Insider Preview: Texas Brahmas @ Allen Americans

Brahmas seek win after two tough losses

The Texas Brahmas are in Allen tonight for a show down with the expansion Allen Americans at the AEC. The Americans are coming off a physical 5-4 home ice win over the Odessa Jackalopes last night. They lost their previous game 3-1 at home last Wednesday to the Mississippi RiverKings.

The Brahmas have dropped their last two games in a big way. They were defeated by the Jackalopes 5-3 at NYTEX last Wednesday and were taken out by the Tulsa Oilers 6-2 on the road last night.

The two teams split wins in the pre-season and have thus far split wins in the regular season. The Brahmas won 3-2 at NYTEX on October 31st and Allen defeated the Brahmas 5-1 at the AEC on November 7th. There are seven more meetings after tonight (four at NYTEX, three at the AEC).

Allen's three top scorers include Justin Bowers (C) with 20 points (4 G, 16 A, +7), Bruce Graham(F) with 19 points (8 G, 11 A, +4) and Nino Musitelli (F) with 13 points (2 G, 11 A, +2). Their leading defensive scorer is Erik Adams with 7 points (1 G, 6 A, +3). Center Tobias Whelan is second in the league (behind AJ Gale) in rookie scorers with 12 points (8 G, 4 A).

Their top goons are defenseman Brandon Straub (61 PIM) right wing Liam Hukulak (48 PIM).

On special teams, the Americans have the number six power play with a 18.82 percentage and the number five penalty kill with an 84.85 percentage. They also have two short-handed goals.

Chris Whitley (7-2-1) is expected in net for the Americans. He is ranked seventh in the league with a 2.68 GAA a .915 save percentage.

Forward (and former Brahma) Mike Willemsen, center Jarret Lukin and defenseman Jordie Benn are out on the injured reserve and as of this writing are not expected to play tonight.

The Brahmas top three scorers are AJ Gale (F) with 15 points (8 G, 7 A, +1), Kevin McLeod (D) with 13 points (6 G, 7 A, -3) and Grant Jacobsen with 12 points (7 G, 5 A, -3). McLeod is also the Brahmas’ leading defensive scorer. Gale and Jacobsen have scored the majority of their points on the road (Gale: 6 G, 5 A, 0 and Jacobsen: 6 G, 4 A, -4).

On special teams, the Brahmas are last in the league with a 10.00 percentage and 12th on the penalty kill with an 80.51 percentage. They are tied with Tulsa for the league lead with five short-handed goals.

I'm not sure who will get the start in goal. It could really go either way against the Americans. My money is on Palmer though.

As of this writing, there are no players listed out on injured reserve. Jason Deitsch and Elias Godoy were scratches in the last game. It is not known if either will play tonight.

The game starts at 7:30pm and can be seen on CHL-TV. I’ll have a post game summary an photos posted tomorrow morning.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith