Sundogs beat the Brahmas 3-2 in Prescott Valley

Arizona takes the first of the three-game series

The Texas Brahmas and the Arizona Sundogs met for the first time tonight at Tim's Toyota Center in Prescott Arizona. In an even match-up, the Sundogs managed to get the win, snapping a two-game losing streak and earning their 11th win of the season.

It was just the fourth time all season Arizona has limited its opponent to two goals or less. The Sundogs have won all four.

It was a defensive first period as the two teams probed each other, looking for weaknesses and getting to know each other on the ice. Arizona did a good job guarding the net, helping netminder Joel Gistedt prevent any scoring in the first.

Despite Arizona's reputation for being the most penalized team in the league, play was pretty clean in the first 20 minutes with each team called twice for minors. Neither team was able to capitalize on the powerplay opportunities.

The Brahmas played well in the first. Striker Scott Sheppard had a couple of breakaway chances. He hit the post on the first attempt, trying to beat Gistedt on the right hand side.

"I thought it went in," Gistedt told The Daily Courier. "I just waited for the siren to go off but it didn't, I heard a cling and that was a good feeling."

Kevin McLeod was aggressive, taking three shots but unable to get past Gistedt. Grant Jacobsen took a puck to the right ankle by one of his teammates but managed to skate on it for the rest of the game although he favored it throughout. The Bulls had the slight advantage on shots at 8-7. Brett Jaeger was perfect through 20 minutes.

The Sundogs came out aggressively in the second period of play. They capitalized on their third powerplay opportunity to open up the scoring at the 3:02 mark. Derek Legault held the puck in at the blue line, sent it across to Jon Landry who passed it diagonally to Mark Kolanos on the doorstep. Kolanos paused and then took the shot, putting it just under the crossbar to beat Jaeger.

The Brahmas tied it up with a powerplay goal of their own at the 11:39 mark. Mike Vellinga took a shot from the blue line. It went wide and was picked up by Pete Rouleau. Rouleau forced the puck to Grant Jacobsen who fed it to Greg McConnell. McConnell fired it past Gistedt, making it a 1-1 game. It was McConnell's fourth goal of the year.

Just over four minutes later, the Brahmas took the 2-1 lead when Grant Jacobsen received a pass from Matt Hanson right through a defenders legs. Jacobsen then made a fantastic backhanded pass to Eric Lundberg who hammered the puck into the back of the net for his first goal of the season.

Tyler Liebel made a great play at center ice, knocking down a pass in mid-air and skating it into the Brahmas' zone on the right side. Liebel flipped a backhand pass to rookie Peter Cartwright who was able to beat Jaeger and make it a 2-2 game at the 17:15 mark.

Arizona had the shot advantage in the second at 11 to 7. After 40 minutes, the shot count was 18-15, advantage Arizona. Both teams were one for three on the powerplay.

The third period opened up with aggressive play on both sides. The defenses held for half the period. Then the Sundogs took the 3-2 lead with their second powerplay goal when A. J. MacLean received a beautiful feed from Mark Kolanos and slapped it past Jaeger on his right for his fifth goal of the season. Martin Gascon was also credited for the assist.

Both teams were on the attack throughout the rest of the period. At the last minute, Dan Wildfong pulled Brett Jaeger to put an extra attacker on the ice. Scott Sheppard had a excellent opportunity with a breakaway but Gistedt was able to make the save and protect the lead for Arizona. The Sundogs outshot the Brahmas 11-5 in the final 20 minutes.

Gistedt had 18 saves and improved his record to 5-7-0. Brett Jaeger takes the loss with 26 saves and goes to 9-5-3.

Forward Grant Jacobsen had two assists for number 100 and 101 in his professional career.

The Brahmas go to 13-8-3 and the Sundogs improve to 11-15-1. The Brahmas were called for 10 minutes on 5 infractions and Arizona for 20 minutes on 6 infractions. The Bulls were 1 for three on the powerplay and Arizona went 2 for 4. Arizona had the shot advantage at 29-20.

You can view the box score here

The two teams will meet again on Friday night. The game will be shown on Nifty-TV with the start at 8:05pm CST.

Photo Credit: Arizona Sundogs/Andrew Draper