Brahmas fall 5-2 in Allen

Three unanswered goals in second period take the steam out of the Purple and Black

The Texas Brahmas fell further behind the Allen Americans in the standings tonight with an el-stinko performance - a 5-2 loss at the Allen Event Center. Mark Guggenberger allowed five goals before being pulled and Ken Carroll took his place in net for the first time as a Texas Brahmas goalie.

On the upside, Ross Rouleau scored twice and Sy Nutkevitch had an assist in his first game for the Brahmas.

Scott Langdon and Tyler Barr got into it near the blue line at the 1:37 mark of the opening frame to fire up the locals, who finally had a reason to make some noise at "the library" tonight. Langdon, who appeared to start the fight, got in a punch early and the rest of the was really just a wrestling match. Both received the customary Fighting Majors for their efforts.

Langdon was later called for Tripping, providing the first power play for the Brahmas. Unfortunately, Brian McMillin scored a short-handed goal, coming down the right wing side and shooting from just inside the right circle, sending his shot just under the left arm of Mark Guggenberger at the 7:42 mark. Jarrett Lukin was credited with the assist.

That was the extent of the excitement in the opening frame where shots were even at eight and the Americans took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

The second period was nothing short of a disaster for the Brahmas. The Americans got off to a strong start when Keith Johnson set up Jarret Lukin, who had a shot ring off the post and moments later, Johnson sent the puck back to Lukin who was able to send it in past the pad of Guggenberger to make it 2-0 at the 1:49 mark. Erik Adams was credited with the secondary assist.

A Tripping call on Dan Nicholls led to another Americans goal when Jeff Martens took a pass from Jarret Lukin and poked it into the open net, giving Allen a 3-0 lead at the 16:22 mark.

Then it was Ben Wilson, who fired a laser from the top of the circle and Guggenberger tried but didn't really have a chance to stop it. Brian McMillin and Scott Langdon were in on the assists.

Allen led in shots 8-5 in the middle frame and remained up 4-0 after 40 minutes.

Allen continued their onslaught 52 seconds into the third frame with a power play strike by Colton Yellow Horn, assisted by Tyler Ludwig and Mark Nebus. That score spelled the end of the night for Mark Guggenberger and Ken Carroll took his place in the net for the first time as a member of the Texas Brahmas.

Then began the Ross Rouleau show as the fourth-year defenseman struck twice in less than two minutes to give the Brahmas a chance at a comeback. Rouleau's first strike came at the 3:35 mark with the assists coming from T.J. Fox and Phil Fox. His second strike came at the 5:26 mark, assisted by newcomer Sy Nutkevitch and Phil Fox.

Unfortunately, it was too little too late and the Brahmas had little steam available to make up for their play in the first two periods. Allen had the 7-2 shot advantage in the final frame and 23-15 in the game as they held on for the 5-2 win.

Mark Guggenberger stopped 13 of 18 shots faced and takes the loss. His record goes to 21-7-3-3 with a 2.07 GAA (1st in the league) and a .919 Save Percentage (6th in the league). Ken Carroll stopped all five shots faced in relief.

The Brahmas were assessed 21 minutes on 9 infractions and went 0 for 3 on the power play.

Referee: Brent Coulombe
Linesman 1: Kyle DeMaggio
Linesman 2: Shawn Morgan

1st Star: Jarret Lukin (ALN) (1 G, 2 A)
2nd Star: Brian McMillin (ALN) (1 G, 1 A)
3rd Star: Ben Wilson (ALN) (1 G)

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

The Brahmas and the Americans will meet again tomorrow night at the Allen Event Center with the opening face off set for 7:05 pm CST.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith