Travis Banga celebrates his first goal as a Texas Brahma

Texas Brahmas beat the Sundogs again!

Jaeger gets shutout in 5-0 win, Banga scores 2 goals

The Texas Brahmas controlled the tempo of the evening in front of a sold out crowd at the NYTEX Sports Centre to emerge victorious in a 5-0 win over the defending CHL champion Arizona Sundogs. Brett Jaeger saved 37 shots against to record his second shutout of the season and Travis Banga registered his first 2 goals as a Brahma.

The win gave Dan Wildfong his 63rd victory as head coach of the Brahmas making him, in only his second year, the winningest head coach in Brahmas history.

The following is the write-up on the game from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's William Wilkerson.

Texas Brahmas forward Travis Banga put two hands in the air and let out an exuberant bellow with teammates seconds away from engulfing him from all sides minutes into the third period on Friday.

It was easy to see Banga felt the need to celebrate. The two-time CHL All-Star, had just scored his second goal in his second game with Texas just two minutes and 22 seconds after the first one.

Kevin McLeod and Scott Sheppard each added one goal and two assists, and Brahmas goalie Brett Jaeger stopped all 37 shots in a 5-0 victory over the Arizona Sundogs in front of 2,369 at the NYTEX Sports Centre. Brahmas coach Dan Wildfong became the franchise’s all-time winningest coach with 63 wins, passing Terry Menard (1998-2000).

"It was a great win by the team," Banga said. "The best thing for me was to have that week off for the all-star break [on Wednesday] to rest up and get to know my teammates."

Banga, who Texas acquired from Rio Grande Valley on Monday in exchange for Topher Scott and future considerations from Wichita, Rocky Mountain and Rio Grande, converted his first goal on a power-play 2:31 into the third. It was one of three power-play goals for Texas (23-10-3).

Kevin McLeod drilled home his seventh goal of the season at the 6:56 mark of the first during a power-play situation to give Texas a 1-0 lead. It was one of four first period power-plays for the Brahmas, which found themselves taking more of a defensive stand early due to two power-plays they created for Arizona (17-19-2).

But Texas’s power-play kill and Jaeger (17-5-3), who collected his second shutout of the season, held on to its lead.

Then, when play returned to even-strength, Brahmas forward Matt Quinn capitalized on a hard deflection to give Texas a 2-0 lead at the 15:24 mark of the second. Marc Belanger and McLeod assisted on Quinn’s seventh goal.

With 17 seconds left in the second, and on their fifth power-play, Sheppard netted his team-high 19th goal to put Texas up 3-0. Jason Deitsch and Justin Kinnunen were credited with the assists. For Deitsch, it was his first game back with the Brahmas after his second stint this season with the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League. Deitsch now has 12 points (four goals) in nine games with Texas.

You can view the box score here

You can view photos from the game here

The Brahmas (23-10-3) will host their division rivals, the Laredo Bucks (21-10-4) tonight at the NYTEX Sports Center. The Brahmas lead the Bucks by three points with 46. A win tonight will give them a five point lead going into Laredo's barn on Wednesday. If you can't be at NYTEX tonight, you can watch on Nifty TV. The game starts at 7:05pm. Don't miss it!

Photo Credit: Robert Keith