NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TX – The NAHL game of the week had been highly touted leading up to tonight and certainly lived up to the hype but ultimately it was the Wichita Falls Wildcats who walked away with two points on Friday.
Just four minutes into the contest the Brahmas offensive pressure led to Oskar Andren setting up Bud Madej for a point blast that beat Justin Kapelmaster on his blocker side. Martin Mellberg recorded his 11th point of the season with a secondary assist. That would be the only scoring of the first frame.
The second was filled with highlight reel saves for both Conor O’Brien and Kapelmaster in net. When all was said and done “OB” finished with 19 saves and his counterpart tallied 25.
Play continued all the way until almost the two minute remaining mark in the third period before the next shot got by either goaltender. The Brahmas were on a four-minute double-minor power play and had a one goal lead late; things appeared to be in their favor. However, a lofted pass by a Wichita Falls killer went over the head of Bud Madej and landed on the tape of Austin Beaulieu who was able to take O’Brien one-on-one and bury it top shelf.
The Wildcats killed off the remaining time on the penalty and forced overtime with the teams knotted at one. In OT it was Miami (OH) commit Rourke Russell who picked up his first goal of the season sending the NYTEX crowd home heartbroken after the 2-1 loss.
The winning team advances to 10-1-1 on the season becoming just the second in the league to reach the double digit win mark. On the other end, the Brahmas move to 6-1-3 suffering their first defeat in the new 3-on-3 overtime stipulation.
Fortunately, fans won’t have to wait long to see these two teams go to battle again as both come back to the NYTEX Sports Centre tomorrow night for a 7:35 puck drop. Tickets are available under the tickets tab above, by phone at 817-336-4ICE, or at the box office.