Joe Palmer blocks a shot by Kyle Hood; Palmer stopped 33 of 35 shots for the win over the Sundogs

Brahmas win 5-2; move into third place

Cameron nets hat trick

The Texas Brahmas (14-10-3, 31 points) moved into third place in the Southern Conference tonight with a 5-2 victory over the Arizona Sundogs (9-14-3, 21 points) at Tim's Toyota Center. Wins by Amarillo and Corpus Christi dropped the Sundogs back into last place in the conference, a spot they only recently moved out of.

Playing with a depleted defensive corps, the Brahmas let their offense do the talking with a three goal middle frame that included two goals from Jordan Cameron, who added an empty-netter for his first hat trick of the season.

The Brahmas opened up the scoring with a rare power play opportunity.

Kyle Hood was whistled for interference at the 11:11 mark for bumping Joe Palmer as the netminder was out of his crease to play the puck. The Brahmas capitalized on the ensuing power play when A.J. Gale recorded his 10th goal of the season from Luke Sellars and Kevin McLeod. Moving from right to left across the top of the crease, Gale redirected a Sellars shot from the point over the left shoulder of Kyle McNulty with just four seconds remaining on the man advantage.

The 1-0 lead at the 13:07 mark would not be relinquished for the remainder of the contest.

Arizona outshot Texas 11-5 in the opening frame despite trailing by one after 20 minutes of play.

The Brahmas came out firing in the second period and managed two goals in the opening minutes to give them a 3-0 lead.

Elias Godoy tallied his first of the year 2:25 into the second period, surprising McNulty with a shot along the ice between the goaltender’s legs from the low slot. Matt Burto set up the play and was credited with the assist.

Just over three minutes later, Jordan Cameron picked up his first of two second-period goals off a feed from Grant Jacobsen at the 5:43 mark.

Arizona coach Marco Pietroniro pulled McNulty in favor of rookie Sergey Klimkovich, hoping the Sundogs' chances to pull out a comeback would increase with the change.

Converting on his club’s seventh power play opportunity of the game, veteran forward Steve Potvin cut the Brahmas’ lead back to two with his third marker of the season, sending nearly 1,000 stuffed animals to the ice in the team’s first-ever ‘Teddy Bear Toss’. In position at the top of the crease, Potvin knocked home a rebound chance on a Nick Biondo shot from the top of the far circle at the 13:31 mark.

Two minutes later, Jordan Cameron quickly reclaimed a three-goal lead for the Brahmas, converting on a turnover at the side of the Sundogs’ net. In an effort to play the puck, Klimkovich lost a turnover to former Sundog Mark Kolanos at the side of the cage. Klimkovich nearly recovered with an initial save on Cameron but fell backwards, sending the puck over the goal line with 4:28 left to play in the second.

The period ended with the Sundogs out-shooting the Brahmas 12-8 and 23-13 through 40 minutes but down 4-1.

The opening minutes of the third period included some aggressive play from both sides. Seven minutes in, Scott Thauwald was called for Elbowing and was sent to the sin bin. 31 seconds later, Arizona defenseman Jon Landry threw an elbow into Kevin McLeod, who was skating through the neutral zone in the opposite direction of travel. McLeod went down and was attended to by Brahmas trainer Tom Hart, as well as Sundogs trainer Ryan Landry. McLeod was able to make it to the bench but did not return for the remainder of the game.

An ensuing scuffle included a shoving match between Konrad Reeder and several Brahmas. Reeder was removed from the situation by Luke Sellars, who prevented an escalation. Reeder received two minutes for roughing. A.J. Gale served two minutes for delay of game (don't know what that was about). Landry, for his action was ejected from the game. He received a five minute Elbowing Major and a 10 minute Elbowing Game Misconduct. 22 seconds after play resumed, Grant Jacobsen was called for slashing. Although the penalty boxes were filled, there was no scoring in the ensuing power plays.

The Sundogs did manage a power play goal let in the period when Kim Karsberg netted his first goal of the season, cutting the Brahmas’ lead back to two with 65 seconds to play in regulation. Nick Biondo and Chris Bartolone were credited with the assist.

But the deficit was too much for the 'dogs to recover from and Jordan Cameron closed out the scoring with Klimkovich pulled in favor of an extra attacker with 12 seconds left to play to make it a 5-2 final.

For the third straight period, the Sundogs outshot the Brahmas, this time 12-8. They also outshot the Brahmas in the game 35-21 but the win belonged to the Bulls.

Joe Palmer made 33 saves on 35 shots and earned the win. His record goes to 7-3-2-1. Kyle McNulty made four saves on seven shots in 25:43 minutes played and takes the loss. His record goes to 2-7-1. Sergey Klimkovich, in his pro debut in relief, made 12 saves on 13 shots.

The Brahmas went 1 for 3 on the power play. Arizona went 2 for 12. The Brahmas were assessed 33 minutes on 15 infractions (yikes). Arizona was assessed 28 minutes on seven infractions.

The 3rd Star of the game went to Arizona's Nick Biondo who had two assists in the game. The 2nd Star was awarded to Joe Palmer for his performance in net and the 1st Star went to Jordan Cameron for the hat trick.

You can view the box score here

Observations:

• Great performance from the short bench. The Brahmas have been decimated by injuries as of late. McLeod going down in the third left Luke Sellars, Tyrell Mason and Braden Walls alone on the blue line. They did a good job but were obviously exhausted late in the game. Justin Kinnunen was granted leave by the league on Thursday. Ross Rouleau has been out with an upper body injury. Craig Minard did not play for undisclosed reasons.
• Heart of the Brahmas award goes to...Kevin McLeod. This guy has taken some brutal hits this year and just keeps coming back. 103 points (42 G, 61 A) as a Brahma thus far.
• Jordan Cameron...28 points in 27 games. Leads the team in points, assists, power play assists and short-handed assists.
• Will we see a game where Hiebert doesn't get into a fight or ejected or suspended? That's one tough kid.
  

The Brahmas make the long bus trip back home overnight and will get some much needed rest on Sunday before they begin preparing for the first game of the "North Texas Vintage Series" at Allen on Saturday.

Photo Credit: Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier