Each year Coach Wildfong and Coach Murphy will take a look at hundreds of hockey players before choosing a select few to join the team. But behind the scenes there are also scouts all over the world looking at just as many if not more. There are many keyboard warriors out there who look at the success the Brahmas have been enjoying and write it off as, “they are cheating.” Or, “the league loves them and wants the Brahmas to win.”
Those statements are ridiculous. The Brahmas success is the result of hard work period, end of story. Our scouts and coaches are driven to find the best of the best, because to be a Brahma we simply will not accept anything less. At main camp we will see over 150 players who are all the best on their former teams, and who have had offers from other teams in both the NAHL and other quality leagues around the world. And in the end, the players who are chosen to be invited to Brahmas training camp are ones that our coaches and scouts feel are the best suited to march into battle.
So for a player, when you put that Brahma jersey, know that it is not be accident and you are special. However, when you are picked to wear the “C” on your jersey, you are now in an even more exclusive club. Our captains are voted on by the players. The “C” is not given out to just anyone. It is given to the player that our players want to represent them and lead them into battle.
For this year’s Lone Star Brahmas the “C” was given to Maddox Tulacro. Tulacro came to us in the middle of the 24-25 season, and instantly became a fan favorite. On first look he is a beast of a man, 6’3” 225 lbs, big, strong, menacing. And if you ask players in the south division, they would probably say the same thing. Maddox is as Chad Siewert would say on the broadcast, “a lot to handle!”
He throws guys around like they are sacks of potato’s being loaded into the back of a truck. He destroys players against the boards. He joins the rush when the offense is driving. And most important of all, if anyone in a Brahmas jersey is being mistreated, he is the first to step in to regulate the situation. Off the ice you have a young man who understands and accepts the weight that carrying the “C” on his jersey carries.
Maddox Tulacro has been a captains captain. He is the only captain in the history of the Brahmas to be able to say that he never lost a south division playoff game! And oh, if you are not aware that is a perfect 12-0 in south division playoff play. And now that the season has come to an end, we as residents of Brahma Land must come to cope with the fact that we have seen our captain on the ice for the last time. Next season the players will vote on who they think is worthy to wear the “C” on their jersey. But for now we would like to say THANK YOU to captain Maddox Tulacro who will move on to the next phase of his life, but like all the captains before him he will forever be a Brahma!
Thank you Maddox, and thank you to the Tulacro family. While we did not win a Robertson Cup, we helped inspire kids, raise money for charity, help put smiles on peoples faces, and more than anything helped set the tone for future Brahma players and leaders in the future. Thank you for your leadership Maddox, next season, whoever is chosen to be captain you will have big shoes to fill.
