The tide is turning.

The Texas Tornado, just three short weeks ago mired in a miserable 1-15-2 slump and on a nine-game losing streak while sitting in the basement of the NAHL, are now making their charge towards a playoff spot.

With goals from five different players and another outstanding performance from goaltender Tommy Callaghan, the Tornado defeated the Kenai River Brown Bears 5-1 Saturday night at the Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter’s DejaBlue Arena.

The win was the Tornado’s fifth in their last six games and gives them a 12-23-3 record, now five points ahead of Kenai River in fifth place in the South. With Wichita Falls’ 7-4 triumph over Alaska, the team currently holding the fourth and final post-season berth, Texas moved to within just five points of the Avalanche.

In the sixth of a 15-game homestand that continues through early February, including three against Alaska in two weeks and two more against the Brown Bears, the Tornado excelled in all facets of the game and seem poised to continue their climb up the standings.

“I liked the way that we did it, I think that we didn’t stand back and let things happen, we really tried to take charge,” Texas coach Dwight Mullins said. “I’m excited about how we competed all weekend. I don’t think we really need to change. I think we’re focused on our hockey club and what we have to do. I think it will be the same message all this week. Everyone knows that these are big points, these are big weekends, and we have to take advantage of it. It can really set us up for a big month coming into February and the home run stretch.”

The now-potent Texas offense fired 43 shots on goal, giving them a total of 85 over the two-game set, as Gustav Bengtson, Andrew Blazek and John Kruse contributed a goal and an assist each, while Mike Cifelli and Ryan Fuller also scored. Ben Van Lare added two assists.

“I think that’s the key to our success,” assistant coach Craig Ludwig said of the fact that the production has been spread throughout the lineup. “Even from the outset of the season, we didn’t feel we were going to be a team that was going to rely on two or three guys. I think when you have players like that chipping in, it definitely takes the load off of some other players that are expected to score all the time. We’re the kind of team that wants to build from our net on out, and our goaltender has been very good the last couple of nights.”

Indeed, Callaghan, after posting his second shutout of the season Friday night, was excellent again, making 25 saves, including several big ones to keep his team ahead.

“He’s really maturing,” Mullins said of Callaghan. “I have to give credit to our goaltending coach Cam McDonald. Cam kind of predicted this type of performance. Even though we had Tommy last year with our midget program, Cam said, ‘You know, come Christmas, I think we’ll have something pretty special,’ so I hope that he’s right. Definitely the kid works hard, he gives us a chance to win when he plays like that and you got to have that. I’m very excited for him.”

Entering the second period with a 2-0 lead, Texas may very well have received the save of the game from Callaghan just 40 seconds in, as he robbed Sebastien Johansson on a point-blank wrist shot from the left of the crease.

Just 30 seconds later, as the Tornado counter-attacked at the other end, Kruse connected for his sixth goal of the season on a booming slap shot from the top of the left face-off circle, giving Texas a commanding three-goal lead.

“Tommy kept us in the game again,” Ludwig said of Callaghan. “In the second period, just before we made scored our third, he made an unbelievable save back there. It could have been 2-1 and it ended up being 3-0 because of that save, so he’s been good.”

Less than 30 seconds after Kruse’s goal, Callaghan made another big stop, denying Bryan Murphy’s fierce wrist shot off the rush from the right face-off circle.

The Tornado then struck again as Bengtson netted his fifth goal of the year at 4:07. Speeding into the Kenai River zone on the rush, Bengtson unleashed a wicked wrist shot from the slot that beat starting goaltender Steve Madej over the shoulder for a four-goal advantage. That prompted Brown Bears coach Mike Flanagan to lift Madej in favor of Matt Wichorek, who stopped 39 shots in an excellent effort one night earlier.

Wichorek immediately stabilized the Kenai River crease, as he made a nice stop on Brian Sheehan’s backhander from the slot six minutes into the second, then another big save on Blazek’s attempt to jam it in from in close after he swept out from behind the net a minute and a half later. Wichorek ended up with 25 saves.

Callaghan made an impressive glove save on Kristian Leach’s booming slap shot from the left circle at the midway point of the period, then another tough save with 1:32 remaining on Tony McDonald’s deflection in front of Adam Krefski’s wrist shot from the blue line.

A Tornado penalty was called on that play, and on the ensuring power play, Kenai River finally broke through, as Leach collected their only goal of the weekend series with just 23 seconds left in the period. On an odd-man rush into the Texas zone, McDonald fed a nice pass from the right circle to a charging Leach in the middle, and Leach’s quick snap shot from the slot beat Callaghan between the pads. The goal ended a shutout streak of 120:24 for Callaghan.

Up 4-1 going into the third, the Tornado continued to attack Adam Mitchell made a fantastic play two and a half minutes in as he carried the puck off the left sideboards and managed to weave through several defenders into the slot before getting off a backhander that Wichorek made a good pad save on.

Callaghan then thwarted Murphy about six minutes into the final period, making a tough shoulder save after Murphy, hustling into the Texas zone on the rush, fired a wrist shot from the right circle.

The Tornado’s relentless pressure led to several power plays, resulting in point-blank opportunities by Van Lare, and Fuller on the subsequent rebound, with 9:50 remaining and another from Sean Roadhouse a minute later, but Wichorek withstood the barrage.

Texas then managed to secure its first power play tally in three games with 6:40 to go in the third, as Blazek recorded his fourth goal of the season in his sixth game since joining the Tornado from Des Moines of the USHL. With just six seconds remaining on their third man-advantage of the period, Van Lare controlled the puck behind the net and shoveled in towards Wichorek. While Wichorek seemed to have the puck covered, it squeezed through him and slid into the slot, where Blazek fought past two defenders to swipe a backhander through a maze of bodies into the net.

“Those stats aren’t fun to look at, there’s no doubt about it, but I am encouraged that way that we are moving the puck around and just the overall opportunities we’re having,” Mullins said of the recent power play woes. “It’s definitely cleaning itself up, so we’ll continue to try to make steps. By no means are we out of the woods, but things are getting a little clearer.”

Even with a four-goal lead, the Tornado kept buzzing and Sheehan had another golden opportunity with just over a minute left, as he received a beautiful backhand pass in the slot from Mitchell and skated in on a breakaway, but Wichorek turned aside his point-blank wrist shot.

Continuing right where they left off Friday night, the Tornado jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead just 4:55 into the contest on Cifelli’s third of the season. Picking up the puck in the neutral zone, Cifelli sped over the Kenai River blue line and blasted a bomb of a slap shot from the top of the right circle that blew right past Madej.

Texas kept the pressure on, as Kruse swept around the net about eight minutes into the period, slid a nice pass out from behind the goal line to Augie Hoffman in the slot, but Madej made a big save on the resulting one-timer.

The Brown Bears had a big chance about three minutes later as Krefski found himself alone in the slot with the puck, but Callaghan quickly jutted his goalie stick out and pokechecked it right off Krefski’s stick.

The Tornado extended their lead to two shortly afterwards as Fuller, who returned to the lineup after missing Friday night’s contest with a one-game suspension, made a beautiful move to deposit his 11th of the year into the net at 11:12. The play was set up by impressive hard work behind the Kenai River net by Jason Zawacki and Kruse. Kruse came up with the puck and fed Fuller out front, who first kicked it from his skate to his stick before sending an off-balance wrist shot past Madej.

“Ryan’s a veteran guy, he’s big and he’s physical and he scored the goal from in front of the net, where he needs to be,” Ludwig said. “I think if he wants to be effective, and he is effective, when he gets there and plants himself in front of the net. He’s a big kid and he’s hard to defend, especially the way the rules are called nowadays. You almost got to leave him standing there and if nothing else, he takes the vision away from the goaltender. He’s a big part of this team and he’s got to buy into that and when he does, he’s very effective for us.”

“I thought that Ryan Fuller did a couple of great jobs trying to turn pucks over in the offensive zone and those were some efforts that, honestly, we weren’t getting from him earlier,” Mullins added. “So that’s good to see.”

Bengtson nearly made it 3-0 just a minute and a half later, as he curled across the slot and fired a sharp wrist shot that beat Madej but clanged off the near post and wide.

Looking back to where they were after dropping their ninth consecutive game back on Dec. 22, what the Tornado have been able to accomplish since then is simply remarkable. They look to keep the turnaround going next Friday and Saturday with back-to-back contests against the Fairbanks Ice Dogs (both 7:30pm starts - be sure to watch or listen on b2 networks as Tommy Daniels and myself call the games).

“I just have been real happy with the way that our team has responded to the challenge,” Mullins said. “The happiest I am are for the guys that have been here from Day One. I would lie to you if I said it was easy. It wears on you and it’s hard, especially in this town, coming from this organization. There’s a lot of adversity that was thrown at these kids and they’ve really kind of taken it and spun it to a positive at this point. I don’t think our work’s done by any means, but it’s just nice to have them hold their heads up high and they deserve it.”

THREE STARS

3. Ryan Fuller, Texas (one goal, 7 shots)
2. John Kruse, Texas (one goal, one assist, +2)
1. Tommy Callaghan, Texas (25 saves)

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