Photo courtesy of David Dudich: Gordie Helmuth’s poweplay goal in the third period put the Brahmas up by one goal. While he has two shootout goals on the season, this was Helmuth’s first goal in regulation.
The Brahmas came into Saturday night’s game looking for a sweep of the Corpus Christi Icerays having won on Friday by a score of 3 – 0. Lone Star is chasing the Icerays in the standings and entered the weekend seven points back.
Things got off to a rocky start though The Icerays jumped out to a first period lead. At the 13:42 mark, Maurin Bouvet pulled the puck out of the near corner and sent it to Connor Kelly at the top of the leftwing circle. Kelley’s wrister found just enough room to sneak under the crossbar. Kyle Froese was awarded the secondary assist on the goal. The Icerays took the one goal lead to the locker room at the conclusion of the period.
Strong work behind the Corpus Christi net by Liam Stirtzinger resulted in him wrapping it around the far post and pounding it through Ben Myers to pull the Brahmas even. Time of the goal was 8:22 of the second. Alex Dagnal and Alexey Solovyev picked up the assists on the play.
The score would remain deadlocked at one apiece until early in the third when the Brahmas took the lead on the power play. Following a big collision of two Lone Star players in the neutral zone, Anthony Mousseau fed Gordie Helmuth who found the back of the net at 2:24 after a toe drag around the defense.
However, Corpus Christi was not done just yet. With 5:39 left in the period Brad LeLievre sent a pass from the far hash mark to Nick Monfils in the high slot and his one timer snuck past the left skate of TJ Black.
At 16:53 the fire works erupted in the far corner of the Brahmas offensive zone. The Icerays’ Bouvet was hit with a boarding call against Helmuth and players came together and started paring up. Slowly different pairs started to drop the gloves until all the skaters were involved. Once the peace was restored eight players found themselves taking early showers. The Icerays ended up with a 5:00 minute power play out of the melee. With the game on the line the Brahmas’ penalty kill stepped up and not only kept the Icerays at bay, but also generated more shots on goal than Corpus Christi did despite being a man down.
The Brahmas penalty kill spilled over into the overtime period with Lone Star skating 4 on 3 for 1:53. The Icerays Grant Hutton returned the favor going for hooking with two minutes to go, putting the Brahmas power play unit on the ice for the remainder of the overtime period. It did not take the Brahmas long to cash in as for the second night in a row Solovyev unleashed a cannon from the point. Tonight he beat Myers low glove side at 3:20. Assists went to Matt Lison and Mousseau. The Boxscore credits Lison with the goal, but it will surely be changed once they have an opportunity to review the play.
The Icerays won the sots on goal battle 29 – 20, but stumbled badly with the special teams play. Corpus Christi was 0 – 5 on the power play including the 5:00 minute major while the Brahmas came through scoring twice on three opportunities.
Elsewhere Around The NAHL South
Rio Grande Valley at Amarillo
Amarillo completed the sweep of the Killer Bees scoring three unanswered goals after Rio Grande had taken a one goal lead midway through the second period. Collin Delia turned aside 21 of the 22 shots he faced while Kyle Gattelaro, Roman Ammirato and Brady Ferguson supplied the offense.
Current NAHL South Division Standings
With the sweep of Corpus Christi, the Brahmas who went into the Christmas break tied with Odessa for last in the division, have climbed to within striking distance of the Icerays. Rio Grande is currently holding down the fourth and final playoff spot 16 points ahead of the Brahmas.
TEAM |
GP
W
L
OTL
PTS
PCT
Amarillo
39
27
10
2
56
0.718
Topeka
36
21
11
4
46
0.639
Wichita Falls
36
21
12
3
45
0.625
Rio Grande
38
19
12
7
45
0.592
Corpus Christi
39
13
19
7
33
0.423
Lone Star
38
13
22
3
29
0.382
Odessa
36
10
24
2
22
0.306