AMARILLO, TX – The Lone Star Brahmas made history in their first regular season game of the year with a 7-1 win over the Amarillo Bulls. Forwards Drake Glover and Troy York each recorded a hat trick in the impressive season-opening victory, becoming the first pair of Brahmas to score three goals in the same game since joining the North American Hockey League.
The Brahmas have not scored more than six goals in a game since December 17, 2015, but the Lone Star offense got on the scoreboard early at the Civic Center. Nearly 12 minutes into the game, defenseman Jordan Wishman intentionally peppered a shot wide of the net to get it deep for Austin Kamer. Kamer shoveled the puck hard on net to set-up a rebound for Drake Glover between the circles and he beat Kyle Madore inside the near post to make it 1-0. Before the end of the period, Glover found his second of the game. After a strong defensive presence, the Brahmas set up an odd-man rush with Kamer and Peter Kessel. Kessel received the pass from Kamer and dropped it back for the trailing Glover who ripped one past the glove side of Madore.
With a 2-0 lead after the first period, the returners wanted to get more involved. Defenseman Alex Stoley intercepted the puck in the neutral zone and fed it up ice to Hunter Stanley. The 6-foot-3 forward evaded the defender and made Amarillo’s netminder make the first move before patiently tucking it inside the near post to make it three unanswered goals for the Brahmas.
Glover was not done in this game, and neither were his linemates. With under six minutes to play in the second, Kessel dished a pass to center ice for Glover to unleash a one-time cannon to the top shelf. The Anchorage, Alaska native recorded a hat trick in his first NAHL game. His linemates Kessel (two assists) and Kamer (game-high four points) had impressive season openers on the stat sheet as well.
Seconds past the 19 minute mark of the middle period, Troy York wrapped the puck around the net and rolled it over the blade of Madore and just inside the goal line to make it a 5-0 lead.
York wasted no time finding the back of the net again as he and Carson Kelley connected with a backdoor goal 27 seconds into the frame. Amarillo finally scored to make it 6-1, but Troy York would answer back relatively quickly with a power-play goal to complete a hat trick of his own. York finished the evening with a game-high 11 shots on goal.
Lone Star won the game 7-1 and out-shot Amarillo 53-25. It’s easy to overlook the defense in this game, but Alec Calvaruso and company were sensational in their first road game of the 2016-17 campaign. After a nearly perfect night, Calvaruso stopped 24 of 25 shots to secure his first NAHL win.
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The Brahmas (1-0-0) depart for Blaine, Minnesota on Monday afternoon and will face the Bismarck Bobcats, Minot Minotauros, Coulee Region Chill, and Austin Bruins at the NAHL Showcase from September 21-24. All games will be broadcasted live on FastHockey.com and fans can follow the action on all Lone Star Brahmas social media. Keep an eye out later this week as the Brahmas will announce when individual game tickets go on sale.