PIM per game average. Topeka has only 19 major penalties on the season which is the 6th lowest total in the league.
Lone Star is 2 – 1 in overtime and 6 – 2 in shootouts. Topeka is 1 – 0 and 2 – 5.
Topeka comes into the series riding a 4 game win streak.