Nathan Saunders leaves the ice after doing battle with James Hiebert

Brahmas take ugly loss at NYTEX

Laredo Bucks dominate, win 2-0

Well, I didn't see a comfortable face in the NYTEX Sports Centre all night as the Texas Brahmas (40-15-5, 85 points) probably had one of their worst games in the venue this season. The Laredo Bucks (33-22-5, 71 points) managed a 2-0 shutout the Brahmas, only the 2nd team to manage that feat this season. The first, as you may remember, was a 3-0 shellacking by the upstart Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on December 26th. You may also remember that the Brahmas won 16 straight home games after that.

The second straight home loss for the Brahmas hindered their goal of wrapping up the Southern Conference title. It also prevented the Brahmas from gaining points in the race for the Governor’s Cup, which is now the Colorado Eagles’ to lose.

The win was important for the Bucks as they increased their lead to six points over the Killer Bees for the third playoff spot in the Southern Conference, a spot Coach Roscoe doesn’t want to lose. It was also their second win in a row after a five game losing streak. Plano native Andrew Martin picked up his first shutout of the season, stopping all 25 of the Brahmas' shots in the process.

The two teams are now tied 3-3 in the season series with two games remaining at the Laredo Entertainment Center next week.

The Bucks scored first when forward Igor Agarunov sent a slap shot from the slot past Brett Jaeger to give Laredo a 1-0 lead at the 11:23 mark. James Hiebert and Ryan Salvis were in on the assist.

The Bucks not only led the shot count by 9-5 in the first period, they held the Brahmas to no shots on goal for the first 13 minutes of the frame. I probably don’t need to mention that Dan Wildfong was livid behind the bench and I definitely wouldn’t want to be in the locker room during the first intermission.

The second period didn’t go much better for the Brahmas. Although they narrowly outshot the Bucks 10-9, they could not solve Andrew Martin.

Laredo took advantage of a tripping call on Greg McConnell and scored again at the 11:18 mark. Forward James Hiebert received a set up by Ryan Salvis and Brett Cullaton and then sent a slap shot from the right circle whizzing past Brett Jaeger to make it 2-0. It was Hiebert’s first goal in four games since re-signing with the team on March 8th.

Nathan Saunders mixed it up with Hiebert with less than five minutes left in the period. Saunders received 29 penalty minutes in penalties including two minutes for roughing, two minutes for fighting (instigator), a five-minute fighting major, a 10-minute fighting (instigator) misconduct and a 10-minute no category game misconduct. He also received a cut below his left eye, which I believe occurred while he was being held back by linesmen. Hiebert got away with a two-minute roughing and a 10-minute fighting (aggressor) game misconduct.

Dan Wildfong pulled Brett Jaeger for the final 1:30 of the game in favor of the extra defender but the Brahmas were unable to score.

The Brahmas out shot the Bucks 10-8 in the final period but were outshot 26-25 in the game.

Brett Jaeger took the loss, although he stopped 24 of 26 shots and earned the third star of the game. The first and second stars went to Bucks players so that’s all I’ll say about that. Jaeger’s record goes to 27-9-4-2 on the season.

The Brahmas went 0 for 4 on the powerplay and were assessed 43 minutes on 12 infractions. The Bucks went 1 for 7 on the man-advantage and were assessed 24 minutes on eight infractions.

You can view the box score here

You can view my photos from the game here

The Brahmas travel to Wichita for their second of three games against the Thunder on Friday night at the Kansas Coliseum. The game starts at 7:05pm and can be seen on Nifty-TV.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith