Lone Star Brahmas Lose Second Straight In NAHL Showcase Tournament

Things got off to a disappointing, but what is becoming an all too familiar rocky start for the Lone Star Brahmas against the Austin Bruins in game two of the NAHL Showcase Tournament.

With just 1:55 gone in the contest the Brahmas found themselves down a goal as Niko Hildenbrand sent a puck on net from a very sharp angle. The puck went off a body in front, hopped up and ricocheted of Jacob Nehama’s back and in. Austin was far from done in the period. A turnover by Anthony Mousseau behind the Lone Star net resulted in Guillaume Leclerc fluttering one out front. Lucas Kohls tried to knock bat it out of the air which left it laying in the crease for Leclerc to poke home. The Bruins built the lead to three off a draw to Nehama’s left when Jake Arroyo corralled the puck at the near point and fed a pass to the far circle. Alexey Solovyev had a chance to clear the puck but fanned on it leaving Trevor Boyd all alone with the puck just outside the crease and he roofed it at 8:14.

Photo Courtesy of David Dudich – Forward Leo Lumm had one of the few bright spots for the Brahmas against the Bruins with his third period breakaway goal.

Connor Millard tried to get the team pumped up when he dropped the gloves with Kody Reuter. Reuter landed an early right sending Millard to a knee but he bounced back to his skated to land a right of his own. Rueter responded with another right then wrestled Millard to the ice.

The Brahmas got something started early in the second when Mitch Mueller sent a bomb from the near point that Nicholas Lehr knocked aside with the blocker. Jan Hudecek fishing for a rebound on the off side dove to swat the puck out of mid air behind Lehr into the open net. Time of the goal was 0:36 of the period.

Just over a minute later, Austin responded to reestablish the three goal lead. With the Bruins cycling the puck deep, Nick Blasé and Hildenbrand were tied up just off the far post. Leclerc threw the puck out front from the far corner off Hildenbrand and past a screened Nehama.

Lone Star went on the powerplay and had something going. Liam Stirtzinger crashed the net and tried to pound a loose puck through Lehr’s pads drawing the ire of  Josh Bretner who drove Stirtzinger to the end boards and threw a right. Stirtzinger answered with two good lefts before switching to the right hand as Bretner went to a knee. Even though it was Bretner who instigated, it was Stirtzinger who was hit with the phantom additional minor for roughing. Mid way through the kill of the Stirtzinger roughing call, Blasé was whistled for cross checking giving Austin a 52 second 5 on 3. The Brahmas penalty kill bucked down to thwart the Bruins powerplay.

With the second period winding down, Jay Dickman took a pass from Kohls and fired a shot on net that was blocked by Mueller. Unfortunately it bounced right back onto the tape of Dickman and he sent it in through traffic at 19:21. Boyd picked up the secondary assist on the play.

The final 20 minutes of play saw the Brahmas cut into the lead at the 5:50 mark. Solovyev carried the puck behind the net then fired an outlet pass to Will White in front of the Lone Star bench. White spotted Leo Lumm streaking down the middle and gave him the puck in stride. Lumm did the rest as he drove the net getting Lehr to drop then lifted it under the cross bar. However the goal was way too little and way too late.

In what is becoming another troubling statistic, the Brahmas were outshot by a lopsided 61-19 margin. One bright spot for Lone Star was the penalty kill which is playing fairly well early in the season at 88.24%. They held the Bruins scoreless in four chances including the extended 5 on 3. In stark contrast is the Brahmas powerplay which failed to score in four chances making them just 1 for 13 on the season.

Boxscore

Elsewhere around the South Division

Rio Grande Valley came up short against the Aberdeen Wings dropping a 4 – 2 decision. Aberdeen scored two in the first then traded goals with the Killer Bees the rest of the way for the win. Henry Dill made 34 saves on 36 shots faced to pick up the W.

Wichita Falls continued their roll with a dominating 7 – 1 win over Brookings. The Wildcats got two goals apiece from Nick Farmer and Rudy Junda while David Zevnik stopped all but one of the 26 shots he faced.

Topeka jumped out to a 5 – 2 lead over Johnstown only to see the Tomahawks come storming back with three third period goals in the span of 2:38 to force overtime. Neither team scored in the extra period setting up a shootout in which all three Topeka shooters scored while none of the Johnstown shooters bested Blake Wojtala.

Sandro Aeschlimann stopped all 23 Odessa shots that he faced to give Springfield a 4 – 0 shutout win. The loss extended the Jackalopes losing streak to 26 games dating back to last season.

Coulee Region scored three powerplay goals in the first two periods to build a 3 – 0 lead over the Corpus Christi. The Icerays made a valiant effort to get back in the game scoring two in the third, but were unable to pot the game tying goal.

Amarillo fell to Bismarck by a score of 3 – 1. The Bobcats held a 2 – 1 lead late and scored an empty net goal with eight seconds remaining for the final score. Aaron Nelson got the win for Bismarck recording 26 saves.

Current South Division Standings