Sunday 1/30/11

We were coming off a pretty good stretch and opening the week’s games with a trip to CenturyTel to play the Mudbugs. It’s always a big game between us two teams – it’s been a pretty big rivalry. We started off the game pretty good but then we gave up a couple of goals and it kind of fell apart from there. We didn’t have a very good game and we ended up losing 6-2. It was a tough loss for us.

We came back home and then we were off on Wednesday, just because we were short bodies. We had practice on Thursday and then it was off to play Rio Grande Valley, a team that works very hard and plays good systems.

We came out on Friday night and didn’t play our best game. We gave them a lead and then we battled hard; we battled back hard in the third period to make it a one goal game and then ended up giving up an empty net goal, so it was a disappointing loss for us. We didn’t play very good, but it showed good character from us, to show them that we could come back and we were almost there. But it just proves that you can’t give a team a lead like that.

We came out again on Saturday night against the same team, Rio, and played a better game. We ended up winning 5-4. They’re a team that’s at the bottom of the standings right now, but they work really hard and the standings aren’t really a good indicator of what they showed us. After that, we had a nine-hour bus ride back to North Richland Hills to get ready for a 4:00pm game today against Fort Wayne.

We came out really strong against the Komets; the first four or five shifts, we were all over them. We ended up getting a goal in the first shift and had the lead and then it kind of just fell apart from there. I don’t know if the guys were tired, but we just didn’t play well. We didn’t do what we needed to do. Wayne Savage played a great game. He kept us in that game the whole time and gave us a chance to win. Honestly, I think we were lucky to get a point out of the game, which was good for us – to get that point and not give up both points at least. But again, we didn’t play very good.

Coming off of a rough week, we have to head for Odessa tomorrow and try to get back on track and have a good game.

We’re getting to the point now where, obviously we’ve had a couple of rough games this week, but we know down the stretch here every point counts. I mean, the standings are so tight that every point counts and you can’t afford to give up any points. So, going to Rio on Friday, we really needed to go down there and win both games. It’s not an easy task. Like I said, they work hard and they’re a good team, but we’ve got to continue to win games and take very point. We can’t take any points for granted. We can’t take any night off because one point can mean a lot at the end of the year because things are so close.

The guys are excited - they see where we’re at. We’re right there in the standings. We have a few games in hand on a couple of teams, so if we can put our guys together and put another stretch together like we did last week, we’ll be in pretty good shape. We have a few injuries, so it’ll help us a lot if we can get some guys back and get playing with our full line up and just keep rolling; try to get it going and get things back on track.

Brahmas sign center Brian Ihnacak

Former Pittsburgh Penguins prospect will play tonight against the Killer Bees

The Texas Brahmas have signed center Brian Ihnacak to the roster today according to Pointstreak. Ihnacak, 25, signed with the Mississippi RiverKings on November 30th and played 16 games, registering six points (2 G, 4 A) and eight penalty minutes before he was placed on waivers on January 12th. Both of his goals were game winners, on December 17th against Evansville and on January 2nd in a shootout against Bossier-Shreveport.

Ihnacak, the son of former Toronto Maple Leafs' forward Peter Ihnacak and the nephew of former Toronto and Detroit player Miroslav Ihnacak, (pronounced in-a-chak) was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the ninth round (# 259 overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Ihnacak played in the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League with the St. Michael's Buzzers, where he won the leading scorer award for the team after posting a 86 point season (40 G, 46 A) in 46 games during the 2002-03 season. His 40 goals was a St. Michael's record. He was named an OPJHL All-Star, Most Improved Player, and was a runner-up for the MVP after he tallied the winning goal in the 2003 OPJHL All-Star Game. Ihnacak also participated with the Slovakian Under-18 team at the 2003 World Cup, finishing the tournament ranked 10th in scoring.

All-Rookie Team. One of his teammates at Brown was Brahmas Ihnacak went on to play for four years (2003-07) at Brown University, scoring 76 points (28 G, 48 A) in 103 games played. He was one of the most successful rookies in Bears history, registering 30 points (10 G, 20 A) and 20 PIM, earning the Kevin R. Pope Memorial Trophy, given to the team's most outstanding rookie, as voted by his teammates. He was also named the 2004 Co-ECAC Rookie of the Year (shared with David McKee) and was named to the ECACdefenseman Sean Hurley. The two played together for three seasons.

He went pro in 2007-08, opting to play in the Slovakian Extraliga. He tallied 19 points (9 G, 10 A) and 77 penalty minutes in 37 games with MHK Kezmarok.

In 2008-09, Ihnacak played for Augusta and Elmira in the ECHL, with most of the time spent with the Elmira Jackals where he was a teammate of Brahmas left wing Mike Sgroi. He tallied 15 points (7 G, 8 A) and 34 PIM in a combined 46 games.

He returned to the Slovakia Extraliga last season, playing for three teams (MHK Kezmarok, HKM Zvolen, and HK SKP Poprad) and combining for six points (2 G, 4 A) and 20 PIM.

Ihnacak attended the Bloomington PrairieThunder's training camp in October but did not make the final roster.

The only video I could find was this hit on former NHL right wing Ziggy Palffy during his time in Slovakia, courtesy of YouTube:

Photo Credit: Les Stockton

Fight night at the CenturyTel Center

Mike Sgroi vs. Steven Crampton

In an already nasty game between the 'Bugs and the boys in purple and black, Brahmas forward Mike Sgroi (6' 4", 230 pounds) takes on the enforcer role after Mudbugs forward Steven Crampton (6' 2", 200 pounds) knocked defenseman Ross Rouleau to the ice with a brutal hit to the face, 5:52 into the final frame.

Sgroi was on the scene immediately and after ripping his gloves off, he grabs Crampton away from the linesman and proceeds to pummel him with a number of blows to the back of the helmet.

Don't mess with Texas!

Thanks to Eric Boulton for sharing this video via YouTube.

Sunday 01/23/11

We had a really big weekend - we finally put a three-game win streak together, so the team was feeling good and we were ready to go. Obviously, the guys were feeling pretty good in the locker room but we do talk about not getting too high - that we've got to keep playing well every night. We know that we can't get too high and think that we're too good of a team.

We got back to work on Monday with practice. Just the usual stuff - another long week of practice to get ready for a big weekend with games against Bossier and Tulsa, two teams that are tight with us in the standings.

We came out Friday night and had one of the best series of the year against Bossier in the first period. We came out and played really well. Then we didn't play so well in the second and the third, but we played well enough to come up with the win in overtime. It was a big win for us. It doesn't matter how you win as long as you win 'em.

On Saturday night, we hosted Tulsa - another team that's playing really well. I thought we played a really good game. I thought we deserved to win the game but we ended up losing in the shootout. But from start to finish, we played a really good game. Like I said, I think we deserved to win it; we just couldn't get any pucks in the net and beat that goalie in the shootout - he had a good game.

We've got to keep playing the way we are. We leave in a couple of days to go to Bossier and we've just got to keep it rolling and keep playing the same every night, no matter who we're playing.

After we play the Mudbugs, we'll be headed down to South Texas for a couple of games against Rio Grande Valley. They're at the bottom of our conference right now but they're still a very good hockey team and they work very hard, so we've really got to be ready. After that, we come home to play Fort Wayne. They've always been a really good hockey team. For whatever reason, they've struggled this year and it's always hard to play struggling teams - we've got to make sure to do what we have to do to win. They're going to be coming at us with everything they have to try to win too.

Every team in this league is a good hockey team and you can't expect to win every night. You've got to play hard and you've got to earn your wins every night.

Fight night at the NYTEX Sports Center

Mike Sgroi vs. James DeLory

Fans at the NYTEX Sports Centre didn't have to wait for long - 0:01 second actually, before the gloves were dropped during last night's game against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.

Brahmas forward Mike Sgroi (6' 4", 230 pounds) took on Mudbugs forward James DeLory (6' 5", 225 pounds) at the opening faceoff. Sgroi clearly had the advantage after the dancing was done. Good stuff!

Thanks to Eric Boulton for sharing his video via YouTube.

Fight night at the NYTEX Sports Centre

Mike Sgroi vs. Rob Cowan

6:44 into the first period of Saturday night's game at NYTEX and the gloves were dropped.

Brahmas forward Mike Sgroi (6' 4", 230 pounds) took on Killer Bees defenseman Rob Cowan (6' 4", 233 pounds). Yeah, the same guy that Roger Maxwell dropped like a rag doll earlier in the season).

Sgroi connected first with several rights to Cowan's head. Cowan got in a few sloppy punches before Sgroi lost his footing and the two went down.

Thanks to Eric Boulton for sharing his video via YouTube.