RG Flath's Hat Trick edges out the Brahmas

In addiditon to a hat trick that helped the Thunder edge out the Texas Brahmas in a very exciting game at the NYTEX Sports Center last night for not only to hand the Brahmas their 4th straight loss but also the Thunder clinching the CHL Presidents Cup which will give them home ice advantage throughout the entire CHL Playoffs when they get underway next week.

In addition to Flath's Hat trick, several other Thunder Players which included 2 goals from Chris Chappell and 3 assists from Jarred Mohr assisting on goals by both Flath & Chappell in just 27 seconds to to reverse a 1-0 Brahmas Lead into a 2-1 lead midway through the 1st period.

This was despite a huge 2nd period for the Brahmas as 2 goals by Adam Hogg which puts him to 22 goals on the season as well Sy Nutkevitch which saw him scored his 2nd goal in his 4 games since he made his debut back on March 16 against the Allen Americans where he has averaged a point a game in his short time with the Brahmas so far where he has 4 points (2G 2A) so far.

The Brahmas will now have their final 3-in-3 stretch of the regular season which starts on Friday where they will play a desperate Tulsa Oilers at the BOK Center where that could be the Oilers' last chance of having any hope of keeping up with the Rio Grande Valley Bees to in the Turner Conference Playoff Race.

Saturday will be a Playoff Preview as the Brahmas & Americans play the final game of the regular season schedule before the CHL Turner Conference Semifinals Series gets going next week at the Allen Event Center. Then Sunday will finish the regular season with the Fan Appreacation Day against the Evansville Ice Men at 4:00 PM.

Wichita Thunder 6  Texas Brahmas 5  (3-1, 2-3, 1-1)

Texas Brahmas Post-Game Press Release

Here's the Central Hockey League Schedule for the Final Few Days of the Season.

3/21

Allen Americans VS. Arizona Sundogs  8:05 PM

3/23

Allen Americans VS. Wichita Thunder  7:05 PM

Texas Brahmas VS. Tulsa Oilers  7:35 PM

3/24

Tulsa Oilers VS. Missouri Mavericks  7:05 PM

Texas Brahmas VS. Allen Americans  7:05 PM

Laredo Bucks VS. RGV Killer Bees  7:30 PM

3/25

Evansville Ice Men VS. Texas Brahmas  4:00 PM

Missouri Mavericks VS. Tulsa Oilers  4:05 PM

Wichita Thunder VS. Allen Americans  5:05 PM

Laredo Bucks VS. RGV Killer Bees  6:00 PM

From North Richland Hills, Texas: The Brahmas lost their fourth Tuesday Night 6-5 at the hands of the Wichita Thunder.

The Brahmas capitalized on the first power play of the night and grabbed the early lead at the 1:47 mark of the first period when Brendon Hodge cleaned up a rebound in front of the Thunder for his 13th goal of the season. The rest of the first period however, belonged to Wichita. Chris Chappell scored two of the three goals in the opening frame for the Thunder, who forced Brahmas netminder Ken Carroll out of the game after just 17:31 in net. RG Flath added the other score.

As did the first period, the second period featured a lot of scoring. Brahmas captain Adam Hogg netted two goals and Sy Nutkevitch scored his second goal in only gour games with the team. Hogg's second goal of the period - coming at the 12:16 mark - evened the score at four goals apiece. But RG Flath also scored twice in the period, lifting the Thunder to a 5-4 lead heading into the third period.

At the 13:44, Alex Bourrett extended the Thunder Lead to 6-4 on his 19th goal of the season and his fifth in six games against the Brahmas. With 35 seconds remaining in regulation and the goaltender pulled, Dan Nichols added a goal to bring the score to 6-5, but that would be the final score.

Both teams converted on two power plays, the Brahmas on eight opportunities and the Thunder on three.

Mark Guggenberger made 17 saves on 20 shots in relief of Ken Carroll. Adam Russo picks up the victory for Wichita, making 21 saves on 26 shots in the process.

The Brahmas play twice on the road (Friday, March 23 in Tulsa and Saturday, March 24 in Allen) before returning to NYTEX Sports Center for the regular season home game of the season.

For ticket information, call 817-336-4423 or visit the Texas Brahmas Website. The NYTEX Sports Center offers speedy and reliable Wi-FI provided by Great Auk Wireless. Also, visit ZuRoma at the NYTEX Sports Center and Keller Locations. All Brahmas away games are ZuRoma through CHL TV. 



Mark Guggenberger named CHL 3rd Star of the Month

After an impressive month where the Brahmas Goalie Mark Guggenberger has began to take over the Team's net after having a bit of a up-and-down season prior to February where the Brahmas were in the battle with Tulsa & RGV for the 3rd, 4th & 5th Spots in the Berry Conference Playoff Race. Now Guggenberger has begun to takeover the net and has been the biggest reason why the Brahmas have run away with the #3 Seed and are now just 1 Point back of Allen for 2nd Place which would get them first round Home Ice in the CHL Playoffs at the end of March/first of April.

Of the 11 games left this season, the Brahmas have 4 games left against the Americans including a 3 game weekend from March 16-18 which is the 2nd to last weekend of the regular season and could make the difference in who could be the #2 Seed in the Berry Conference and a possible Berry Conference Semifinal Preview with both Wichita and the Rio Grande Valley/Tulsa Battle having big gaps in the Conference.

With the playoffs now just under a month away, he will have to raise his game even more as the Brahmas have continued to score the 2nd fewest goals this season with 142 goals scored in 55 games this season. Only the Dayton Gems have scored fewer goals with 139 this season with 11 games left in the regular season.

The main playoff battle for the 2nd Seed and a possible 1st Round Home Ice could come in the weekend of March 16th through 18th when the Brahmas & Americans have a 3 game series that weekend (3/16-17 in Allen, 3/18 in NRH). Their is also a game on March 24th (The night before the end of the regular season) in Allen to wrap up the regular season series.

His best showing in February came the week of February where he had 3 straight shutouts against Allen (on 2/14), Dayton (on 2/15) and Rio Grande Valley (on 2/17) where that was part of a streak where he gave up 1 goal or less that lasted 6 straight games. He's won 9 of his last 10 starts and was also named the Goalie of the Week for the week ending on February 19th.

Here's the CHL Press Release

From the CHL Staff: Wichita Thunder Forward Matt Robinson, Evansville IceMen forward Todd Robinson and Texas Brahmas Goalie Mark Guggenberger have been named the 'Oakley Three Stars for the month of February 2012.

For winning the 'Oakley Three Star Player of the Month, Matt Robinson will receive a special gift from Oakley. Learn more about Oakley Products at www.oakley.com

Players are awarded five points for first star recognition, three points for a second star nod and a single point for being named the third star of the game. Keep up with the season standings and quest to be the Oakley Three Stars Player of the Year at www.centralhockeyleague.com

1st Star: Matt Robinson, F, Wichita Thunder

Robinson finished the month with 12 goals with five of them serving as game winners and 18 points. He was named first star four times and the second star three times, good for 29 points. The Surrey, B.C. native has 29 goals and 21 assists on the season.

2nd Star: Todd Robinson, F, Evansville IceMen

Robinson recorded a point in every game during the month of February which serves as the longest point of the CHL this season (15 Games), During the month, the Trail, B.C. Native was named the first star four times, the second star twice and third star once accounting for 27 points. On the Season, Robinson leads the league with 80 points (21G 59A)

3rd Star, Mark Guggenberger, G, Texas Brahmas

Guggenberger was the top goaltender during the month posting a 9-1-1 record with three shutouts and a 1.21 GAA. The Richfield, Minnesota native was the first star four times and third star twice, good for 22 points. Guggenberger leads the league with a 1.82 GAA and a .930 SV%.

A 3rd Period Surge keeps the Thunder in 1st Place VS. The Americans

After going up 2-0 with a steady stream of shots of goal and a stringent defense for the Americans for the first 2 periods, the Americans were looking to regain the lead in the very tight Berry Conference Race. But a 3rd period surge which included the Thunder scoring the game winner with just under 4 minutes left which was lead by Jarred Mohr who scored both goals to complete the comeback and extend their Conference Lead to 3 points (Wichita with 62 PTS; Allen with 59 PTS with 22 games left) as the race continues to be very tight as both teams are looking to fight for the rest of the season battling for not only the Conference Top Seed. But possibly home ice advantage as both Allen & Wichita continue to both have better records then the Turner Conference Leading Ft. Wayne Komets.

Both teams will be hitting the ice again tonight as the Thunder return home to play the Tulsa Oilers, while the Allen Americans will make their way across the DFW Metroplex to play the Texas Brahmas at the NYTEX Sports Center tonight. In addition to the Berry Conference Lead, it's another night with both teams looking to fight off desperate teams as the Oilers & Brahmas will look to pull away from the 5th Place RGV Killer Bees who defeated the Laredo Bucks 5-3 last night where the gap from 3rd through 5th place is just 2 points going into tonight's action.

I know were still about a month-and-a-half before the regular season, but it's never to early to a look at what the current playoff matchups would look like in both conferences. After last year's "Playoff Race" where only the last place teams would advance. This year, only the top 4 in both conferences will advance to the playoffs this season.

If the playoffs began today, here's what the Conference Semifinal Matchups would like. The Wichita Thunder would have home ice advantage in the playoffs right now as they would stand right now. Also, a possibility of an All DFW Playoff Series could become a growing possibility as the Americans & Brahmas are currently 2nd & 3rd right now.

Up North, it's starting to become a 5 team race for the Turner Conference as the Dayton Gems & Bloomington Blaze are starting to fall the way side. Currently the Ft. Wayne Komets are leading with 58 points through 43 games played while the chasing gap is separated by just 7 points where the Quad City Mallards sit with 51 points through 44 games played this season. It's going to be a very tight race in the North with any of the 5 teams that could get into the playoff race and possibly have a shot of fighting for the top seed

Here's what would the Conference Semifinals would look right now.

Berry Conference (South)

#1 Wichita Thunder VS. #4 Tulsa Oilers

#2 Allen Americans VS. #3 Texas Brahmas

In the Chase

#5 RGV Killer Bees, 1 PT behind #4 Tulsa & 2 PTS behind #3 Texas

Turner Conference (North)

#1 Ft. Wayne Komets VS. #4 Rapid City Rush

#2 Evansville IceMen VS. #3 Missouri Mavericks

In the Chase

#5 Quad City Mallards, 1 PT behind #4 Rapid City

This weekend's Central Hockey League Schedule

2/10

Tulsa Oilers VS. Wichita Thunder  7:05 PM

Allen Americans VS. Texas Brahmas  7:30 PM

2/11

Laredo Bucks VS. Texas Brahmas  7:30 PM

RGV Killer Bees VS. Allen Americans  7:35 PM

Evansville Icemen VS. Tulsa Oilers  7:35 PM

2/12

RGV Killer Bees VS. Tulsa Oilers 4:05 PM

Allen Americans VS. Wichita Thunder Game Highlights

Wichita Thunder 4  Allen Americans 2  (0-1, 0-1, 4-0)

Press Release from the Allen Americans

In Allen, Texas: The Wichita Thunder erased a 2-0 Allen lead after two periods, scoring four unanswered goals in the third for a 4-2 win Thursday Night at the Allen Event Center.

The Americans opened the scoring in the first when Adam Pineault put one back of the net, with a blast from the slot to give the Americans a 1-0 lead. Nick Layton had the only assist. It was Pineault's first goal of the season, in his first game from Allen. The Americans out shot Wichita 10-4 after one period of play.

The Americans added to their lead in the second as Colton Yellow Horn netted his 20th of the season, on a feed from Adam Pineault. It was Pineault's second point of the night. Jarrett Lukin drew the second assist and the Americans went up 2-0 after two periods of play.

The Thunder cut the lead in half at 3:45 mark of the third, when former Americans forward Dustin Donaghy let one fly from the right wing boards to make it 2-1 Allen. The Americans surged the net had come off before the puck went in the net, but the goal would stand. Six minutes later, it was Donaghy again, with a quick nab from the left side on the power play, to tie the score at two.

The Thunder would grab the lead for the first time at the 16:09 mark of the third period, when Jarred Mohr beat Rejean Beauchemin with a quick shot right off the faceoff to make it 3-2 Thunder. Mohr added an empty netter late in the third for his second of the game, and the Wichita Thunder would go on to win by a score of 4-2.

The loss drops Allen three points behind Wichita heading into tomorrow night's game at the Texas Brahmas.