NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas (December 18) – The Brahmas will not be decking the halls until concluding a big weekend starting Friday evening on the road in Amarillo.
What has become known by many as the “Battle of the Cattle” will resume on Friday as the Lone Star Brahmas stampede into the Amarillo Civic Center to face the Amarillo Bulls. The teams have faced each other five times so far this season with Amarillo taking the first game by a 2 – 1 score. Since then the Brahmas have controlled the series with four straight wins outscoring Amarillo 23 – 8 in the five games.
Last weekend the Brahmas swept the Odessa Jackalopes on the NYTEX Sports Centreice to run their current win streak to four games. Lone Star has now won 14 of their last 16 games. On Friday night, the Brahmas got goals from Alexey Solovyev, Eric Carreras, Oskar Andren, AJ Vanderbeck and Anton Santesson in front of a 10 save performance by TJ Black for the 5 – 1 win and Black’s ninth win of the season. The following night, Lone Star jumped out to a lead on goals by Sebastian Vidmar andLudvig Larsson only to see the Jackalopes go in front with three straight goals. Larsson tallied late in the second to pull the Brahmas even then again early in the third for the game winner. Andren and Peter Kessel added two more goals for the 6 – 3 final. The goal by Kessel was his first in the NAHL after missing much of the season due to injury.Jake Kupsky got the call in net and logged his tenth win making 11 saves.
Amarillo was in Corpus Christi for a pair of games last weekend and would up on the short end of an 8 – 4 and 3 – 2 scores. In game one, the Bulls found themselves down three goals before Trent Dillinger broke the ice midway through the first. Charlie Combs added a second period goal for Amarillo which was more than offset by three more Icerays’ tallies. The Bulls tried to make a game of it with goals from Riley Christensen and Luke Novak in the third, but Corpus Christi score twice to eliminate any comeback attempt. Jacob Weatherly started in goal and was pulled in favor ofAnton Martinsson with 7:39 to go. Weatherly allowed 4 goals on 26 shot faced and Martinsson gave up 3 on 8 shots on goal. Game two had Amarillo up by two on goals from Will Harrison in the first and Joey DiBenedetto early in the second. However, the Icerays scored twice to tie it up and send the game into overtime where they scored with one second left on the clock for the win. Weatherly took the loss again, but made 33 saves.
| Last 5 Games | W | L | OTL | Pts |
| Brahmas | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Bulls | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
Special Teams
Lone Star’s special teams have been a big factor in their success this season as they currently set at fourth in the league on both the power play and penalty kill. With the man advantage, Lone Star is clicking at 22.86% less than 1.5% behind the leader while the penalty kill is at 85.95%. Amarillo on the other hand is 18th on the power play at 14.58% and 20th on the penalty kill at 77.92%.
On the road the Brahmas’ power play is playing at 22.4% on 11 goals in 49 opportunities which have them ranked 4th in the league. They will be facing an Amarillo home penalty kill ranked 20th at 77.3% allowing 20 goals on 88 penalty kills.
Lone Star’s road penalty kill has allowed 8 goals on 43 kills which ranks 14th in the league at 81.4%. Amarillo comes in with a home power play which is ranked 16th in the league scoring 12 times in 80 opportunities or an even 15.0%
Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games
| W | L | OTL | SO | GA | GAA | SV | SV% | |
| Brahmas | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1.60 | 82 | .911 |
| Bulls | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 4.20 | 142 | .871 |
Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)
| Brahmas | G | A | Pts |
| Sebastian Vidmar | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Oskar Andren | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Ludvig Larsson | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Alexey Solovyev | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| AJ Vanderbeck | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Bulls | G | A | Pts |
| Will Harrison | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Luke Novak | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| AJ Duggan | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Charlie Combs | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Two at | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Inside the Game
The Brahmas currently have the third best winning percentage in the league at .750. Unfortunately number one Wichita Falls (.792) and number two Topeka (.758) are both in the NAHL South Division with the Brahmas. The only other team in the league over .700 is North Division leading Janesville at .717.
Lone Star is 1st in the league in Goals Against Average at 2.00, 6th in Save Percentage at .912, 1st in Shots Against per Game with 22.73, and 3rd in Goals Scored Per Game at 3.62.
Amarillo is 22th in Goals Against Average at 3.93, 21st in Save Percentage at .886, 22ndin Shots Against per Game at 34.37 and 18th in Goals Scored Per Game with 2.59.