Texas Brahmas win second in a row against Arizona

Dominating play leads to 8-3 score in wild game

The Texas Brahmas improved to 15-8-3 with 33 points after a strong performance against the defending CHL Champion Arizona Sundogs. The Brahmas won the three-game series two to one. They were the first games ever played between the two teams.

The Brahmas opened up the first period playing disciplined hockey while the Sundogs came out swinging. Brahmas Scott Sheppard and Mike Vellinga each took early cheap shots from Adam Perry and Karl Sellan but stood their ground and smiled at the frustrated Sundogs. Referee Tudor Floru was not having any of the Sundogs shenanigans last night and he showed early on that he would not tolerate the same from either side tonight.

The Brahmas had an early five on three but were unable to solve Emond. It didn't take long to change that as the Brahmas started a frenzy of scoring that led to a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes.

The Brahmas took the 1-0 lead at the 5:43 mark when Jordan Cameron got to a loose puck after the face off and on his knees, swept it in just fast enough to beat Arizona netminder Marco Emond. It was an unassisted goal, Cameron's ninth of the year.

The Brahmas scored on a five on three opportunity and led by two when Scott Sheppard's wrist shot beat Emond just above the glove hand at the 12:50 mark. Kevin McLeod was credited with the assist.

The Brahmas scored for the third time when Marc Belanger created a turnover in the defensive zone and fed the puck to Scott Sheppard who fired it past Emond for the score.

With 1:21 left in the first, Mark Carragher and Matt Burto set up Matt Quinn who took his shot and scored number four for the Brahmas.

Kyle Hood, Karl Sellan and Kevin McLeod were all sent to the locker room early after a skirmish behind the net at the end of the period. All told, the Sundogs were called for 18 minutes on eight infractions in the first 20 minutes.

Fortunately for the Sundogs, the Brahmas had at least three shots hit the post in the first period. Texas outshot Arizona 10-7 in the period. The Brahmas were 1 for 8 on the powerplay and Arizona went 0 for 3.

The Sundogs were victims of the powerplay again 2:25 into the second period when defenseman Matt Hanson took a feed from Jordan Cameron and slapped the puck past Emond to make it 5-0. Mike Vellinga was also credited with the assist.

After numerous attempts, the Sundogs finally got on the board with 5:17 left in the second period. Adam Perry took command of a loose puck and popped it past the Brahmas defenseman. He looked like he was going to take a shot but instead fed it to Joel Irving who was able to flick the puck past David Cacciola to make it 5-1. Derek Legault was also credited with the assist.

The Sundogs went into the locker room at the end of the second period the same way they went in at the end of the first; down by four goals. Arizona had the shot advantage at 17-11 but manage only one goal after 24 shots in 40 minutes. They failed to score on three powerplay opportunities in the second.

The Brahmas were in control for the entire third period. 4:09 into the period, Marc Belanger added to the total off of a feed from Eric Lundberg to make it 6-1.

Four minutes later, after Karl Sellan got frustrated and ended up in the penalty box for a roughing double minor, Mark Carragher and Marc Belanger set up Eric Lundberg for another score, now 7-1 with 11:37 left in the period.

Pete Rouleau added another score at the 10:16 mark off a feed from Greg McConnell and by this time, you had to be way past feeling sorry for the Sundogs. At 8-1, the Brahmas not only had their best offensive performance of the season but controlled the game tonight from start to finish.

Joel Irving managed to save a little dignity for the Sundogs when he rushed the goal and put the puck past Cacciola to make it 8-2 at the 12:40 mark. Derek Legault was credited with the assist. Irving got a hat trick after adding another score at the 15:10 mark off a feed from Adam Perry. If there was a silver lining for the Sundogs fans, it was Irving's performance.

The Sundogs were motivated late and would not roll over and managed to finish out the game with some effort but had a too little, too late offensive spark that failed to put any more points on the board.

The game regressed into pandemonium with 55 seconds left when Matt Hanson took a shot at a Sundog before the faceoff and almost immediately, all five skaters paired off with their opponents. While the ten duked it out, David Cacciola skated out and was met by Marco Emond and we had our first goalie fight of the season. Both netminders connected several times before dropping to the ice and separating.

Matt Hanson, Greg McConnell and Eric Lundberg were ejected as well as Marco Emond. Joel Gistedt and Brett Jaeger finished the game.

David Cacciola gets the win and improves his record to 6-4-0-1. His performance tonight was stellar with 36 saves on 39 shots against. The Brahmas were outshot 40-31 in the game.

In the end, the Brahmas had been assessed 71 minutes on 16 infractions and Arizona 81 minutes on 21 infractions. Uncommon for the Brahmas by all means but when playing the most penalized team in the league, not unexpected, especially with the frustrations shown by Sundogs players over two nights of getting spanked on home ice.

Jordan Cameron received the third star. Joel Irving received the second star and Marc Belanger was awarded the first star.



"The fight" on Youtube

The longer version is here

You can view the box score here

The Brahmas will head for Bossier City for the final game of their longest road trip of the season with a match against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs on the 23rd.

Photo Credit: Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier