A dejected Sundogs bench - you almost had to feel sorry for them, but not really

Owned!

Brahmas win third straight against the Sundogs; Beech stops 26 shots in 4-0 shutout

Oh, what a night for hometown hockey in North Texas! This one had it all - A shutout, a defenseman go through the glass, a perfect penalty-kill, an opposing defenseman fighting his way inside the Brahmas bench, 178 combined penalty minutes, nine game misconducts, at least four ejections that I can remember...I can go on and on. Suffice it to say, if you missed this one, you missed an entertaining night of hockey at the NYTEX Sports Centre.

Things started out calm enough, but given the history between these two clubs, there was sure to be an eruption eventually.

Steven Later took out a pane of glass along the half boards in the Brahmas' defensive zone at the 4:38 mark of the opening frame after attempting a hit on Arizona's John Wessbecker. But the gangly defenseman avoided the check, sending Later into the glass and the game was delayed for almost 20 minutes while repairs were made.

Arizona dominated early in the first period, holding the Brahmas without a shot on net through the game's first six minutes. The Brahmas responded, controlling the second half of the opening frame and would out shoot the Sundogs 17-9. Chad Woollard notched the only score, putting the Brahmas on the board at the 18:45 mark. Jason Deitsch was in on the assist.

There were nine penalties assessed in the first 20 minutes - Roughing, Slashing, Board checking, Tripping - the physical nature of the game was showing itself and the bad blood was getting ready to boil.

Remarkably, no additional penalties were called until the last two and a half minutes of the the middle frame.

Five hole (noun) - the opening between a goaltender's parted legs. The four corners of the goal being the other four holes

Greg Hogeboom opened a two-goal lead for the Brahmas after beating Szuper five hole at the 8:56 mark. Deitsch and Woollard assisted on the play for their second points of the contest.

A steal by Mick Lawrence at center ice set up the Brahmas third goal of the night when he and Jesse Dudas teamed up to feed the puck to Dan Riedel, who sent a bad-angle shot from below the goal line off the back of Szuper at the 13:17 mark.

A Slashing call on Chad Woollard at the 17:30 mark sent the Sundogs on the power play and the next 60 seconds would definitely set the tone for the remainder of the evening.

Mind you, my view was quite obstructed from my position between Wayne Savage and Doug Groenestege, but here's what I think I saw -Arizona defenseman Tyler Butler exchanged some blows with Todd Griffith in front of the Brahmas' bench and Griffith delivered Butler smack dab into the bench.

Calin Wild held off Mark Kolanos while Ross Rouleau threw would-be rescuer Joey Sides to the ice. Cam Keith tried to work his way into the melee but was subdued by Sean Hurley and Steven Later, who skated him away from the scene. Jason Deitsch, who was on the bench when Butler came to visit, apparently got into a tussle with his guest before linesman T.J. Nua could pull the blue liner to safety.

In the end, Referee Geoff Miller handed out 90 minutes worth of penalties, including Fighting Majors and Game Misconducts for Griffith, Rouleau, Deitsch, Butler, Sides and Keith. Griffith and Deitsch were sent in for early showers, as was Butler (I'm not sure who else) while backup goalie Doug Groenestege handled cheer leading duties from the Arizona bench.

There would be no more scoring in the remainder of the period in which Arizona had a 13-8 shot advantage.

Skating 4-on-4 after a fight between Chad Woollard and Samuel Grenache, Greg Hogeboom notched his second of the game 10:52 into the third period, one-timing a Jason Krischuk centering feed past Szuper and extending the Brahmas' lead to 4-0. Alex Curran was also in on the assist.

Steven Later and Adam "I'm no angel" Smyth did battle at the 16:19 mark, rounding out the fight card for the night.

The Brahmas had control of the final period and out shot the hapless Sundogs 12-4 before declaring victory thanks in no small part to the efforts of Kevin Beech, who turned away everything sent in his direction.

Kevin Beech stopped 26 of 26 to earn his first shut out as a Brahma. His record goes to 3-1-0-1 with a 2.93 GAA (that first 4:19 of the season opener really hurt) and a .918 save percentage.

Levente Szuper, making his Sundogs debut, allowed four goals on 37 shots in the loss.

Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play. The Brahmas finished 0 for 8 while the Sundogs were held scoreless on four tries.

The Brahmas were assessed 91 minutes on 18 infractions. The Sundogs received 87 minutes on 20 infractions.

The 3rd Star of the game went to Chad Woollard who had a goal and an assist on the night. The 2nd Star was awarded to Greg Hogeboom who had two goals and the 1st Star went to Kevin Beech for a perfect night in goal.

Referee: Geoff Miller
Linesmen: Chris Petrin, T.J. Nua

You can view the box score here and the Game Live broadcast here

You can view the Brahmas' press release here

You can view my photos from the game here and here

The Brahmas have the week to rest up before they host the Odessa Jackalopes on Friday, November 12th and the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on Saturday, November 13th.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith