Brahmas battle back to defeat Tulsa 3-1

Move with three points of the Americans

Down 1-0 after 44 minutes of play, Chad Woollard led the Texas Brahmas' comeback in a penalty-filled contest that ended with a 3-1 victory over the Tulsa Oilers tonight at the NYTEX Sports Centre.

A scoreless first period included a fight between Tyler Barr and the Oilers' Gerome Giudice at the 7:22 mark which sent the two to the penalty boxes for five minutes. Adam Hogg, Phil Fox and the Oilers' Gary Steffes and Mike Ullrich were all called for Tripping during the remainder of the period and neither squad was successful on the power play.

Texas outshot Tulsa 10-4 in the period.

The physical second frame included fights between Erik Spady and Jason Weeks, followed by Andrew Lackner and Ryan Kramer, who laid a cheap shot check to the head of Ross Rouleau. All told, 55 minutes of penalties were assessed during the second 20 alone.

Gio Flamminio had his second score in as many games when he beat Mark Guggenberger at the 16:48 mark, assisted by Jeff Terminesi and Mike Ullrich.

Tulsa had a narrow 8-7 shot advantage in the period and took the 1-0 lead into the second intermission.

It was all Brahmas in the third frame, beginning with Woollard's strike at the 4:02 mark, assisted by Jim Burichin. It was Woollard's 376th Central Hockey League goal (21st this season), which tied him with Chris Richards for 10th on the CHL all-time goal-scoring list.

Adam Hogg netted the game-winner with 1:57 remaining, beating Ian Keserich with the set up coming from Spady and T.J. Fox. Cal Wild added the bird goal with an empty-netter at the 19:56 mark with Phil Fox on the assist.

The Brahmas were outshot 12-8 in the final frame but had the 25-24 advantage in the game.

With the win, the Brahmas moved within three points of the hapless 2nd place Allen Americans, who were humiliated by the Laredo Bucks in a 5-0 loss at the Laredo Energy Arena.

Mark Guggenberger stopped 23 of 24 shots faced and earned the win. His record goes to 17-5-3-3 with a 1.82 GAA and a .931 Save Percentage - still best in the league. Guggenberger also leads all CHL rookie players with 32 Star Points.

The Brahmas were assessed 40 minutes on 10 infractions and went 0 for 5 on the power play.

Referee: Zak Blazik
Linesman 1: Kyle DeMaggio
Linesman 2: T.J. Nua

1st Star: Adam Hogg (1 G)
2nd Star: Chad Woollard (1 G)
3rd Star: Mark Guggenberger

You can view Pointstreak's Box Score here and their GameLive broadcast here.

The Brahmas host the Oilers for the third game against the Oilers in as many days on Sunday, with the opening face off set for 5:45pm.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith