AUSTIN- (Reuters) The Pond Hockey Club. Last night, The Bros looked to bounce back from an agonizing 11-round shootout loss last week and faced a rising Mean Eyed Cats squad with none other than Bro slayer Brandon Fawks substituting in net yet again. Fawks stuffed the Bros on 10 of 11 shootout attempts while filling in for the Learn 2 Skate squad last week. The potentially imprecated Bros squad found yet another creative way to lose last night; this time by a final tally of 3-1.

Adorned in their gold sweaters and hornet legwarmers, the Bros struck within the first 45 seconds of the game.  With Noah “Mean to Bro” Leggett nurturing an upper body injury at the helm, his brother Nick “World Where You Bro” Leggett found an opening and put a shot on Fawks. Eddie “Now We’re Getting Somewhere, Bro” Valls scooped the rebounded puck up and put it where it belongs to give the Bros the early lead. Nick Leggett finally suited up after a four game hiatus while recovering from pneumonia. While the line was strong early, the Leggetts’ injuries were clearly impacting their on-ice performance. Despite the hindrances, the two battled hard each shift.

The Bros dominated puck possession for the rest of the first period and much of the second. Steph “Don’t Dream It’s Brover” Meyer worked hard to push the puck into the offensive zone, but was hard pressed to find much help. Drew “Love You ‘Til The Day I Bro” John and Tom “Something Bro Strong” Harp were constantly being tied up in the shooting lanes and were effectively neutralized by the Mean Eyed Cats defense. Larry “Bro In The River” Powell made his return after two weeks out from a lower body injury. At times, Powell, who was playing offense for the first two periods, appeared a tad languid coming off the injury and time off ice.

Defensively, the Bros took an absolute beating last night in part to questionable no-calls from referees attributing physicality to “bad skating.” David “Can’t Bro On” Biagini spent the evening in the ice bath after being crosschecked into the boards in the first period, slugged in the gut with what would have been an iced slapshot, and then crosschecked again in the third period. Ross “I Walk A Bro” Tagtow slotted back on defense last night, and blocked two shots with his left arm. Bruised, but not broken, Tagtow also managed to block two shots off the shins. Captain Andrew “Tombstone Bro” Feigenbaum blocked three shots in one shift, and cleared another shot from within inches of the goal line in the third. Layne “That’s What I Call Bro” Brougher was again underwater on puck possession and struggled mightily to clear the puck from the defensive zone. He did manage to make a phenomenal play to prevent a breakaway, but that was not enough to save the Bros. Chris “Grabbing By The Broful” played phenomenally in net, stopping 33 of 36 shots after a week hiatus. Luscombe continues to improve and shine for the otherwise lackluster semblance of last season’s mighty Bro squad. After the game, Luscombe checked his equipment after a skull-rattling wrist shot at his mask; his helmet cracked.

For his goal, and for making a triumphant recovery from significant clavicle reconstruction surgery, Eddie Valls was awarded the team’s Gonzales Flag. Feigenbaum was awarded the Gadsden Flag and second star for the second straight week. Doc Emrick caught up with the captain after the game to discuss the struggling squad. “Doc, I don’t want to say we’re in panic mode, but we’re definitely going to make some lineup changes to shake things up a bit. We’re looking at the playoff picture now and moving forward, we’re just going to focus on where we think we’ll get production from and go from there. We can’t all fit on Rusty’s [Luscombe] shoulder pads or expect goaltending to carry us to victories each week, and we can’t use poor officiating, questionable calls or questionable no-calls as an excuse for losing, either.”

The team looks for the elusive first win next week against the white hot Snipez squad.

GAME NOTES:

• Scott Van Pelt is on IR with the broken wrist.
• Harp left at the end of the second period to meet contract obligations with the Blue Lions squad at Chaparral.
• Fabian Figi was a healthy scratch due to some California Dreamin’.
• Chris Beard was a healthy scratch because he could not stand to let Figi be the most westward Bro of the Week.

BY THE NUMBERS:

• 0 wins for the Bros through 6 games.
• 3 points for the Bros through 6 games.
• 5th place through the midpoint.