Brahmas win again!

Defeat Oilers 4-2, now one point behind Allen

The Texas Brahmas closed out the weekend series against the Tulsa Oilers with a 4-2 win tonight at the NYTEX Sports Centre. With the win, the Brahmas' record goes to 29-18-8 (.600) with 66 points - just one point behind the second place Allen Americans.

A night after he tied Chris Richards for 10th on the Central Hockey League's all-time goal-scoring list, Chad Woollard reached two more milestones on Sunday. Woollard's second-period goal was his 200th as a member of the Texas Brahmas and also moved him ahead of Richards for sole possession of 10th place for career goals (277) in league history.

Tulsa’s Michel Beausoleil gave the Oilers the early lead with a slapshot from the high slot five minutes into the first period. It took the Brahmas just 29 seconds to respond as Adam Hogg corralled a rebound in front of the Oilers goal and slid the puck past Steve Christie to make it a 1-1 contest. It was Hogg's 18th tally of the season and his second goal in as many nights.

The Brahmas outshot the Oilers 12-7 in the opening period.

On a power play early in the second frame, Gary Steffes showed off some nifty stick handling to draw defenders and find a wide open Troy Ofukany, whose tap-in beat Mark Guggenberger and put Tulsa back on top.

Minutes later, Chad Woollard hit a streaking Jacque Perrault, who roofed a wrist shot past Steve Christie to tie the contest up at 2-2.

Just ten minutes later, Dan Nicholls scored his third goal of the season to give the Brahmas their first lead of the game. Nicholls' goal was the eventual game-winner, as the Brahmas never relinquished the lead from that point on.

The Brahmas got the cushion they needed after a costly turnover at the side of the Oilers' net led to Chad Woollard’s 22nd goal of the season at the 16:56 mark.

Shots were even at 6 apiece in the middle period.

There was no scoring in the final 20 and the Brahmas celebrated their ninth win of their last 10 games.

Mark Guggenberger stopped 18 of 20 shots faced and earned the win. His record goes to 18-5-3-3 with a 1.82 GAA and a .930 Save Percentage - still best in the league.

The Brahmas were assessed 12 minutes on 6 infractions and went 0 for 3 on the power play.

Referee: Peter Tarnaris
Linesman 1: Kyle DeMaggio
Linesman 2: Shawn Morgan

1st Star: Chad Woollard (1 G, 1 A)
2nd Star: Adam Hogg (1 G, 1 A)
3rd Star: Dan Nicholls (1G)

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

The Brahmas will return to their roots in Fort Worth when they host the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees at the Fort Worth Convention Center on Friday and Saturday, March 2nd and 3rd with the opening face-offs set for 7:30 pm CST. The Brahmas will wear special jerseys for the inaugural Fort Worth Face off which will be auctioned off following the game on Saturday night.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith