Brahmas acquire Pierce, trade Godoy to Mississippi

CHL trade deadline today

The Texas Brahmas announced today that they have traded Elias Godoy to the Mississippi RiverKings in exchange for Matt Pierce.

The exchange of forwards capped off a day that saw the Allen Americans' Charlie Effinger dealt to Missouri and the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs' Neil Clark sent to the Wichita Thunder.

Godoy, 28, tallied 19 points (6 G, 13 A, +1) and 20 penalty minutes through 23 games with the Brahmas. He has two power play goals and one game-winner.

Pierce, 24, leaves the RiverKings after playing in 39 games this season, scoring 21 points (7 G, 14 A, +2) with 38 penalty minutes. He had a one-game call up to the Houston Aeros (AHL) earlier this season.

Head Coach Dan Wildfong believes the acquisition of Pierce will benefit the team in the last two months of the regular season.

“We picked up a big physical presence who also has the ability to score. Matt’s style of play is what we need at this point in the season,” Wildfong said.

Pierce has 57 points (22 G, 35 A, +16) and 97 penalty minutes in 101 games played with the RiverKings since joining the team for the 2008-09 season.

The 6', 205-pound native of Arnprior, Ontario went pro in 2007-08, playing 49 games with the Knoxville Ice Bears (SPHL) and four games with the Charlotte Checkers (ECHL). He had 36 points (22 G, 14 A) and 84 penalty minutes during his time with the Ice Bears.

Photo Credit: Les Stockton

Kevin McLeod and Grant Jacobsen congratulate Jordan Cameron after the Brahmas victory

Brahmas win again!

Cameron's late score defeats Mudbugs 3-2

The Texas Brahmas won their second consecutive road game tonight at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City. Two special teams goals, nine straight penalty-kills and a late strike by Jordan Cameron was enough to give the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs their second loss in as many nights.

With the win, the Brahmas' record goes to 23-17-5 with 52 points but they remain just a point ahead of the Laredo Bucks in the third place position in the Southern Conference (the Bucks beat Amarillo 4-2 tonight).

The quality of play tonight versus what we saw last night in Corpus Christi was refreshing to say the least. Yet, like last night the Brahmas spent the better part of the first frame defending their zone.

The Mudbugs got on the board first with a man-advantage due to a Hooking call on Elias Godoy. David Rutherford skated strong into the high slot and then sent the puck to Justin Aikins, who buried it into the net at the 13:46 mark. Tyrel Lucas was also credited with the assist.

On the ensuing face-off, Nathan Perrott and Neil Clark had some words and then came to blows. Or more like hugs. The two danced around a bit with Perrott maybe landing a blow to Clark before taking him down to the ice. Both received Five-Minute Fighting Majors for their efforts.

The Mudbugs led the shot count 15-7 and took the 1-0 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes.

Scott Thauwald was called for Slashing 3:41 into the middle frame but it took just nine seconds for the Brahmas to sour the Mudbugs power play opportunity with an unassisted tally by Tyler Skworchinski. It was the Brahmas’ 16th short-handed goal of the season; best in the league (Odessa and Tulsa are tied with 11 each). It was Skworchinski’s fourth of the season.

The Mudbugs failed to take advantage of four straight power plays and a five-on-three for 49 seconds late in the second period. The out shot the Brahmas 15-12 but were unable to solve Jaeger, who looked to be in championship form. After 40 minutes, the game would remain tied at 1-1.

The third period saw some early four-on-four action after Elias Godoy and Mudbugs defenseman Scott Kalinchuk were each assessed two minutes for Roughing and sent to the sin bin at the 3:34 mark. 14 seconds later, David Pszenyczny beat Brett Jaeger and gave the lead back to Bossier-Shreveport with a little help from Shawn Limpright and Simon Mangos at the 3:48 mark.

Less than four minutes later, Pszenyczny was in the box for Holding and the Brahmas evened it up with a power play goal by Justin Kinnunen. Jason Deitsch and Tyler Skworchinski assisted.

Later in the period, the Mudbugs had a 5-on-3 for 27 seconds and a four-minute 5-on-4 after Tyler Skworchinski was called for a High Sticking double minor, but they failed to convert.

The game appeared to be heading into overtime when Kevin McLeod sent a high pass from center ice to Jordan Cameron, who was skating along the boards near the Mudbugs bench. Cameron gloved the puck and quickly dropped it to the ice, skating into the Mudbugs zone. He avoided two defenders and ripped a quick shot over DeCaro’s shoulder with only 15 seconds left in the game for his third game-winning goal of the season.

You can view a video of the play here

The Brahmas had a 13-10 shot advantage in the final frame. Bossier-Shreveport had a 40-32 shot advantage in the game.

Brett Jaeger made 38 saves on 40 shots and earned the win. His record goes to 12-10-1-1. John DeCaro made 29 saves on 32 shots and takes the loss. His record goes to 14-10-1.

The Brahmas went one for six on the power play. Bossier-Shreveport went one for 10. The Brahmas were assessed 27 minutes on 12 infractions. The Mudbugs received 19 minutes on eight infractions.

The 3rd Star of the game went to the Mudbugs’ David Rutherford who only had an assist but was a home player in a close game (WTF?). The 2nd Star was awarded to Brett Jaeger for his performance in net and the 1st Star went to Jordan Cameron, who scored the game-winning goal.

You can view the box score here

You can view my photos from the game here

Observations:

• The Brahmas’ 16 short-handed tallies put them on pace to beat last season’s total of 19 (tied with Colorado for the highest number of SHG’s).

The Brahmas head home tonight (with a special guest on the bus) and will get a day of rest before preparing for three games in four days beginning with a visit from the Laredo Bucks on Friday, February 12th. The Brahmas will host the Allen Americans on Saturday night and then will travel to Allen for a Monday afternoon game.

Image Credit: Robert Keith

Brahmas defeat Corpus Christi 3-2

Deitsch scores game-winner in first road win since December 19th

What started out as a dull game slowly progressed into a bona fide nail biter and in the end, the Texas Brahmas' seven-game road losing streak was over, thanks to a 3-2 win at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi.

The Brahmas scored three unanswered goals (Cameron, Jacobsen, Deitsch) in the 23 1/2 minutes to earn the win, their first road victory since December 19th at Arizona.

With the victory, the Brahmas record goes to 22-17-5 (7-12-4 on the road) and with 49 points, they maintain a tenuous one-point hold on third place in the Southern Conference (due to Laredo's come-from behind win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees).

Spoiler alert: The first period really pissed me off.

WTF? That's all I could think watching a frickin' pathetic first period. The Brahmas were out shot 11-1 at the 10 minute mark and 15-5 in 20 minutes of play. Obviously, most of the action took place in the Brahmas zone and really, I'm amazed it was only a 1-0 game heading into the first intermission. Brett Jaeger made a couple of good saves and got lucky a few times. Kevin Beech might as well have brought a lawn chair to lounge in, considering the lack of scoring threats he faced.

It's not that the Ice Rays looked that good. But it seemed that there was an overall lack of hustle by the Brahmas. Like watching a bunch of flies on a stale turd on a hot Summer day. Or at best, what I imagine the SPHL looks like.

The big thrill of the first frame was Chad Woollard's goal at the 10:38 mark. Taking a feed from Kurtis Dulle, Woolly sent in a writer from the right circle, just over the gloved hand of Brett Jaeger, to make it a 1-0 game.

And that was about it for the first frame. A real stinker. Again, the Brahmas were out shot 15-5! It was the Hooking period as the Brahmas were called for the penalty three times and the Ice Rays, twice. Add a Holding call on Tyrell Mason and there is your penalty summary for the first frame.

The second period didn't start out that much better, but slowly, this evolved into a game.

Unfortunately for the Brahmas, Chris Richards put up the Ice Rays' second marker with a backhander at the 7:15 mark with the assists coming from Chad Costello and Kyle Peto.

It took the Brahmas over nine minutes to answer and get on the board, but once they did, things began to change.

Back on the penalty kill with Tyler Skworchinski in the sin bin for Hooking, Jordan Cameron scored the Brahmas' CHL best 15th short-handed goal at the 16:25 mark with a little help from Jason Deitsch and Kevin McLeod. Cam's backhand shot beat Kevin Beech as he was crowded in the net by McLeod and Justin Quenneville. There was no interference call and the goal was allowed. Fantastic!

The Brahmas seemed to feed off the momentum of Cameron's goal and their physical play began to pick up. The period would end with the Ice Rays up 2-1 but the Brahmas had the 10-5 shot advantage and a new lease on the game after 40 minutes.

The third period began with two minutes of four-on-four hockey with Elias Godoy (unsportsmanlike conduct) and Steven Later (slashing) in the penalty box for a little trouble at the 20:00 mark of the middle frame.

Grant Jacobsen scored the equalizer off a feed from Nathan Perrott at the 4:41 mark. Perrott sent his shot in from the left point but it appeared to deflect off of Kurtis Dulle's stick and then Jacobsen sent it in. Beech tryed to make the save with his gloved hand but the puck just bounce up and into the back of the net, making it a 2-2 game.

Play continued penalty-free for over 13 minutes before the Brahmas were able to take the first lead of the night with a score by Jason Deitsch at the 18:27 mark. Deitsch's shot from the right circle went through the five hole - Kevin Beech didn't have a chance. Tyler Skworchinski and Tyrell Mason were in on the assist.

The Ice Rays stayed in it, but couldn't get past a Brahmas defense (that had improved exponentially since the first period) and Brett Jaeger, who was magnificent in the final frame.

The Ice Rays final shot, with about eight seconds left in the game, was stopped by an acrobatic move by Jaeger and with that, it was all over.

A little nastiness to end the game - after the final save by Jaeger, Kyle Peto gave a shove to Skworchinski who was trying to get up from the ice and then Jason Deitsch came in and attacked Peto. After a brief tussle behind the net, the two separated and the game ended. For the record, Peto was given a Roughing Double Minor. Deitsch was given a Roughing Double Minor and a Spearing Double Minor.

The Brahmas had a narrow 13-12 shot lead in the final frame. Corpus Christi had a 32-28 shot advantage in the game.

Brett Jaeger made 30 saves on 32 shots and earned the win. His record goes to 11-10-1-1. Kevin Beech made 25 saves on 28 shots and takes the loss. His record with the Ice Rays goes to 2-2-0-1.

The Brahmas went zero for three on the power play. Corpus Christi went zero for six. The Brahmas were assessed 20 minutes on 10 infractions. The Ice Rays received 12 minutes on six infractions.

The 3rd Star of the game went to Chad Woollard who scored the first goal of the night. The 2nd Star was awarded to Brett Jaeger for his performance in net and the 1st Star went to Jason Deitsch, who scored the game winning goal and also had an assist on the night.

You can view the box score here

The Brahmas continue their two-game road trip with a Saturday night game against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs at the CenturyTel Center. The Mudbugs were embarrassed at home in a 4-2 loss to the Wichita Thunder tonight.

Image Credit: Warface by Design

Hiebert suspended

League reserves ruling on Caig

The Central Hockey League issued a one-game suspension for James Hiebert today for his actions in Sunday's game against the Tulsa Oilers.

Since this was Hiebert's third game misconduct of the season, it was an automatic suspension by rule.

The league has been very observant of Hiebert this season (I'm sure based upon his past reputation), issuing suspensions for a total of six games since he joined the team on October 30th.

The league is reportedly reviewing the play in question to see if TJ Caig should receive a suspension for his Checking from Behind Major. I doubt it will happen, but we should know soon.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith

Tyler Skworchinski celebrates his second goal of the night with Kevin McLeod

Believe!

Brahmas take down the Oilers 5-2, re-take third place in the South

The Texas Brahmas defeated the Tulsa Oilers this afternoon at the NYTEX Sports Centre by a score of 5-2. It was a physical, sometimes violent contest but in the end, the home team prevailed and thanks to the Laredo Bucks' road loss to Odessa, the Brahmas moved back into third place in the Southern Conference with 47 points and a 21-17-5 record.

The building was pretty full with an attendance listed at 2,173 and the fans were treated to a very entertaining display of hometown hockey.

Tulsa got off to a fast start with a goal on only their second shot of the game. Jeff Gumaer (a Brahmas training camp attendee) took a feed from defenseman Adam Bartholomay and shot it past Brett Jaeger to make it a 1-0 game at the 1:59 mark.

After several minutes of play and nary a shot on the board for the home team, Dan Wildfong called a time out to converse with the boys. Or should I say loudly explain the difference between sh*t and Shinola? Suffice it to say, the team took to the ice with a new found motivation and it showed.

About a minute later, Tyler Skworchinski and his line mates Jason Deitsch and Jordan Cameron evened things up with Skworchinski’s team leading 15th goal of the season. Deitsch's pass from the end boards evaded former Brahma Derek Merlini and met up with Skworchinski's stick for a quick strike past Kevin Armstrong to make it a 1-1 game at the 8:50 mark.

Further motivated by the score, the Brahmas looked like a different team than we've seen of late; more like a team we were watching last spring.

With Rob Hisey on an extended call up to the AHL's Springfield Falcons, TJ Caig has been the dominant scoring threat for the Oilers. Caig had just finished a two-minute stint in the sin bin for Hooking when he emerged to rejoin play. 11 seconds later, with the assist coming from Aaron Davis and Dan Reidel, Caig backhanded a shot past Jaeger's stick side to take back the lead at the 12:45 mark.

It took the Brahmas’ top line nearly four-and-a-half minutes to respond, but when they did, Tyler Skworchinski sent his shot top shelf to tie the game up again at the 17:17 mark. Deitsch and Cameron had their second assists with the play and Skworchinski looked well on his way to a hat trick.

Ross Rouleau and Dan Reidel got into it briefly near the Brahmas’ net with 1:12
left in the period. I’m not sure what started it but Rouleau looked like he managed to pop Reidel in the chin once before the linesman broke them up. Both were sentenced to two minutes for Roughing.

The period ended with the score tied and the Oilers leading the shot count 14-8.

The physical play picked up in the middle frame with both teams showing their aggressive sides.

A scary moment came early in the frame when Nathan Perrott went down hard against the end boards in the Brahmas zone but he got up and shook it off and was ready for the following face-off.

Nearly half-way through the period, Ross Rouleau scored what would be the game-winning goal off a pass from James Hiebert at the 9:53 mark.

Towards the end of the period, with former Brahma Travis Banga in the box for Goalie Interference, Kevin McLeod added a power play goal with the assists coming from Jordan Cameron and Jason Deitsch at the 19:01 mark.

Shortly thereafter, a wild scene erupted near the Brahmas bench. I didn’t see exactly what started everything from my vantage point on the other side of the bench. I was under the impression that Justin Kinnunen received a pretty harsh check from behind by TJ Caig and retribution came from Grant Jacobsen and James Hiebert, who charged in late. Hiebert was subdued by Aaron Davis and Caig was rescued by the linemen but skated away with a bloody mouth.

As a result of the fracas, Caig was assessed two minutes for Roughing, a five minute Checking from Behind Major and a 10 minute No Category Game Misconduct. Jacobsen was given two minutes for Cross Checking and Hiebert was given a five minute Charging Major and a 10 minute No Category Game Misconduct. He is likely to face a league suspension for his part.

The period ended with the Brahmas narrowly leading the shot count 12-11 and a 4-2 lead.

The final frame opened more physical play coming from both sides. Oilers bad boy Thomas Harrison was corralled for Cross Checking 2:56 into the period and Derek Merlini was called for Tripping at the 4:28 mark, setting up a brief five-on-three opportunity for the Brahmas. Just brief enough. With the two-man advantage, the Brahmas’ special teams put up what would be the final score of the game. Brett Jaeger sent out a pass to Craig Minard, who worked the puck to Jordan Cameron. Cameron, who leads the team in scoring, made a quick move on Kevin Armstrong to secure the final score of 5-2 at the 4:56 mark.

The Brahmas remained in control of the ice for the remainder of the period, out shooting Tulsa 17-12 (the game would end with the shot count tied at 37). Tempers flared in the final minute of play and the two teams (who won’t meet again this season) settled their differences with another melee with 45 seconds remaining in the game.

Thomas Harrison (what’s wrong with that boy?) slashed Grant Jacobsen (I think) near the Brahmas net and then started going off. Meanwhile, Kevin McLeod and Adam Bartholomay went at it, well, lets say, McLeod opened a can of whoop ass on Bartholomay, with little resistance. Tyler Butler entered the fray, holding Jacobsen so he was unable to defend himself and Derek Eastman tried to enter late but Ross Rouleau took him aside.

I kept my sights on the McLeod/Bartholomay scene but matched the aftermath of the original fight as it broke up. Jacobsen looked a little worse for wear, and considering he really wasn’t able to defend himself, he came out OK. Jordan Cameron and Marty Standish emerged from the bottom of the pile but I’m not sure what their involvement was. Harrison was hauled away by a lineman and sent off to an early shower, raining expletives on Brahmas fans as he headed down the hallway.

As a result of the mini-brawl, Harrison was given two minutes for Slashing, a five minute Fighting Major and a 10 minute No Category Game Misconduct. McLeod and Bartholomay were each given two minutes for Roughing.

As if that all was not enough, Luke Sellars was sent off the ice with :04 seconds remaining and was assessed two minutes for Roughing (I didn’t see what happened). Sellars was hot, lunging towards some mouthy individuals on Tulsa’s bench before exiting.

All said and done, it was a great game for the Brahmas and for the fans in attendance.

Brett Jaeger made 35 saves on 37 shots and earned the win. His record goes to 10-10-1-1. Kevin Armstrong made 32 saves on 37 shots and takes the loss. His record goes to 11-8-1-1.

The Brahmas went two for seven on the power play. Tulsa went zero for seven. The Brahmas were assessed 37 minutes on 13 infractions. Tulsa received 48 minutes on 13infractions.

The 3rd Star of the game went to Brett Jaeger for his performance in net. The 2nd Star was awarded to Tyler Skworchinski, who had two goals and the 1st Star went to Jordan Cameron who had a goal and three assists on the night.

You can view the box score here

You can view my photos from the game here and here

The Brahmas will begin preparing for a two game road trip next weekend. Friday night, they take on the Corpus Christi Ice Rays at the American Bank Center and on Saturday night, they travel to the CenturyTel Center for a match against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith

Defenseman Todd Paul waived

Tyrell Mason activated from Injured Reserve

And that pretty much says it. Paul, 27, played 11 games with the Brahmas through the month of January, having joined the team on the second. He had two assists.

Mason was injured (left shoulder, I believe) on December 27th at NYTEX in a game against the Wichita Thunder. He was placed on the 30-day Injured Reserve shortly thereafter, retroactive to the 27th.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith