Adam Hogg scored the game-winning goal in tonight's victory

Take that, Thunder!

Brahmas, Silverthorn win 3-2 in Wichita

The Texas Brahmas defeated the Wichita Thunder by a score of 3-2 tonight, on the road at the Intrust Bank Arena. The boys took two out of three games in the three-day weekend series and there's no doubt, they won this one for Ross Rouleau, who was sidelined by a dirty hit by R.G. Flath night.

Eight Brahmas players had points tonight including T.J. Fox, Jacques Perreault and Adam Hogg, who scored the goals. Adam Hogg tallied the game-winner, his third of the season.

The victory moves the Brahmas' record to 19-14-7 (.563) with 45 points and Steve Silverthorn earned his fourth win out of his last five starts as well as the 1st Star for tonight's performance. Silver's record improved to 10-10-5 with a 2.51 GAA (5th in the league) and a .902 Save Percentage (17th in the league).

The Tulsa Oilers lost on the road in Evansville, so the Brahmas, who remain in third place in the Berry Conference, now have a six point advantage over Bruce Ramsay's team as well as Terry Ruskowski's Killer Bees. Arizona and Laredo remain out of the playoff hunt. The boys are sneaking up on the Americans, who are four points ahead and the Thunder, who hold a tenuous five point advantage.

Six of the seven games played between the two teams have been decided by one goal. Wichita leads the season series four games to three. The two teams will not see one another until Tuesday, March 20th when the Thunder return to NYTEX for the final game of the series.

The Brahmas' scratches for the game included Rouleau, Mark Guggenberger, Mark Ehl and Gregg Eskedjian.

The Brahmas had two power play opportunities in the opening minutes of the first period due to the foolish play of Erick Lizon, who was called for Charging at the 2:17 mark and Holding at the 6:37 mark. The Thunder's penalty killers held the boys off once, but T.J. Fox capitalized on the second, catching Adam Russo out of the net which enabled an easy score off of a feed from Erik Spady. Andrew Lackner had the secondary assist.

Just as they did last night, the Brahmas took a 2-0 lead in the first 20, this time at the 15:05 mark on a score by Jacques Perreault, who followed up his own rebound after attempting a wrap-around and managed to beat Russo. Chris Moran and Dan Nicholls were credited with the assists.

Wichita's Matt Summers was called for Holding at the 17:56 mark, but the Brahmas were unable to score on the resulting power play.

The boys had a narrow 13-12 shot advantage in the period and took to the locker room with a 2-0 lead.

There was no scoring in the middle frame. Both teams had a single power play opportunity but neither capitalized. The shots were even at 10-10 and the Thunder went into their locker rooms still down by two.

Kevin McClelland's boys came out fighting in the third period and got on the board at the 2:13 mark when Matt Robinson beat Silverthorn with some help from Matt Summers to make it a 2-1 contest. Jim Burichin was penalized twice (Interference at 2:49 and Holding at 6:40) but the Brahmas PK (9th in the league) held off the Thunder. One-time Brahma Kevin Seibel was also assessed two minutes for Boarding at the 7:04 mark.

Adam Hogg extended the Brahmas lead to 3-1 with 4:52 remaining. Chad Woollard provided the assist.

Dan Nicholls was called for Tripping at the 15:45 mark, which led to a power play strike by
Alex Bourret, fed by Seibel and Brett Hemingway. Bourret's tally was too little, too late for the Thunder, who failed to get anything going in the final minutes and suffered their second loss in as many nights at the hands of the Brahmas.

Steve Silverthorn stopped 33 of 35 shots faced to earn the win.

The Brahmas were assessed 8 minutes on 4 infractions; the Thunder received 10 minutes on 5 infractions. Texas went 1 for 5 on the power play; Wichita went 1 for 4.

Referee: Pierre Lambert
Lines 1: Kyle DeMaggio
Lines 2: Shawn Morgan

1st Star: Steve Silverthorn - 33 saves on 35 shots faced.
2nd Star: Jacques Perreault - 1 goal.
3rd Star: Matt Robinson (WIC) - 1 goal.

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

The Brahmas return home tonight for a well-deserved rest. They will host the Tulsa Oilers (18-15-4) on Friday night and the Laredo Bucks (15-22-0) on Saturday night. The Oilers are 8-11-2 on the road and the Bucks are 6-10-0.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith