I apologize for the delay in Texas hockey news of late, but it was unavoidable, unfortunately. Â I’d like to catch you up as quickly as possible, though. Â One of the biggest pieces of news is the Texas Brahmas dominant play in the Ray Miron Cup Finals. Â The Brahmas are one win away from capturing their franchise’s first championship, and returning the championship title to the Lone Star State. Â Here is a press release from the CHL about their latest victory on Tuesday night:
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas (May 5)-The Brahmas motto for their playoff run this season is “One Goal”, and now they are in position for one win to win the CHL Championship tomorrow night as they defeated the Colorado Eagles 6-3 in Game Four of the CHL Finals Tuesday night. Brahmas leading scorer in the postseason found himself in the penalty box early in the game, giving the first ranked Eagle’s powerplay an opportunity for the first goal of the night. Colorado buzzed around Brahmas netminder Brett Jaeger’s crease until Konrad Reeder’s shot found the back of the net for the 1-0 lead. As the game continued the teams skated intensely when with four minutes remaining in the period the Eagles were to be penalized; but before Colorado could find possession defenseman Kevin McLeod put a screaming shot past Andrew Penner from the point for his third of the postseason.
The Eagles regained the lead when Ed McGrane scored his team leading eleventh goal of the playoffs on the powerplay. Down but not out, the Brahmas gained momentum from the sold out crowd at the NYTEX Sports Centre and a shot on Penner from the blueline by Brahmas veteran defenseman Mike Vellinga was evidence of a turning point for Texas when it slowly trickled across the goal line for his first of the playoffs. It was a scoring barrage by the Brahmas from there as Jason Deitsch took a pass from Brandon Benedict and Scott Sheppard for Texas’ first lead of the evening.
Texas tough guy, Greg McConnell was able to get in on the scoring as he lit the lamp 1:34 minutes after the Deitsch goal. With one minute remaining the Brahmas were able to get their first powerplay goal of the game when Deitsch’s shot went up and over Penner for the 5-2 lead.
Colorado geared for a comeback in the final period when McGrane notched his second of the night, but McLeod and his teammates were not ready to sit back when McLeod tallied his second in the game on a powerplay. The Brahmas are now 6-0 in the playoffs when outshooting the opponent as they had 43 to the Eagles 25.
Game Five of the Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals will be played tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 7:05 PM at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills.
