Friday: Texas Brahmas 1 @ El Paso Rhinos 3 – Brahmas pay us a visit this weekend for the first of two games here in Rhino Country! The puck drops on this wonderful Friday evening and both teams get right down to business and start dueling for control of the puck. Brayden Macko plays hard defense today, keeping the Brahmas at bay for nearly the entire period, only getting pressured a handful of times. Carter Tuplin starts us off tonight with what looked to be a clear Brahmas man advantage, but is flipped to a shorthand goal with just 48 seconds left on the clock, putting the Rhinos up 1-0 at the end of the first period.
Second period action starts off after first intermission and both teams return to the ice trying to change up their strategies. Huero RIvera earns himself a goal, putting the Rhinos up 2-0 halfway through the period. Brahmas didn’t take too kindly like that and within a few minutes find themselves in a scuffle with a few of our boys. Unfortunately for the Brahmas they were still unable to put any points up on the board during the second period. However this luck would change as Charlie Wilson gives the Brahmas their first goal of the night, cutting the lead in half to just 2-1, Rhinos still out in front. Akira Shimamoto takes one more for El Paso with just seven minutes left in the period, and cementing the win at 3-1.
Saturday: Texas Brahmas 4 @ El Paso Rhinos 3 – Rhinos & Brahmas are back on the ice today for a round 2 rematch as both teams are still fishing for more league points. First period is relatively quiet with 11 shots on goal from the Rhinos to just 7 on the Brahmas, but this was only a lull in the action as the real game had yet to truly start. 0-0 at the start of the second period and the Brahmas are already postured for aggressive plays. Jayani Benson and John Scharf take two goals for the Brahmas, setting them up with a 2-0 lead by the halfway point in the game. This lead wasn’t to last though as our very own Donovan Bradford puts us on the board with just 8:37 left to go in the second. Bradford finds himself in the perfect position to take a second goal in the last moment of the period as well, tying the game at 2-2 headed in to the third period.
The Brahmas’ Alex Morris steals back the lead early in the third, but some slip ups from the rest of his team cede a power play with just under 10 minutes to go. Carter Lehmann takes this chance and runs with it, tying up the game at 3-3. The clock hit 0:00 with a clear winner still undetermined, so we’d head in to extra time where Scharf takes the game winning goal for the Brahmas. Final score is Brahmas up 4-3 over the Rhinos, series split.
