The Insider Preview - Texas Brahmas @ Wichita Thunder

Brahmas coming off hard loss at home, look for win at home on Fan Appreciation Night

The Texas Brahmas (40-15-5, 85 points) host the Wichita Thunder (19-38-3, 41 points) at the NYTEX Sports Centre tonight. The Brahmas lead the season series 2-0, beating the Thunder 4-2 on November 21st and 5-2 on March 13th.

The Brahmas are coming off a disappointing 2-0 shutout last night against their division rival Laredo Bucks. Interesting fact pointed out by Meagan - The last time the Brahmas were shut out came on December 26; the result? The Brahmas went on a 16 home game winning streak.

With last night's loss, the Brahmas are two points behind the Mississippi RiverKings and three points behind the Colorado Eagles in the race for the Governor’s Cup. The Eagles play the Oklahoma City Blazers tonight at the Budweiser Event Center tonight.

The Thunders' top three scorers are Jason Duda (LW) with 50 points (17 G, 33 A), Mike Zbriger with 47 points (18 G, 29 A) and Troy Okufany (C) with 34 points (17 G, 19 A). On Special teams, the Thunder are ranked 15th in the league overall on the powerplay at 13.9% and 15th on the road at 12.3%. On the penalty kill, Wichita is ranked 10th in the league overall at 82.43% and 9th on the road at 81.7%.

There is no single player that the Brahmas need to watch out for. The Thunder is coming off six straight losses after getting two road wins in a row over the Rapid City Rush. They are 9-21-0 on the road.

The top three scorers for the Brahmas are Scott Sheppard (F) with 63 points (31 G, 32 A), Jordan Cameron (F) with 58 points (22 G, 36 A) and Grant Jacobsen (F) with 54 points (20 G, 34 A). On special teams, the Brahmas are ranked 3rd in the league overall on the powerplay at 20.19% and 5th at home at 20.6%. On the penalty kill, the Brahmas are ranked 11th in the league overall at 81.38% and 3rd at home at 87.20%. The Brahmas remain the league-leaders with 19 short-handed goals.

Jason Deitsch is the man to watch on the Brahmas squad. In the last 10 games, Deitsch has scored 14 points (7 G, 7 A) and is a +7. He has scored 40 points (18 G, 22 A) in total and is a +17 this season. He scored three points (1 G, 2 A) against the Thunder in their first meeting.

Brett Jaeger (26-7-4-2) is expected to get the start for the Brahmas. Not sure if Krister Toews (11-19-2) or John Daigneau (2-4-0) will be in net for the Thunder. Not sure it matters.

The Thunder are expected to be without forward Luke Hunter and defenseman Jonathan Bernier. Defensemen Pascal Bedard, Greg Pasista, Connor MacDonald, goaltender Tim Boron and left wing Stan Yanchishyn have all been put on season ending IR within the last month. Defenseman Rob Stanfield left the team last Monday to return home for a job. They have three healthy D men on the squad, (I believe) three of them are rookies.

Defensemen Mike Vellinga is still listed on IR. Eric Lundberg is a question mark; he was both taken off IR and then put back on yesterday according to Pointstreak. I'm not sure to what extent Kevin McLeod will play tonight. Brandon Benedict has not played in the last two games. He is a question mark tonight. Scott Sheppard has been recalled by the Rockford Ice Hogs (AHL).

Watch for an interesting signing today. Like Dan said, if we need it, he'll get it. And we definitely need it.

Massey Ratings predicts the Brahmas will be victorious (86-14). I'm sure they're right!

The game begins at 7:05 and will be broadcast on Nifty-TV. In recognition of the last game, the Brahmas are hosting “Fan Appreciation Night”; all those in attendance will be treated with various gifts throughout the game as a thank you.