Insider Preview: Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees @ Texas Brahmas

First of three against the Bees tonight at NYTEX

The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (5-4-1, 11 points) are in town for the first of three games against the Brahmas this season. Tonight's game is the only one we'll see at NYTEX.

I don't know what to think about the Bees this season as they have been under the radar as far as I'm concerned. Their wins have come against Corpus Christi, Amarillo, Laredo and Missouri. Chris Brooks is an excellent coach and his team plays hard. I expect another tough game tonight.

They are coming off two straight losses including a brutal 5-2 match against the Jackalopes last night in Odessa.

In four games played during the regular season last year, the two teams split wins but the Brahmas swept the Bees 4-0 in the playoffs. Tyler Skworchinski, you'll remember, recorded all four game winning goals in the post-season against them.

The Bees' three top scorers are Jesse Bennefield (LW) with 12 points (4 G, 8 A, 0), Grant Goeckner-Zoeller (F) with 11 points (5 G, 6 A, -1) and Daymen Rycroft with 11 points (4 G, 7 A, -1). Their leading defensive scorer is Nathan Ansell with seven points (0 G, 7 A, -7).

Their leading goon seems to be Rycroft with 17 penalty minutes and a lot of dirty play.

The Bees are ranked seventh in the league on the power play with a 15.94 percentage and 12th on the penalty kill with a 79.10 percentage.

I expect we'll see Andy Franck (3-3-1) in goal tonight.

The Brahmas’ top three scorers are AJ Gale (F) with 11 points (7 G, 4 A, +1), Kevin McLeod (D) with eight points (5 G, 3 A, 0) and Jason Deitsch (F) with eight points (1 G, 7 A, +1). The leading defensive scorer remains Kevin McLeod (5 G, 1 A, -2).

They are ranked 14th in the league on the power play with an 8.22 percentage and seventh on the penalty kill with an 84.62 percentage. They lead the league with five short-handed goals.

Joe Palmer (3-1-2) is my guess to start for the Brahmas.

The opening face off is at 7:05pm and the game can be seen on CHL-TV if you can't make it in person.

Image Credit: Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees