Scorpions drop 3rd straight home game

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

Fans who were calling out "boo!" at the end of the second period of the New Mexico Scorpions 5-2 loss to the Texas Brahmas on Friday weren't partaking in Halloween festivities. Rather, they were expressing frustration because there was no trick to see what was wrong with their team, and once again no treat for the home fans.

On a Halloween night featuring masks and spooky costumes, it New Mexico that continued a scary trend Friday – falling behind early in the game, then losing.

Before an announced crowd of 1,936 fans that hardly looked like it could fill up a pillow case with candy, the Scorpions gave up a first-period short-handed goal with 13:23 left in the opening period, then more goals in the second period and one more in the third.

It was the fourth straight game New Mexico fell behind in the first period. All four have ended up in losses.

With the game tied 1-1 in the second period, the Brahmas scored two power play goals in a 1:23 stretch as the Santa Ana Star Center continued to be a house of horrors for New Mexico, which sustained its third straight home loss.

Craig Minard and Lance Galbraith scored power play goals with 9:37 and 8:14 left in the period, respectively. Both goals came after penalties against New Mexico’s Neil Trimm, for holding and tripping.

After a New Mexico rush was turned away by goalie David Cacciola in the final minute, Texas forward Matt Quinn broke free of the pack for an unassisted goal with 32.5 seconds left in the period.

After that, it was just a matter of counting the candy.

Tyler Skworchinski added another power play goal 2:38 into the final period to close out the scoring. After that, the only excitement came when Galbrath exchanged punches briefly with New Mexico's Tyler Fuller.

Neither team got off a shot in the first 3:35 of the game, but the Scorpions seemed to gain the upper hand when Skworchinski was whistled for a hooking penalty at the 14:02 mark.

Turns out that was just a disguise. Only 39 seconds later, Brahamas forward Pete Rouleau worked his way down ice with puck left of the goal, faked a shot to get New Mexico goalie Jason Wolfe to commit, then centered to a waiting Scott Sheppard who scored from close range.

Each team killed off another penalty in the rest of the period. New Mexico finished with nine shots on goal compared to five for Texas.

"I thought the first period we deserved a better fate," New Mexico coach Randy Murphy said. "Then we had some mental lapses on the power play and they capitalized. One of them they shot from the point and it hit a skate. That's just bad luck. The other we just fell asleep. And they hit a guy coming out of the box for the breakaway.

"We had some breakdowns that were not so much what they initiated but where we broke down. Teams that are smart know how to play that type of game. Give them credit.

"They took advantage of opportunities during the first half of the game. But the second half of they game they just outworked us. That's the part that really stings me.

"Our leaders have got to be better leaders. That’s why we brought them here. They’ve got to do a better job."

The Scorpions broke through with Craig Macdonald’s unassisted goal with 11:19 left in the period, a lead they would hold less than two minutes. Trimm scored a meaningless goal with 57.7 seconds left for the final margin.

The Scorpions, 2-3-1 overall, lost in overtime to Wichita 7-6 after falling behind 6-0 after two periods. The night before that, New Mexico trailed 4-0 and went on to lose 9-2.

After starting the series with back-to-back wins against Amarillo, New Mexico also fell behind 1-0 at Arizona before eventually losing 5-3.

Despite losing its last four games, New Mexico remaned in second place in the Southwest Division, three points back of Odessa. The Jackalopes lost at home to Rio Grande Valley 2-1 on Friday, while Arizona defeated Amarillo 6-3 Friday to break a logjam for third place. Arizona now has four points on the young season, Amarillo two.

Texas remained in second place in the Southeast Division with nine points entering the game.

New Mexico is on the road at Rocky Mountain on Saturday. The next home game is Wednesday night against Corpus Christi. Fans wearing retro jerseys can get a ticket for $5.

For more information, go to www.scorpionshockey.com or www.centralhockeyleague.com.