Insider Preview - Oklahoma City Blazers @ Texas Brahmas

Final regular season meeting between the two teams today at NYTEX

The Texas Brahmas (34-12-5, 73 points) host the Oklahoma City Blazers (30-14-6, 66 points) this afternoon at the NYTEX Sports Centre. The Brahmas are coming off a hard-fought road shootout loss last night against the Odessa Jackalopes. A win today would deliver the Brahmas to within one point of the Colorado Eagles (who don't play today) in the hunt for the Governor's Cup.

The Blazers are coming off a 3-2 road win against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees at the Dodge Arena last night. They are still looking to clinch a playoff berth, following The Mississippi RiverKings and the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, who have already done so. Knowing the Walrus, he expects a win today.

The Blazers have won four of six games played between the two teams this season; three at the Ford Center and one at NYTEX. The Brahmas have won two; one at home on December 27th and one at the Ford Center (in OT) on January 7th. This will be their final meeting in the regular season.

The Blazers' top three scorers are Bill Vandermeer (RW) with 49 points (22 G, 27 A), Brian Passmore (C) with 39 points (16 G, 23 A) and D.J. Jelitto (LW) with 38 points (20 G, 18 A). On Special teams, the Blazers are ranked 10th in the league overall on the powerplay at 17.1% and 10th on the road at 15.8%. On the penalty kill, Oklahoma City is ranked first in the league overall at 86.8% and first on the road at 89%.

Jeff MacDermid (C) is the danger man today, having scored nine points (2 G, 7 A) and is a +3 against the Brahmas this season. Simon Lambert (RW) and Chad Hinz (F) have each scored eight points (4 G, 4 A for Lambert +4, 1 G, 7 A for Hinz +1). But watch out for D.J. Jelitto. In the last 10 games, he has put up 11 points (6 G, 5 A) and is a +8. He has scored 23 points on the road this season (11 G, 12 A) and is a +10 when traveling.

The top three scorers for the Brahmas are Scott Sheppard (F) with 58 points (29 G, 29 A), Grant Jacobsen (F) with 48 points (18 G, 30 A) and Jordan Cameron (F) with 46 points (17 G, 29 A). On special teams, the Brahmas are ranked third in the league overall on the powerplay at 19.5% and fifth at home at 19.4%. On the penalty kill, they are ranked 12th in the league overall at 81% and fourth at home at 87.1%.

Scott Sheppard is the man to watch for the Brahmas. His overtime goal gave the Brahmas their last victory against the Blazers. In the last 10 games, Shep has scored 11 points (6 G, 5 A) and is a +5. He has scored seven points (4 G, 3 A) against the Blazers this season and is a +2 against them. Sheppard and Grant Jacobsen are leaders of the home guard this season, each having scored 31 points (11 G, 20 A) at NYTEX. Sheppard is a +14 at home and Jacobsen is a +13.

I expect Doug Groenestege (17-5-3-2) will get the start in net for the Blazers. He has won three of his last five starts, including the 4-2 win over the Brahmas on February 10th. Groenestege has proven to be a consistently high caliber goalie and leads the league with a 2.04 GAA. He is fourth in the league with a .922 save percentage.

David Cacciola has three losses in three starts against OKC but will get the start today with Brett Jaeger out on a personal matter. Watch for Cody Daniel, the Brahmas' new relief goalie, who will be on the bench today.

The Brahmas will be without forward Matt Quinn and defenseman Eric Lundberg. Oklahoma City is healthy and expected to be at full strength.

Massey Ratings shows the Brahmas as the likely winner today - let's hope they're right!

The game starts at 3:05pm and can be seen on Nifty-TV. You can listen to it on Internet radio here

Oklahoma City fans will be making the trip to NYTEX via the Heartland Flyer train and buses from Fort Worth to NYTEX. They will occupy two complete sections at the rink in the end where the Blazers shoot twice. After the game, they will have dinner with the Blazers players and coaches at Zuroma before returning to Fort Worth for the train ride home. Not sure how many OKC fans are coming, but it should create a fun atmosphere as we haven't had a large group of opposing fans (except for Mudbug fans) this season.

According to the Brahmas' website, there will be another game worn jersey auction after today's game. This is the first I've heard of it - that's all I can say about that.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith