Americans fall to the Brahmas

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas – The Allen Americans made the short trip cross-town to face their rival Texas Brahmas in Game 6 of their best-of-seven series Tuesday night, in a bid to earn the chance to play another day and extend the series to game seven Wednesday night.
 
No stranger to these situations, the Americans have had to battle back in year one against Laredo and year two against Odessa, but in year three the outcome would prove different.
 
The first period had action at both ends of the ice while the last few minutes saw increasing pressure by the Americans as they threatened to score. Then in the final seconds of the first period, the game and series changer happened.
 
Jarret Lukin was assessed a boarding major for the Americans, giving the Brahmas a full five minutes with the man-advantage which would prove to be the momentum and the goals the Brahmas needed to surpass the Americans in the series. At the end of the first period, the Americans held the edge in shots on goal 10-7.
 
The second period began with the Brahmas on the power play for the 4:39 remaining of the five minute major. T.J. Fox opened scoring for the Brahmas on the extended power play at 2:01, assisted by Sy Nutkevitch and Ross Rouleau. Just 24 seconds later, Brett Findlay extended the Texas lead to 2-0 with assists from Andrew Lackner and Calin Wild.
 
No further goals were scored by either team as the period expired with the Brahmas holding the 2-0 lead and a 12-4 shots on goal lead for a two period total of 19-14 in favor of Texas.
 
Early in the third period began Texas extended their lead to 3-0 when Mike Hellyer scored on a shot from the point at 1:59, assisted by Jim Burichin and Brendon Hodge.
 
The Americans stormed back in the latter stages of the period, scoring two goals less than a minute apart to cut the Texas lead to 3-2. First it was the Americans captain Jason Deitsch leading the charge, scoring at 13:11 assisted by Joshua Hepditch and Scott Langdon. Then, Keith Johnson netted one at 14:04 with Jim McKenzie and Jason Deitsch contributing with assists.
 
The Americans continued to pour on the pressure, pulling Marco Cousineau from the Allen net for the extra attacker but a loose puck at center ice was picked up by Mike Hellyer for Texas, who was able to dump it down the ice in the open net to secure the victory for Texas at the 18:50 mark with Brendon Hodge assisting.
 
The victory secures the series for the Brahmas, 4-2 where they’ll now face the Wichita Thunder in the Berry Conference Finals. 
 
Contact the author at maurice.fitzgerald@prohockeynews.com