Texas Brahmas come up short In Oklahoma City

Blazers win 7-3, remain unbeaten at home in regulation

In an offensive battle against the Northeast Division leading Oklahoma City Blazers who were 6-0-2 at home, the Texas Brahmas lost their second meeting 7-3 at the Ford Center.

The Blazers struck first on a powerplay opportunity when Stacey Bauman took the puck down ice and passed it to Jeff MacDermid who fed the puck to Cam Doull. Doull curled it past David Cacciola for the 1-0 lead at the 3:37 mark.

Play was halted for several minutes at the 4:39 mark, when referee John McIssac injured his right leg and was unable to continue. T.J. Nua took over as referee for the remainder of the game.

Back-to-back hooking calls on Jason Deitsch and Justin Kinnunen gave the Blazers a two-man advantage which led to another score at the 18:19 mark. Chad Hinz fed the puck to Oriel McHugh who missed his shot but Brian Passmore got the rebound off the end boards and put it past Cacciola to give Oklahoma City a 2-0 lead. The Blazers outshot the Brahmas 6-3 in the first period and their special teams shut down two Brahmas powerplay opportunities.

Cam Doull scored his second of the night on a gift from Brahmas defenseman Eric Lundberg. Lundberg inadvertently teed up the puck for Doull who took it away and was able to shoot it past Cacciola for an unassisted goal, giving the Blazers the 3-0 lead. A few minutes later, Grant Jacobsen was able to get down low and dribble the puck past Doug Groenestege, putting the Brahmas on the board at the 6:16 mark, one second after the end of a powerplay. Jason Deitsch and Craig Minard were credited with the assist. The Brahmas were called six times on penalties in the second period, but David Cacciola was able to stop all of the Blazers shots, including on the two-man advantage. Shots were even at 12 at the end of the period.

The Blazers entered the third period with a two-man advantage for 48 seconds and capitalized on it 20 seconds in when Chad Hinz placed a cross-ice feed from Brian Passmore into Bill Vandermeer's path and Vandermeer was able to put it behind Cacciola who never had a chance.

Just 30 seconds later, Oriel McHugh put an on-target point shot into the pads of Cacciola and Bill Vandermeer picked up the off-the-pad rebound and smacked the puck past the Brahmas netminder.

Oriel McHugh scored the third powerplay goal of the period with the assist from Chad Hinz and Bill Vandermeer at the 7:11 mark. The Blazers led 6-1 having gone 5 for 10 on powerplay opportunities.

A minute later, tempers flared and Marc Belanger took on Blazers forward Brennen Francon, resulting in multiple penalties. Belanger received a five minute fighting major and Francon was given four penaties for 19 minutes, including a 10 minute Fighting (Instigator) Misconduct.

Scott Sheppard took advantage and got a powerplay goal of his own on a two-man advantage at the 10:08 mark. Sheppard fired it in from a steep angle after receiving a pass from Jason Deitsch. Craig Minard was also credited with the assist.

Sheppard scored again at the 14:44 mark, getting an extra attacker goal after Cacciola was pulled. Jordan Cameron and Pete Rouleau were credited with the assist.

The Blazers Jeff MacDermid made it 7-3 on an empty net goal at the 18:32 mark, sealing the final score. MacDermid was assisted by Chad Hinz and Brian Passmore. It was Hinz' fifth assist of the night.

The Blazers outshot the Brahmas 33-29 and had their highest offensive output on the season with six goals improving to 12-1-2 and 7-0-2 at home.

The Brahmas go to 9-4-1 and 3-3-1 on the road.

Doug Groenestege earned his third win, stopping 28 shots. David Cacciola falls to 2-3-0.

You can view the box score here

The Brahmas return to North Richland Hills to prepare for the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, who will visit the NYTEX Sports Centre on Wednesday night.