Texas Brahmas lose big at NYTEX

Odessa Jackalopes win 5-2

It was an impressive end to a three-game road trip. Unfortunately the Texas Brahmas are not on the road. The Odessa Jackalopes beat the bulls handily in front of a sold out home crowd at the NYTEX Sports Centre tonight and improved their record to 7-2-1. It was the Brahmas first home loss of the season.

Things started off positively for the Brahmas as rookie forward Topher Scott scored his first goal of the season 1:22 into the game. Scott took the feed from Justin Kinnunen and Grant Jacobsen and beat Jacks goaltender Juha Toivonen on the Brahmas second shot of the game. The fans loved it.

The joy was short-lived however, as the Jacks took advantage of their first powerplay opportunity, scoring on Brahmas netminder David Cacciola a minute-and-a-half later when Philippe Plante spanked one past with the assist from Dominic Leveille and Sebastien Thinel. Both goaltenders held for the remainder of the period with the Jacks outshooting the bulls 15-10.

The middle period was a wild and physical affair. The game was halted 10 times on penalty calls and both teams were called for goalie interference. Juha Toivonen was tended to by trainer Robert Molina for several minutes after a collison with Brahmas defenseman Justin Kinnunen. The Jacks took all of the momentum in the second with powerplay goals by Dominic Leveille and Sebastien Thinel and an even strength, unassisted goal from Jonathan Labelle. Pete Rouleau gave fans a little reprieve when he scored a powerplay goal of his own at the 19:29 mark with a little help from Justin Kinnunen and Tyler Skworchinski. The period ended with the score at 4-2 and with Odessa outshooting the Brahmas again, this time 15-14.

The game was sealed 28 seconds into the third period when Mike Lesperance took a pass from Jean Bourbeau fed by Colin Circelli and put it past David Cacciola to provide the final score of 5-2. Needless to say, but I will anyway, the Jacks outshot the bulls 10-5 in the third.

Juha Toivonen stopped 27 of 29 shots to earn his fifth win of the year in net for the Jacks. David Cacciola takes the loss for the Brahmas and his record goes to 1-2-0.

The Jackalopes outshot Texas 41-29. The Brahmas, who came into the game with the third-best power play in the CHL (26.53 percent), were 1-for-11.

The Brahmas go to 4-3-1 and will host the 7-1-0 Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs on Sunday at 3:05pm.

You can view the box score here

You can view photos here

Photo Credit: Robert Keith