Southern Conference Champions!

Texas Brahmas rout Odessa 8-1, advance to 2009 Ray Miron President's Cup Championship Series

Originally published at Intotheboards.net and Prohockeynews.com

Tying the the Central Hockey League record for the largest margin of victory in a Game Seven, the Texas Brahmas advanced to the Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history with an 8-1 victory over the Odessa Jackalopes on Saturday night.

Tyler Skworchinski earned the hat trick, scoring six points (3 G, 3 A) on six shots, tying the CHL Playoff record for points in a game. His teammate Scott Sheppard tied the league mark a week ago in Game Five with a four goal, two assist performance. Skworchinski's second goal of the game would prove to be the game winner, giving him five in the post-season (he had all four GWG’s in the semifinal series against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees). He is tied with the Laredo Bucks' Jeff Bes (2006) and the Fort Worth Fire’s Stephane Larocque (1997) for the most in a single playoff season.

The Brahmas controlled the tempo of the game right from the start. It was a 180-degree turn-around over their performance in Odessa last Thursday night.

"We talked about our game plan, we talked about keeping it simple," Head coach Dan Wildfong said. "We didn't focus on our negatives in the last game, we focused on what we learned from that game and we brought that into this game. I thought every line stepped it up."

Tyler Skworchinski netted his first goal of the night at the 7:43 mark of the first period. Grant Jacobsen's pass to Jordan Cameron gave the Brahmas their first chance at a score, but Odessa Goaltender Juha Toivonen was ready and blocked Cameron's shot. Skworchinski swooped in and took the rebound, beating Toivonen before he could reposition himself to make the save.

Later in the period, Odessa defenseman Ryan Palmer was assessed a double-minor for roughing and interference after a huge hit on the Brahmas' Matt Quinn. Skworchinski would score his second goal at the 17:44 mark, capitalizing on the man-advantage. Jordan Cameron and Mike Vellinga were credited with the assist.

The Brahmas outshot the Jacks 15-8 in the opening period and led 2-0 after the first 20 minutes.

The second period began with the Brahmas on a five-on-three power play due to penalties on Dominic Leveille (slashing) and Russ Moyer (cross checking) in the final two minutes of the first frame. Moyer quickly re-entered, but the remaining man-advantage proved costly as Tyler Skworchinski netted his third consecutive goal for the hat trick at the :39 mark. Jason Deitsch and Justin Kinnunen assisted.

Brahmas all-star defenseman Justin Kinnunen scored his fourth goal of the post-season, giving the Brahmas a 4-0 lead at the 9:30 mark with a little help from Skworchinski and Grant Jacobsen on the assist.

Odessa head coach Paul Gillis pulled Toivonen and sent in Jeremy Symington to try his luck at stopping the Brahmas' onslaught. Despite the change in net, it only took the home team 15 seconds to score on the fresh goalie as Matt Quinn, assisted by Pete Rouleau and Nathan Saunders, scored his first goal of the night at the 9:45 mark.

Less than three minutes later, the Brahmas found themselves back on the power play after Odessa's Mike Lesperance was called for slashing. 50 seconds later, defenseman Kevin McLeod made it a 6-0 game when his shot caught an out-of-position Symington off-guard. McLeod was assisted by Grant Jacobsen and Tyler Skworchinski.

After the Brahmas' Matt Quinn was called for tripping, Odessa went on the power play and scored what would be their only goal of the evening when Kenny Bernard's shot made it over Brett Jaeger's shoulder to make it a 5-1 game at the 16:57 mark. Russ Moyer and Philippe Plante assisted.

The Brahmas outshot the Jacks 13-11 in the middle frame and led the shot count by 28-19 after 40 minutes.

In the final period, Jason Deitsch would score goal number seven for the Brahmas at the 3:55 mark, after receiving a feed from Tyler Skworchinski. Less than three minutes later, Matt Quinn would net his second of the game, giving the Brahmas a final score of 8-1, with the assist coming from Pete Rouleau and Greg McConnell.

Odessa led the shot count in the final period at 12-9 but the Brahmas led the count in the game 37-31. They have not lost a playoff game this year in which they led the shot after 60 minutes.

After the game, Tyler Skworchinski spoke about the opportunity to play for the President's Cup.

"I'm excited...we were so close last year. We've been thinking about it all year in the back of our minds, wanting to get back here. I think we played a good game tonight and hopefully we'll carry the momentum forward. We're excited for the chance to get that cup and I think you'll see the guys put everything out there for the next series."

Brett Jaeger earned the win, stopping 30 of 31 shots faced. Jaeger leads the remaining active goalies with a 1.85 GAA and a .941 save percentage. He also leads in playing time (648:19) and wins (eight).

The Brahmas went three for seven on the power play. Odessa went one for five. Texas was assessed 27 minutes on eight penalties. The Jackalopes received 30 minutes on 11 penalties.

The 3rd star was awarded to Grant Jacobsen who had three assists on the night. The second star went to Matt Quinn who scored two goals and the 1st star was earned by Tyler Skworchinski with his six-point performance.

You can view the box score here

You can view my photos from the game here (not edited yet)

The Brahmas now await the winner of the Mississippi/Colorado series. Game Six is scheduled for Sunday night and Game Seven on Monday (if necessary). Colorado currently leads the series, three games to two.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith