NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas — 34 games into the regular season, the Texas Brahmas are sitting at the top of the Central Hockey League’s Southeast Division with 47 points which puts them six points ahead of the Laredo Bucks in the division and tied with the Odessa Jackalopes for the lead in the Southern Conference. Led by 2nd year head coach Dan Wildfong, the Brahmas have tallied six straight road wins and their offensive juggernaut has won nine of their last ten games overall. Brahmas players have scored hat tricks in consecutive games recently. All-star defenseman Justin Kinnunen had one in the Brahmas 4-1 win over Laredo on January 3rd and forward Grant Jacobsen had one against Tulsa on the 6th. Wildfong has managed, arguably, the best in-season signings of any team 
in the league. Three players who returned to the team after the season started – Grant Jacobsen, Jordan Cameron and Scott Sheppard are leading the team in points (36, 34 and 34, respectively). Jacobsen started the season in England with the Manchester Phoenix and Cameron started in Germany with the Hannover Indians. Sheppard was unsure about returning to hockey this season but said he “got the itch” and was able to come to terms with Wildfong. Now, in a four-for-one trade with the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, the Brahmas have acquired Travis Banga. In exchange for Banga, the Brahmas gave up Topher Scott and future considerations from three previous deals. In 246 games played, Banga has averaged over a point a game with 269 points (116 G, 153 A). The two-time CHL All-Star (2007 and 2008) had his second strongest season in his career last year, leading the Killer Bees in scoring with 61 points (23 G, 38 A). The trade boosts the Brahmas offensive firepower at relatively little cost vs. impact at this point in the season. I spoke to coach Wildfong recently about his team and the season thus far. Here is our conversation. Q: No doubt personnel changes will continue throughout the remainder of the season. Do you feel the team is where it needs to be right now with the players you’ve brought in? A: You know, as coaches, we’re always looking and trying to find ways to get better. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have that competitive edge of wanting to win. We’re always looking but you know, these guys are competing hard for us every night and they’re working hard in practice. Obviously, if we see something that we need to address and fix, we’ll do it. We’re not afraid not to make moves. To be fair to these guys, they’ve been working their tails off all year for me. I’ve got to show some loyalty to them. Q: You’ve done a fantastic job with in-season recruiting. Three players who have returned to the team – Jacobsen, Cameron and Sheppard are leading the team in points. Without disregarding the team effort, how do you feel about the contribution of these additions? A: Well, they’re obviously three special players. You know, they’ve been putting up great numbers but they lead by example out on the ice. When you have great talent, guys that work hard, it’s a great mix and these guys compete hard every night. You can see that with Cameron being named the CHL player of the month. Sheppard’s been scoring big, key goals and making great passes as well. He’s not just putting up numbers on the goal side, but he’s looking and finding guys too. I don’t think a lot of people give him credit for that part of his game. Jacobsen’s an all-around player that plays probably the most out of the forwards on my team. On penalty-kill, power play, regular shifts, four-on-fours, five-on-threes; when he’s playing his game, he shouldn’t even be in this league. All three of them shouldn’t be in this league. So, it’s nice to have them on your team. Q: As you mentioned, Jordan Cameron was named the Oakley/CHL player of the month and is now wearing the “A” on his sweater. What are your specific thoughts on Jordan’s game? A: I think he’s really come around from last year. I see more of a leadership role for him and not just on the ice but off the ice as well. He’s really bought in to everything we try to sell here. I think it was kind of an eye-opener when he went (to Germany) to see…sometimes when you leave, you see what you had here. That was good of him to go over there and when he came back here, he’s been running the whole time because he’s just a special player, Game in and game out. He works hard. He’s nice to watch, you know. It’s nice having that guy on your bench when you need a key goal or you’re in a key situation, because he’s going to be there for you. I think we were missing out a little at the beginning of the year. When he came in, it really helped add depth to our scoring. Q: The addition of defenseman Nathan Saunders to the team has been popular with the fans. Do you feel he adequately fills the void that you needed on defense? A: Yeah, definitely. I think he adds that element we did not have. If there is something that breaks out, it’s nice to have a guy that, while we’re not asking him to fight, he has that presence that he can. Look what he did against Oklahoma City; he did a great job against a pretty tough fellow there. We’re not asking him to do anything more than we’re asking any other guy to do; stick up for each other, protect each other. I think he’s going to be a fan favorite and he’s got that little bit of swagger and edge that we needed and he brings a lot of life to our locker room. Q: We are at the mid-point of the season and your team has improved on its performance by several games vs. last season and made it through with an improved record in December (7-4-0-2 vs. 5-7-1). What is your feeling on the progress the team is making and where do you see opportunities for improvement? A: Right now, I see us playing some pretty good hockey. We’re not playing 100% playoff hockey right now, but we’re making steps towards that. I think we could work on our D zone a little bit more. We’ve been working on our penalty kill and it’s starting to come around and maybe in the neutral zone a little bit too. It’s starting to come; I think guys are buying in and we’re finding success. Q: The 92 points earned by the Brahmas tied the Eagles for the lead in the CHL in 2008. How do you feel about that? A: Until I read it the other day, I didn’t really think of it a lot. I’m more about winning a championship. That’s what people really look at, at the end of the day, what have you done for me lately? Q: I guess, coming in as a rookie coach last season and now in your second year…It has to feel good that you were able to accomplish that it your first year-and-a-half as a head coach. A: No, definitely. Don’t get me wrong. We’re very proud of what we did last year, but we really have to make that next step of being a dominant team in this league like Colorado, game in and game out. I think we’re making steps that way but we’re not quite there yet. I think we’re earning a lot of respect in the league, which we probably haven’t had in a while here. Q: The Brahmas have had, along with Rio Grande Valley, the lowest penalty minutes in the league this season. Did you enter the season with any emphasis on avoiding penalty situations or is this just a result of disciplined play? A: I think it’s just the team and the makeup of guys that we have. Your team changes year-to-year. I think last year, we got of to a start where we were losing games because we were undisciplined. And then, we have a lot of returning guys here and they’ve really bought in to the last half of the season that made us successful, being disciplined. Obviously, when you’re competing hard, you’re going to take penalties but I think we’re competing hard and we’re competing smart too. Q: With 6 more games against Laredo this season, which will decide the leadership of the Southeast Division, do you feel you’ve seen enough of Roscoe’s team to give you enough insight on how to win against them? A: We know that they have a lot of talent over there. Roscoe’s a great coach. He has those guys playing hard every night and they finish every check. They’re probably one of the best teams I’ve seen this year in being very disciplined with their systems, in getting the puck deep and hitting, and you know really, our last game was one of the best, quickest games that I’ve seen in a long time…we’ve just got to continue to compete hard. Continue to compete hard is just what the Brahmas will do. Last season, they ended the season as the leagues hottest team as they went 23-5-1 in their last 29 games. The Brahmas reached the CHL playoffs for the first time since the 2000-01 season and was able make it to the Northern Conference Finals, coming only one game and one goal short of the Finals. Anyone who knows Dan Wildfong knows that he will continue to push his team until they achieve their goal of winning a championship and for Wildfong, this is the year to make it happen. Contact the author at robert.keith@prohockeynews.com
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