Brahmas Sweep Stubborn Wild in 3 - 1 Win

Published on April 18, 2015 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Lone Star Brahmas News Release

Town Toyota Center was the venue for the Lone Star Brahmas' first road playoff game of the post season as they rolled into Washington to face the Wenatchee Wild. Lone Star opened play holding a two game advantage needing just a single win to wrap up the best of five first round series. As they had in the first two games at NYTEX Sports Centre, the Brahmas came out with a physical game plan to try and negate the team speed of the Wild.

Both squads had scoring chances throughout the first period, but neither team could find the twine until only 27 ticks left on the clock. Lone Star had just completed a late penalty kill picking up a bit of momentum in the process. On the play, AJ Vanderbeck used a burst of speed to out hustle the Wenatchee defender to the puck along the endboards behind the Wild cage. Vanderbeck centered it to Peter Kessel trailing the play and he put it short side on Zach Quinn to take a one goal lead into the room.

Just 2:02 into the middle frame, Cody Wickline picked Dan Bailey's pocket in the near corner and slid it to Sebastian Vidmar cutting behind the net. As soon as the puck was off of Wickline's tape he released to the front of the net for the return pass from Vidmar and tucked it past Quinn's left skate. With the goal, Wenatchee head coach Bliss Littler had seen enough and employed the hook on Quinn replacing him with Michael Bullion.

Chris Jones brought the Wild back to within one after Hogan Davidson lost an edge and went down giving Jones a clear lane to the net. Jones carried it to the far faceoff dot and fired it over the glove hand of Jake Kupsky. August Von Ungern-Sternberg and Brendan Harris picked up the assists on the goal that came at the 7:20 mark.

Lone Star came out of the second intermission just 20 minutes away from punching their ticket to the NAHL South Division Finals against the Topeka Roadrunners. Roman Uchyn made his presence known early in the period and he leveled Jones in the near corner to jar the puck loose in the offensive zone. After Oskar Andren just missed on a tip, Uchyn once again unleashed a big body check behind the net on Bailey to free the puck. Lone Star's defense held tight through the middle of the period to maintain the one goal lead. The Wild finally generated some heavy pressure late with the empty net and extra attacker. An errant pass from Jones to his defensive partner resulted in the puck bouncing around in the neutral zone until Vanderbeck settled it down and bulled his way through three Wenatchee defenders to put it into the empty net for the insurance goal.

Once again, the Brahmas were outshot 38 - 25. Neither team was able to score on their limited power play opportunities with Lone Star 0 - 1 and Wenatchee 0 - 2.

With the sweep of the Wild, the Brahmas move on to face Topeka in the South Division Finals. The first two games of the series will take place at the NYTEX Sports Centre with dates and times to be determined.

Lone Star Brahmas in Action

North American Hockey League Stories from April 18, 2015

• Johnstown Announced as Top-Four Finalist in Kraft Hockeyville Contest - Johnstown Tomahawks
• Brahmas Sweep Stubborn Wild in 3 - 1 Win - Lone Star Brahmas

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