Texas Brahmas 2011-12 schedule released

Season opens at home against Tulsa on October 22nd

The Texas Brahmas' 2011-12 schedule was released this afternoon reflecting a 66-game season opening at home on Saturday, October 22nd and closing at home on Sunday, March 25th. This is the first time the Brahmas will open and close a season at the NYTEX Sports Centre.

The schedule includes 28 home weekend dates (11 Friday, 11 Saturday and 6 Sunday games). The Brahmas will also include several new promotions for the upcoming campaign, including a “Pink in the Rink” game and backpack night. A promotional schedule will be released in the near future.

The Brahmas will make their first visits to the Dayton Gems, Evansville IceMen and Fort Wayne Komets for the first time and will host the Bloomington Blaze, Dayton Gems and Evansville IceMen at NYTEX for the first time. The Brahmas' schedule has them playing all CHL teams except for the Quad City Mallards.

The longest home stretch is six games, between February 25th and March 10th (Tulsa, Tulsa, Rio Grande Valley, Rio Grande Valley, Missouri, Laredo). If you consider the Allen Events Center close enough to home, then you can call the longest home stretch 10 games, between February 25th and March 18th.

The longest road trip is also six games and follows the Christmas break, from December 30th to January 14th (Wichita, Missouri, Arizona, Arizona, Rio Grande Valley, Rio Grande Valley).

As far as long-distance travel, the Brahmas will make the journey to Arizona twice - a three-game stint on November 17, 18, 19th and two games on January 6-7th during the aforementioned road trip. The boys will also travel to Fort Wayne, Dayton and Evansville on December 21, 22, 23rd, during the same trip.

Longest Distance to a Road Game (one-way): 1,031 miles (Prescott Valley, Arizona)

Shortest Distance to a Road Game (one-way): 50 miles (Allen, TX)

The team's lightest month is October, with just four games - three at home and one on the road. The toughest month is December, with 16 games scheduled - six at home and 10 on the road. Here's the per month breakdown:

October: 4 Games: 3 Home/1 Road; November: 11 Games: 5 Home/6 Road; December: 16 Games: 6 Home/10 Road; January: 11 Games: 5 Home/6 Road; February: 13 Games: 7 Home/6 Road; March: 11 Games: 7 Home/4 Road.

The Brahmas will play three games in three nights nine times this season.

The Brahmas will meet the Allen Americans 11 times with five games at NYTEX and six at the Allen Events Center. Two of the mid-season dates will encompass the continuing "North Texas Vintage Game Series". The Vintage Game Series reflects the historical past rivalries between teams in Tarrant and Dallas counties. The majority of the games between the cross-town rivals will be at the beginning and end of the season (Home: 10/28, 12/2, 12/3, 2/10, 3/18; Road: 12/16, 2/14, 2/21, 3/16, 3/17, 3/24).

The Brahmas will also play the Laredo Bucks 11 times and the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees 10 times. 30 games in total will be played between the four remaining Texas CHL teams.

Here is the per team break down:

Allen Americans - 11 Games (5 Home/6 Road)
Arizona Sundogs - 6 Games (1 Home/5 Road)
Bloomington Blaze - 2 Games (2 Home)
Dayton Gems - 2 Games (1 Home/1 Road)
Evansville IceMen - 2 Games (1 Home/1 Road)
Fort Wayne Komets - 1 Game (1 Road)
Laredo Bucks - 11 Games (5 Home/6 Road)
Missouri Mavericks - 3 Games (2 Home/1 Road)
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees - 10 Games (5 Home/5 Road)
Tulsa Oilers - 9 Games (5 Home/4 Road)
Rapid City Rush - 1 Game (1 Home)
Wichita Thunder - 8 Games (5 Home/3 Road)

Here is the link to the Brahmas' schedule courtesy of Pointstreak.com

By the way, the playoff format this season is as follows:

- A total of eight of 14 teams will qualify for the post-season, consisting of four clubs from both the Berry and Turner Conferences. Both conference winners will be seeded 1st in their conference heading into the playoffs based on point totals. The next three highest teams in each conference’s regular season standings (based on point totals) will be seeded 2nd, 3rd and 4th in each conference and will also qualify for post-season play.

The playoffs will consist of three rounds:

Conference Semifinals – Best-of-7
Conference Finals – Best-of-7
CHL Championship Finals – Best-of-7

- The #1 seed will play the # 4 seed and the #2 seed will play the #3 seed in each conference with the winners advancing to the conference finals to battle for the respective Turner Trophy and N. Thomas Berry Trophy. The respective trophy winners will battle in the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup Finals. Home ice advantage in the conference finals will be determined based on conference seeding.

- Home ice advantage in the Championship Finals will be awarded to the club with the higher regular season point total, regardless of any earlier playoff seeding.

Should two or more teams be tied in points for any seeding issue throughout the playoffs, the following tiebreakers will be used:

-Most Wins (not including shootout wins)
-Head-to-Head Record
-Goals For/Against Differential

Photo Credit: Robert Keith