Forward Mark Belanger celebrates the game-winning goal with Tyler Skworchinski and Kevin McLeod

Texas Brahmas win home opener

Welcome the Mississippi RiverKings back to NYTEX with a 4-2 victory

The Texas Brahmas shook off the monkey off their backs from Friday night's loss to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs and thrilled the hometown crowd of 2,104 with a win over the Mississippi RiverKings.

It was the first meeting between the two teams since the Brahmas defeated the RiverKings two games to one in the first round of last seasons playoffs. Under new head coach Kevin Kaminsky and coming off a season opening victory over the Wichita Thunder, the RiverKings could not put it together on either offense or defense.

The Brahmas came out swinging in a physical first period that saw 12 penalties including three on the Brahmas' enforcer Lance Galbraith for 17 minutes. Taking advantage of the powerplay after Mississippi defenseman Dane Marshall drew their fifth penalty, Galbraith drew first blood on the powerplay with a wrap-around goal at the 14:10 mark, assisted by Aaron Davis and Brad Bonello. The rough play continued and Galbraith was penalized for a board checking major at the horn and received a game misconduct. The Brahmas outshot the RiverKings 15-3 in the first period.

The RiverKings' Garrett Larson, assisted by Jeff Nelson and David Simoes, finally put one past Brett Jaeger at the 13:57 mark in the second to even the score at 1-1. Matt Quinn gave the Brahmas the lead back with four seconds to go in the second, putting one past RiverKings goaltender Kevin Beech off of a feed by Mark Carragher. It was Quinn's first goal as a Texas Brahma.

The RiverKings' Garret Larson evened the score again with the assist from Stephan Margeson and Davis Simoes but their defense had no answer for Marc Belanger, who provided the Brahmas' firepower in the third period. Belanger scored a pair goals, including the game-winner at 15:05 of the final period, assisted by Tyler Skworchinski and Kevin McLeod. He finished the RiverKings off with an unassisted empty-netter with three seconds remaining.

"I was trying to make a second effort to go after it," Belanger told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "...but I watched it roll in at about half a mile per hour. It just went off my stick enough and the goalie, I don’t know how he didn’t recover."

Both teams had a single powerplay in the second and third periods but failed to convert.

Mississippi special teams failed to convert on all five of their powerplay opportunities. Kevin Beech took the loss for the RiverKings with 31-save effort.

Brett Jaeger stopped 18 of 20 shots and recorded his first victory of the season.

The Brahmas stayed after the game to sign autographs and meet with fans in the lobby of the NYTEX Sports Centre. The Brahmas will go on the road for their next game against the Amarillo Gorillas on Friday, October 24th. The team will return to NYTEX on Saturday the 25th for a re-match against their pre-season foe, the Odessa Jackalopes.

Photos from the game can be viewed here

Photo Credit: Robert Keith