The Insider Preview - Texas Brahmas @ Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees

Final regular season game is possible playoff preview

The Texas Brahmas (42-15-6, 90 points) are in Hidalgo, Texas for the final game of the regular season against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (34-24-5, 71 points) at the Dodge Arena. The divisional match-up between two playoff bound rivals may be a preview of next weekends series at the NYTEX Sports Center.

The Killer Bees, currently the fourth seed in the Southern Conference will play either the Arizona Sundogs or the Corpus Christi IceRays (to be decided tonight) in an abbreviated three-game series beginning on Monday. The winner of that series will advance to play the Brahmas.

Under the leadership of first-year head coach Chris Brooks, the Killer Bees have transformed from the worst team in the league last season (16-41-7, 39 points), to a playoff bound force to be reckoned with and are by no means, an easy win to get past.

The Killer Bees and the Brahmas have played three times this season, all at the NYTEX Sports Centre. The Brahmas won 2-0 on December 9th and then the Bees returned on December 26th to earn a 3-0 shutout. The Brahmas then defeated them 4-1 on January 25th.

The Bees have won their last three games in a row and seven of their last 10. They are 20-8-3 at home this season and have won their last three games at the Dodge Arena against the Corpus Christi IceRays, the Odessa Jackalopes and the Laredo Bucks.

The Brahmas are coming off a 5-0 shutout of the Laredo Bucks. They split wins in their two-game series against the Bucks but played solid hockey in both games. The Brahmas have won six of their last 10 games. They are 16-10-5 on the road and have gone 3-3 in their last six away games.

The Bees' top three scorers are Jesse Bennefield (LW) with 71 points (35 G, 36 A), Nicolas Dumoulin (D) with 57 points (17 G, 40 A) and Evan Rankin (RW) with 50 points (28 G, 22 A).

On Special teams, the Bees are ranked 10th in the league overall on the powerplay at 16.7% and also 10th at home at 16.7%. On the penalty kill, Rio Grande Valley is ranked 7th in the league overall at 84.2% and 7th at home at 84.1%.

Right Wing Evan Rankin is the Bee to swat in tonight's game. He has scored three goals against the Brahmas this season and has scored nine points (6 G, 3 A) in his last 10 games. He has scored 26 points (17 G, 9 A) on home ice this season.

The Brahmas top three remain Scott Sheppard (F) with 66 points (32 G, 34 A), Jordan Cameron (F) with 59 points (22 G, 37 A) and Grant Jacobsen with 55 points (21 G, 34 A).

On special teams, the Brahmas are ranked 3rd in the league overall on the powerplay at 20.0% and 3rd on the road at 20.4%. On the penalty kill, they are ranked 11th in the league overall at 81.5% and 15th on the road at 76.0% (eek!).

Watch out for any and all of the Brahmas tonight. They have shown the value of the depth of their lines and eight different players have scored goals in their last three games (Burto, Deitsch, Jacobsen, McLeod, Quinn, Rouleau, Sheppard, Skworchinski) alone.

Both Killer Bee goaltenders have been tough opponents this season. I'm not sure if Christian Boucher (17-4-2-2) or Wylie Rogers (17-10-3-0) will bee in net tonight. My money is on Rogers.

I'm not sure about the Brahmas' starter tonight either but I'll go with David Cacciola (14-6-1-3) who is coming off a 5-0 shutout on Thursday night against the Bucks.

The Bees are healthy and expected to be without forward Ryan Shmyr and left wing Trevor Weisgerber.

The Brahmas are expected to be without defensemen Mike Vellinga and Eric Lundberg, both out on injured reserve.

The game begins at 7:35pm and will be broadcast on Nifty-TV.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith