2009 Ray Miron President's Cup Championship Series

Brahmas win Game One at the Budweiser Events Center 5-3

It was a frustrating night for 5,289 Colorado Eagles fans this evening at the Budweiser Events Center as the Texas Brahmas took Game One of the 2009 Ray Miron President's Cup Championship Series. It was huge win for the Brahmas who were certainly the underdogs coming into tonight's game, on the road and playing in one of the toughest barns in the league. The victory also marked Dan Wildfong's 100th win as head coach of the Brahmas.

"I don't know if it was our best game," Wildfong said. "I thought we shut it off really well and then we kind of got away from some of the stuff that's been working for us. But you know, when we got down, I thought the guys all stuck together and didn't quit. A lot of teams would have shut her down. We drew a penalty and Tyler gets a nice goal on a feed from Kevin McLeod and ties it up and then Shep gets his big goal and Cam gets the big goal. It was a good job. It wasn't the best game in the world, but it was a good character game."

The Brahmas controlled the tempo of the first period, controlling the action in the neutral zone and keeping the Eagles in their defensive zone for much of the first ten minutes. The Brahmas got the first power play of the game, courtesy of a interference call on defenseman Jason Beatty at the 3:09 mark but were unable to capitalize. Colorado continued to struggle and it was six and a half minutes into the period before the they were able to get their first shot on goal.

A second call on Beatty, this time for tripping, led to the first score of the game. Just 30 seconds into the power play, Mike Vellinga sent a low shot in that ended up bouncing outside the crease, long enough for Grant Jacobsen to set up Tyler Skworchinski, who sent the puck past Andrew Penner at the 11:09 mark for the 1-0 lead.

The Brahmas' first penalty of the night was called on Scott Sheppard for slashing and set up Colorado's first power play of the night. Left winger Kevin Ulanski would score the equalizer, after Riley Nelson threaded a pass from the left circle to Ed McGrane at the point. McGrane's low shot was stopped by Brett Jaeger, but Kevin Ulanski was right there to get the rebound and send it in just 48 seconds into the man-advantage at the 15:22 mark.

The Brahmas went on their third power play of the evening after Steve Haddon was called for hooking with just under three minutes left in the period. Following a face off in the left circle, Greg McConnell sent a shot from the left point that was deflected by Matt Quinn, who had positioned himself in front of Andrew Penner. Quinn's shot went in and the Brahmas re-took the lead with just two seconds left on the advantage.

After 20 minutes, the Brahmas led the shot count 13-11, went 2 for 3 on the power play and went into the locker room with a 2-1 lead. The Brahmas are now 8-0 when scoring first and 9-0 when leading after the opening period in the postseason.

The Eagles had time left on a power play to start the second period, but the Brahmas PK was able to mitigate. at the 8:05 mark, Mike Vellinga was called for hooking after Greg Pankewicz put on a weak performance with a spin to the ice after getting an incidental tap on the ankle from the Brahma defenseman's stick. But Panks got a surprise when he was also sent to the box for diving. There was no score on the four-on-four play.

Later, after center Adam Hogg was called for holding, the Colorado penalty killers were able to tie the game up again with a short-handed goal by Steve Haddon. Kevin Ulanski sent a pass from below the goal line to Haddon, who was making his way down the slot. Haddon's initial shot was stopped by Jaeger, but he was able to get the rebound before two Brahmas defenders could react and put it past the Brahmas' goalie at the 12:52 mark.

Colorado played a lot better in the middle frame but their frustration built as the period progressed because they were unable to build any momentum off of Haddon's goal. Although they controlled the remainder of the period, out-shooting Texas 10-1, they were unable to beat Jaeger on several scoring opportunities.

The Eagles would lead the shot count 13-12 in the period, but after 40 minutes the Brahmas still had a 25-24 shot advantage and the game remained tied 2-2.

Colorado took their first and only lead of the game at the 2:01 mark of the third after Kevin Ulanski took the puck down the left wing and circled behind the net avoiding defenseman Nathan Saunders. Ulanski made his way into the right circle and sent his shot past Jaeger to make it a 3-2 game. Scott Polaski was credited with the assist.

Down, but not out, the Brahmas re-gained the lead with a pair of goals, just 12 seconds apart.

The first came on the power play after Brett Hammond was called for high-sticking Kevin McLeod. 15 seconds later, McLeod sent a beautiful pass from the right point to Tyler Skworchinski, who crashed the left side of the crease and tapped the puck past an out of position Andrew Penner to tie the score 3-3 at the 5:44 mark. Jordan Cameron was also credited with the assist.

Then, after Jason Deitsch won the ensuing face off, Scott Sheppard took a feed from Brandon Benedict and worked the puck down the right wing all alone, placing a slap shot into the top right corner of the Colorado net for the game-winner at the 5:56 mark.

The Brahmas would add another goal at the 16:10 mark when Jordan Cameron's shot went into the Eagles' net after hitting Jason Beatty's skate.

Colorado led the shot count again in the third period at 10-8 and managed to take a 34-33 lead in the game but Brett Jaeger remained strong in net and the Brahmas held onto the two-goal lead to win the game 5-3.

Jaeger stopped 31 of 34 shots and remains at the top of his game with nine post-season wins, a 1.95 GAA and a .938 save percentage. Andrew Penner ended the night with his third playoff loss with 28 saves on 33 shots.

"I think Jaegs played well," Dan Wildfong said. "He made some big saves. I can't really fault him on any goals. That's all you ask from your goaltender, you know, to make big saves when you need him to. I'm sure if you would ask him, he would say he would want to work on a few things, but he's done a good job."

The Brahmas were assessed 10 minutes on five infractions. Colorado was assessed 16 minutes on eight infractions. The Brahmas went 3 for 7 on the power play. Colorado was held to 1 for 4.

The 3rd star went to Scott Sheppard, who had the game-winning goal tonight. The 2nd star was awarded to Colorado's Kevin Ulanski who two goals and an assist to lead the Colorado effort. The 1st star was awarded to Tyler Skworchinski, who had two power play goals on the night.

You can view the box score here

In the history of the CHL, the team that has won Game One of the Finals has gone on to win the Cup 15 of 16 seasons. Let's hope that holds true as the Brahmas head into Game Two on Friday night.

Game Two is coming up on Friday night with an 8:05pm CST start. The legue has said that the game will not be broadcast on Nifty-TV due to the broadcast by the television on the Altitude Network. If that holds true, fans can listen to the game here

Photo Credit: Reporter-Herald/Christopher Stark