The Amarillo Bulls and the Lone Star Brahmas met on Feb. 14 to Feb. 5 at the Budweiser Bull Pen in the Amarillo Civic Center. The two weeks that the Bulls were off were well spent practicing as they took both victories with scores of 9-2 and 4-0, respectively. These two victories increased Amarillo’s overall record to 34-12-2.

“The players have worked really hard these past two weeks, they were just anxious to play,” Amarillo Head Coach Dennis Williams said.

Their previous encounter had resulted in a Brahmas win 2-0 over the Bulls. This time around, the results were in favor of the Bulls.

In the first period, the anxious Bulls outshot the Brahmas 11-10 in the first period of the Valentine’s Day game. By the eighth minute, forward Tyler Gernhofer of the Amarillo Bulls scored, assisted by fellow forward Cody Gylling and defenseman Joe Grabowski. Just seconds later, Gernhofer, who was unassisted, blazed straight through the middle, to find a shot and scored for the second time of the match.

The Bulls kept pressuring and again at tenth minute, Gylling scored with the assists by forwards Eric Purcell and Brendan McGuire. Not yet satisfied with their score, two minutes later defenseman Brendan Vetter scored with an assist by McGuire. With minutes left in the clock, Bulls forward Timmy Moore scored unassisted, which concluded the 1st period.

The Lone Star Brahmas could not take the Bulls intensity at the second period as the Bulls outshot the Brahmas 18-5 and obtained two more goals. Halfway into the period, forward Eric Purcell scored assisted by defensemen Brett Szajner and Stuart Pomeroy. With three minutes left on the clock, forward Roman Ammirato assists fellow forward Mitchell McPherson who takes the puck in between three Brahmas defenders and scored, effectively ending the second period at 7-0 in favor of the Bulls.

In the final period of the match, both teams were able to score twice. With less than nine minutes remaining, Sebastian Vidmar of the Brahmas took away Bulls goalie Paul Berrafato’s clean slate by scoring on him. Minutes later, the Bulls responded with a goal by forward Kyle Gattelaro as he circled the net and found the back of the net. In a power play close to the 13th minute, Ammirato scored, assisted by forward Matt Sieckaus and Gernhofer. Two minutes later, Vidmar scored for the Brahmas leaving the game with a 9-2 final score in favor of the Amarillo Bulls.

On Feb. 15, a Parent’s Night was held for the Bulls players. Amarillo was quick on their delivery in the first period, scoring two goals that were seconds apart and scoring yet again later in the period. Bulls forward Mike Davis found the net at the fifth minute mark and was assisted by forward Brady Ferguson and forward Kyle Gattelaro. Seconds later, Bulls teamwork between Gylling and Szajner assisted Purcell as he moved behind several defenders and scored. Close to a minute left, Brady Ferguson stole the puck from a Brahmas defender and scores after the puck slowly got past a block by the Brahmas goalie. The Bulls dominated this period also, out-shooting the Brahmas 17-3.

The second period was a scoreless, as the Bulls outshot the Brahmas, 13-10. Bulls Goalie Collin Delia stopped every shot the Brahmas had towards the net. There were seven fouls, two of which were considered unsportsmanlike conduct.

In the third period, a total of nine offenses were called and four were considered to be unsportsmanlike. At the 14 minute on a power play, Ammirato’s skill makes him go through several defenders and finds Davis who takes the shot and scores ending the game 4-0 win for the Bulls.

The man of the match was Collin Delia, the goalie for the Amarillo Bulls, as he blocked all 19 shots and took away opportunities of scoring for the Brahmas.

The Amarillo Bulls will be traveling to Corpus Christi, where they will be taking on the IceRays Feb. 22-23 at the American Bank Center.