2009 Ray Miron President’s Cup Championship
Texas Brahmas vs. Colorado Eagles – Series Preview
The Texas Brahmas went on a scoring rampage in their 8-1 victory over the Odessa Jackalopes to win Game Seven in the Southern Conference Finals on Saturday night. The win matches the largest margin of victory in a Game Seven in Central Hockey League history. Tyler Skworchinski scored three consecutive goals and finished the game with a CHL record-tying six points (3 G, 3 A, +3).
Now the Brahmas will take on the Colorado Eagles for the Central Hockey League’s Ray Miron President’s Cup Championship, which begins on Wednesday, April 29th. As the Fort Worth Brahmas, the team made their only trip to a finals series in 1998, their inaugural season in the Western Professional Hockey League. They were swept in four games by the El Paso Buzzards. This is their first trip to the CHL Finals.
The Brahmas won the Southern Conference and Southeast Division Championships during the regular season posting a 42-16-6 record with 90 points, third in the CHL. They earned their way to the finals by sweeping the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees in the conference semifinals and then by beating Odessa in a seven game conference finals series.
The championship series is a rematch of last years’ Northern Conference Finals in which the Brahmas, after losing the first two games at the Budweiser Events Center, came back to force a Game Seven showdown in which the Eagles emerged victorious. Colorado was then swept by the Arizona Sundogs in the finals.
The Brahmas and Eagles faced each other only one time this season with Texas winning the game 4-1 at the NYTEX Sports Centre.
Texas will host Games Three, Four and Five in the best of seven series at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills in the 2-3-2 format. The Brahmas led the league in the regular season with a 26-5-1 home record. The home team is now 16-6 all-time in Game Sevens in CHL/WPHL history. That advantage, along with the Fourth Line, some of the loudest, rowdiest fans in the league, will surely be an asset to the Brahmas.
Forwards
The Brahmas have the top three active scorers in the post-season. Jason Deitsch (F) leads all skaters with 16 points (5 G, 11 A, +7). He has the most assists (11) and power play assists (6) of any active player. Tyler Skworchinski is next with 13 points (9 G, 4 A, +7). He has the most goals of any active player and his five game-winners in the post-season are tied for the CHL record with Laredo’s Jeff Bes and the Fort Worth Fire’s Stephane Larocque. Scott Sheppard has 12 points (7 G, 5 A, +2). He has the most power play goals at four and has scored a hat trick in Game Five of the Conference Finals two years in a row.
Defense
Led by veteran team captain Craig Minard, the Texas defensive corps has been a solid unit all season long. All-star Justin Kinnunen leads all active defensemen in the post-season with nine points (4G, 5A, +5), including a power play goal, four power play assists, a short-handed goal and a game-winner. Kevin McLeod, who had 50 points (20G, 30 A, +19) in the regular season, has tallied eight points (2 G, 6 A, +4) in post-season play.
“We just have a fantastic D corps, said head coach Dan Wildfong. “They're all buying in...I could go down the list and name every guy and their attributes and how well they're doing…they’re very smart with the puck. It's hard to push them off the puck, hard to get around them. We have a lot of leaders that really want it.”
Special Teams
The Brahmas have struggled with consistency on the power play but went three for seven in Game Seven against Odessa. They have the number one penalty kill at 88.31%.
Goaltending
Brett Jaeger leads all goaltenders in the post-season with a 1.85 GAA and a .941 save percentage. He is tied with Colorado’s Andrew Penner with eight post-season wins and has the most playing time (648:19). He finished third in the league in the regular season with a 2.36 GAA and second with a .924 save percentage.
"He is the best goalie in the league in my eyes,” said Wildfong. “He's so calm and such a professional. He continually wants to win, he continually works at his game and he continually is so focused. If you want to be in the position we're at, you have to have good goaltending. If you want to have a chance to win a cup and you want to win the cup, you have to have good goaltending."
Outlook
Many expected these two teams to play each other in the Finals since the early part of the season. Both teams finished with the best records and earned the first seed in the playoffs in their respected conferences. They are well-matched but the Brahmas remain the underdog, fighting for respect in the league. That doesn’t faze Dan Wildfong.
"If we play the best that we can, we are the best team in the league, Wildfong said. “You've got to have that heart and you've got to have that swagger. But, if we try and do too much, we're like the worst team in the league. It just has to be simple hockey for us with our game. That's Brahmas hockey."
Wildfong, who has won the President’s Cup as a player with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, wants to make sure that his team isn’t satisfied with just making it to the Finals.
"The only thing that we'll be happy with is winning a cup,” he said. “This team is too good to let each other down and for me to let them down. Like not pushing them to get there, because we have what it takes. We've got the goaltending, we've got the D, we've got the forwards and you know, we've got our fourth line. It's exciting. It's a lot of fun."
Prediction: The Brahmas win it all in six games.
Photo Credit: Robert Keith
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