Brahmas control their own destiny!

One win away from President's Cup after tonight's 6-3 victory

The Texas Brahmas are just one victory away from winning their first Ray Miron President's Cup after defeating the Colorado 6-3 on Tuesday night at the NYTEX Sports Center. The Brahmas lead the series 3-1 and have an opportunity to win it all tomorrow night on home ice.
Brahmas head coach Dan Wildfong commented on his team's effort.

"I think to a guy, we knew we weren't playing our best game at the beginning," said Wildfong. "But we've got great leadership and we talked it over. I think we turned it around in the second and third...we ended up starting to draw some penalties and once we did that, it changed the momentum of the game."

Both teams played a fairly even first period with the Brahmas out-shooting the Eagles 11-10. The penalty problem for Colorado reared its ugly head almost immediately as Greg Pankewicz was called for hooking at the :45 mark. But an interference call on the Brahmas' Jason Deitsch led to the first goal of the game.

On their first power play of the evening, Konrad Reeder was able to beat goaltender Brett Jaeger, sending the puck in from the side of the crease for the 1-0 lead at the 5:40 mark. Aaron Schneekloth and Greg Pankewicz were in on the assist.

Kevin McLeod scored the equalizer, unassisted at the 16:14 mark with a shot off the goalpost and an extra attacker on the ice for the Brahmas.

On their second power play of the evening, the Eagles regained the league 1:57 into the middle period when Ed McGrane's shot from the point floated past Jaeger to make it 2-1. It was McGrane's fourth goal in the past three games. Ryan Tobler and Kevin Ulanski were credited with the assist.

Nearly eight minutes of hockey was played before the next score, during four-on-four play, when Brahmas defenseman Mike Vellinga tied the game up after his shot clipped the glove of netminder Andrew Penner and rolled across the goal line at the 9:55 mark. He was assisted by Tyler Skworchinski.

The Brahmas would score three more consecutive goals to take a 5-2 lead.

First, Brandon Benedict and Scott Sheppard began a two-on-one rush towards the net. Benedict's first shot was blocked, but he got the rebound and sent a pass from below the goal line to a wide open Jason Deitsch in the slot. Deitsch's shot at the 12:17 mark would beat Penner for the 3-2 lead.

Just over a minute and a half later, Scott Sheppard sent a backdoor pass from high in the right circle to Greg McConnell, who then hit the back of the net to make it 4-2 at the 13:51 mark. Then, with one minute left in the period, Deitsch got his second goal of the night while on the man-advantage to make it 5-2.

The Brahmas outshot the Eagles 20-6 in the second frame.

The third period began with Morgan Cey in net for the Eagles, in relief for the second consecutive game.

It took over nine minutes for the next score. Set up by Jason Beatty and Aaron Grosul, Ed McGrane entered the offensive zone and beat Jaeger with a shot from the left circle to cut the Colorado deficit to two goals.

But the Eagles received subsequent hooking calls and lost any momentum they might have gained after McGrane's score. The Brahmas' Kevin McLeod scored his second goal on the power play, establishing the final score at 6-3.

The Brahmas outshot the Eagles 12-9 in the final frame and finished the game with a 43-25 advantage.

Brett Jaeger earned his 11th win of the post-season, saving 22 of 25 shots. Andrew Penner took the loss, saving 26 of 31 shots. Morgan Cey stopped 11 of 12 in relief.

The Brahmas were assessed 10 minutes on five infractions. The Eagles received 24 minutes on 12 infractions. Texas went two for 11 on the power play. Colorado went two for four.

The 3rd star of the game was Ed McGrane. The 2nd star was given to Jason Deitsch and the 1st star went to Kevin McLeod. Each of the three men had two goals for the night.

You can view the box score here

You can view my photos from the game here

Game Five of the Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals will be played on Wednesday night at the NYTEX Sports Centre with the opening faceoff at 7:05pm CST. This will be the final game at home for the Brahmas in the 2008-09 season and a victory would clinch the President’s Cup trophy and the first championship for Texas in their 11 year history.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith