Welcome to the Texas Renegades’ season 33 recap!
The 33rd season of the SHL didn’t go well for Texas who ended up once again missing the playoffs. Texas couldn’t find their rhythm until (once again) late in the season.



Texas’ first game was up against the Edmonton Blizzard at home. Texas would fall behind in the game 2 to 0 after the first, as Nikolaus Scholz and Etienne Modano put up goals for the Blizzard. Chico Salmon, Mark Longford, Theo Kane and Ivan Koroviev would all notch their first assists of the season. Edmonton would extend their lead to 3 as Ivan Koroviev would put up his first goal of the season, and Teho Kane and Pedro Sarantez would get assists. This third goal came on the man advantage for the Blizzard. Texas would try to get things going in the third as Evandrus Jesster and Jack Durden would each score as Texas would bring the score within a goal. Geoffrey Allen and Evandrus Jesster would get the assists, and Yuri Boyka would pick up two assists, one on each goal. But the Blizzard would storm right back as Pedro Sarantez put the nail in the coffin with 34 seconds remaining (assisted by Winston Windsor) and the Blizzard would take the game 4 to 2. Bjornsson would make 32 saves on 36 shots, but Texas didn’t help themselves out, as they only managed to put up half as many shots on Brett Broadway.


Game two started out Texas’ way. Geoffrey Allen managed to put one in the net, this from Jack Durden and Yuri Boyka. This would also be Texas’ first power play goal of the season. But, Schnitinfritz Jagr would score as the first was winding down thanks to passes from Pierre-Luc Laflamme and Joe Kurczewski. The second period would be all Texas, as Conklin Owen was able to put away two goals with Liam Kinsler assisting on both, and Cody Black getting a playmaker on the second Owen goal while on the power play. Calgary would look to fight back into the game as Alex Mack would put up his first of the season from Michael Boychuk and Pierre-Luc Laflamme. However it wasn’t enough as Calgary would fall to Texas 3 to 2, as Texas was able to pick up their first win of the season.


Texas would travel to Los Angeles for their third game of the season, and it would be all Panthers in the first. Despite Texas outshooting LA 16 to 15, the Panthers would tally 3 goals to Texas’ 0. Jean-Luc Reflieux, Ryan King and Kaapo Kekkonen would all put pucks away, while Matthew Leetch, Johnny Cahill, Chris Crutchfield and Jaxson Reynolds would all be credited with assists. These three goals all came within a minute and 38 seconds of each other. Texas would manage to put up a single goal in the 2nd period. Rick James would connect on a Kristoffer Ruud and Liam Kinsler set up to bring Texas within 2. But, this would be the last goal Texas would score for the game as they couldn’t score in the third. The Panthers put up another in the third with Marc-Andre Malkin scoring on a Jaxson Reynolds and Ryan King pass. Texas’ fate would be sealed in going 0 for 5 on the power play, even though they took the same amount of shots as the Panthers did. Texas would drop to 1 and 2 on the season.


Texas would start game 4 off with a bang as they hosted the Winnipeg Jets. Jack Durden and Geoffrey Allen would start out big for Texas as Durden would notch a goal and an assist, and Geoffrey Allen would put away 2 goals. Vladimir Lidstrom would put up two assists, and Yuri Boyka and even Christoffer Bjornsson would get an assist as well. Scott Robertson would put up the lone goal of the period for the Jets, but Texas would take a 3 to 1 lead out of the first period. From there, it would be all downhill for Texas. Winnipeg would find the magic in the second period as the Jets would score four goals. Luke Fleming, Elyk, Rebrandt Q. Einstein and Corey Bearss would all put up goals against Bjornsson. Connor O’Reilly would notch two assists, and Travis Kudleychuk, Zach Evans, Luke Fleming and Patrik Satan would all get credited with one. The Jets would leave the second period with a 5 to 3 lead. The Renegades would bring the score within one as Kristoffer Ruud would put away passes from Alexander Carlyb’y and Evandrus Jesster, but it wouldn’t be enough. Do Pellegrino would put away an empty netter with 45 seconds to play (assists from Luke Fleming and Andris Bukss) to seal the victory. Texas would fall to 1 and 3.


Game 5 would swing to Edmonton, where Texas came out absolutely flying. Texas got 19 shots off this period, and managed to score on 5 of them. Rick James would notch two, and Vladimir Lidstrom, Liam Kinsler and Evandrus Jesster would all get credit for one. Two assists would fall to Geoffrey Allen, Liam Kinsler and Lord Vader, while Vladimir Lidstrom and Cody Black would tally one. Theo Kane would spoil the shutout for Christoffer Bjornsson, putting away a power play goal in the second period (assists to Pedro Sarantez and Ivan Koroviev). The Renegades would take home a huge victory, pulling them to 2 and 3.


Game 6 would go back and forth, but would make Texas look terrible. After a silent first period, the second period took off a quarter of the way through. Evandrus Jesster found a way to sneak one by Michael McFadden, thanks to slick passes from Jack Durden and Vladimir Lidstrom. But Seattle would come back just 4 minutes later as Cameron Urbowicz would score on passes from Luka Zaitsev and Jack Burton. Texas would again flip the score with a Cody Black power play goal just 2 minutes later (assists to Lord Vader and Rick James). But, Texas would seize up in the third period as Seattle was able to put away two goals (Pavel Bursyuk and Jed Lloren) and take the game in the closing minutes. Despite having the league twice, Texas couldn’t hold on and their 15 total shots didn’t help them.


Texas would bounce back in their next game against the Los Angeles Panthers. Texas would come out strong in the first, as Cody Black and Krysztof Kowalski would both put away a goal, and Lord Vader would grab two assists, while Kowalksi and Carlyb’y would grab an assist each. Jorma Ruutu would try to bring the Panthers back, but Texas would strike back again later in the period to keep it a Renegades game. Vladimir Lidstrom and Liam Kinsler would see to the goals, while Rick James (2) Evandrus Jesster and Jack Durden would see to the assists. The third period went LA’s way, but wasn’t enough to keep the game close. Felix Herzog and Jaxson Reynolds would each score a goal to bring the Panthers within a goal (assists from Chris Crutchfield twice, Chester Cunningham, Sebastian Strange) but Evandrus Jesster would put up his fourth of the season (from Vladimir Lidstrom and Jack Durden) to put the game out of reach with less than 4 minutes remaining. Bjornsson would stop 34 of 37 shots, giving the Renegades a much needed win to bring their record to 3 and 4.


At this point, Texas would start to flounder even worse, and would put themselves in an unescapable hole. Texas would go on to lose the next 7 games they played, bringing their record to an abysmal 3 and 11.


Their first game in the losing streak came against the Calgary Dragons. The defending champs would shut out Texas 4 to 0. Goals were scored by 4 different Dragons (Chris Johnson, Alex Mack, Michael Boychuk and Joe Kurczewski). Shane Gagner and Tommy Creller each got two assists, while Chris Johnson, Alex Mack and Hunter Wong all received one A on the four goals. Despite making 32 saves on 36 shots, the Renegades weren’t able to get a puck past Hunter Wong.



The next game would start out Texas’ way as Jack Durden and Alexander Charlyb’y would each score goals in the first period. Vladimir Lidstrom, Cody Black, Yuri Boyka and Lord Vader each picked up assists for the two goals). But after the break, Portland would get going and start scoring. Kyrsztof Kowalski would put up a power play goal seven and a half minutes into the game (assists from Jacob Renninger and Reed Laing) would bring the Admirals within one goal. Jonathan Lundberg would tie the game at two just 5 minutes later with assists from Chernika Banananov and Kelly Rivet. Portland would take the third period as well as Veli Kaalinpää and Max Weber would put up a goal apiece to give Portland a 4 to 2 victory.


Texas would play Portland again, but this time in Portland. Portland started the game where they left off, with Chernika Banananov scoring back to back goals (assists from Ray Pejonis, Colin Banning, Barak Obrana and Jonathan Lundberg). Texas would start to fight back right away in the second period, as Geoffrey Allen and Evandrus Jesster were each able to score, but it wouldn’t be near enough. Reed Laing and Reinis Aumeisters would each put up goals for Portland at the tail end of the second period to regain their two goal lead. The Renegades and Admirals would flip flop goals in the third as Conklin Owen put one away for Texas, but Chernika Banananov would answer right back for the Admirals. Texas would lose another one, this one 5 to 3.


Texas once again would take on the LA Panthers in LA. LA would dominate in shots in the early game 19 to 7, but somehow Texas came out of the first period with the lead. Cody Black would assist on a Geoffrey Allen goal just 5 minutes into the game. This lead would hold through the rest of the first and throughout the second period. No one would score in the second which would be disappointing for Texas as they had 13 shots on net compared to the Panther’s 3. LA would outshoot Texas in the third and use this shot advantage to take over the game. Sebastian Strange and Jaxson Reynolds would each score a goal, with Chester Cunningham and Chris Crutchfield getting assists on both goals. The second would come on the power play, a dagger into Texas’ heart. Texas would lose another close one, and fall to 3 and 8.


Texas would once again see the Portland Admirals in action, and it would be yet another close game between the two. The first period was quiet as Texas couldn’t put away any of the 14 shots they had, a sad story throughout the season. In the second period, both teams would net two goals; Evandrus Jesster and Alexander Charlyb’y for Texas, Chernika Banananob and Krysztof Kowalski for Portland. Cody Black, Lord Vader, Vladimir Lidstrom, Beau Bent, Colin Banning, Jonathan Lundberg, Jacob Renninger and Veli Kaalinpää all tallied assists for the four goals. But Portland would strike first in the third and then score a second third period goal to put the game at 4 to 2 (Reinis Aumeisters from Chernika Banananov and Jonathan Lundberg, and Jonathan Lundberg from Chernika Banananov and Reinis Aumeisters). Texas would try to come back with a Michael Burrows goal with less than 2 minutes left, but it wouldn’t be enough as they would fall 4 to 3 to drop to 3 and 9.


Texas would head out to Calgary to take on the reigning champs once again in the Dragons. Texas would flounder in shots in the first period as they would only take 5 shots to the Dragons’ 12. However it wouldn’t hurt Texas too badly as neither team scored. Despite the shot total being even at 9 for both teams, Calgary was able to put two on the board from Pierre-Luc Laflamme and Shane Gagner. Texas would come out firing on all cylinders in the third period as Beau Bent (from Alexander Charlyb'y and Jack Durden) and Alexander Charlyb'y (from Beau Bent and Lord Vader) would each score to tie up the game. The tie would only last 6 minutes though, as Chris Johnson would score the go ahead (and eventual game winning) goal. Joe Kurczewski would score an insurance goal 4 and a half left to play but it wouldn’t be needed. Calgary would win another game against Texas, taking this one 4 to 2 at home.


Texas would go back home to once again take on the LA Panthers. Texas would manage to keep it close, but couldn’t take this game either. The first period would stay at a stalemate until the 18th minute as Victor Lindstrom would score his first of the season (from Matthew Leetch and Hans Moleman). The Panthers would hold onto this lead until the third period when Rick James would score from passes from Jack Durden and Liam Kinsler to tie the game at 1 just 22 seconds into the third. With a period to play, the game would stay going back and forth until 6 minutes left in the period. Evandrus Jesster would put up his 7th of the season, with Jack Durden and Liam Kinsler again getting credited for the assists. But the 1 goal lead would only last 13 seconds as Jaxson Reynolds would put up his 8th of the season (from Kaapo Kekkonen) to tie the game at 2. The game would head into overtime, but with each team only putting up 1 shot, it would stay that way after extended play. This game was headed into the shoot out, the first for Texas of the season. Only Kaapo Kekkonen would score in the shoot out, giving LA the one goal victory.

Texas would go back home and finally find a way to win a game, and win it big. Texas would host the Winnipeg Jets and despite being outshot 20 to 23, would put on a show. Texas would manage to shut out the Jets and put up a whopping 5 goals. Liam Kinsler and Evandrus Jesster would each score two goals on backup Ace Dafoe, and Yuri Boyka would tally the fifth goal. 7 different players would receive an assist in the game (Evandrus Jesster, Geoffrey Allen, Jack Durden [with 3 assists], Liam Kinsler, Lord Vader, Michael Burrows and Vladimir Lidstrom). Texas would finally snap their 7 game losing streak and pull their record to 4 and 11.


Texas would take a large trip to visit the city of Buffalo. Texas would pick up where they left off last game, and would manage to put up 4 goals in the first period. Liam Kinsler, Conklin Owen, Rick James and Geoffrey Allen would all put up goals for the Renegades. Assists would be tallied for Kristoffer Ruud, Jack Durden, Vladimir Lidstrom, Geoffrey Allen, Cody Black, Yuri Boyka, Conklin Owen and Evandrus Jesster. All lines were clicking for Texas as evidenced by the 10 different players getting points in the first. Buffalo would also score two goals to keep the game somewhat manageable and not completely out of reach. Each team would put up a goal in the second (Geoffrey Allen and Dickie Pecker) to keep Texas’ goal lead at 2. The third period however showed Texas hitting rock bottom. Buffalo and Texas flip flopped goals, but then the last 10 minutes reared its head. Steven Stamkos Jr. caught fire and scored a natural hat trick in just over 4 minutes to give Buffalo a 1 goal lead, and the eventual victory of 7 to 6. Despite coming out hot, Texas couldn’t keep the fire burning and would waste away their lead, and drop yet another game. Texas’s record now stands at 4 and 12, worst in the league.


Texas would host LA once again, this time looking to start out hot. Texas did indeed get things going early, with Lord Vader (from Evandrus Jesster and Geoffrey Allen) scoring just 29 seconds into the game. The lead wouldn’t last long though, as Anton Fedorov would put home his third of the season just a minute and a half later to tie the game. The first period would end like it started, tied up. Portland would dominate the shots on goal category in the second, 18 to 7. But Bjornsson would stand on his head and stop all but one of those, a Chester Cunningham goal. Texas would score right before Cunningham did (22 seconds earlier by Rick James) to keep the game tied. The third would once again see the Pantehrs dominate the shot counter, this time 12 to 3. Luckily for Texas, none of the Panthers’ shots went in and the game would go onto overtime. Both teams would hunker down defensively and neither team would allow a single shot in the extended play. Onto the shootout! Both teams would see three shooters, but only Kaapo Kekkonen would find a goal and LA would walk away with the 3 to 2 shoot out victory.


Texas would travel out to Portland once again to try their luck against the Admirals. Portland would strike first with a Jonathan Lundberg goal after 11 minutes of play (assists to Ray Pejonis and Colin Banning). Ray Pejonis would strike at the Renegades again in the second, this time with a goal of his own. Texas would answer a minute later with a Rick James goal, with passes from Yuri Boyka and Jack Durden. The teams would end the second period with Portland holding onto a 1 goal lead. Portland would also strike early in the third period, and Krysztof Kowalski would give the Admirals a 3 to 1 lead with 17 minutes to play. But Texas wasn’t content with going down easily, and Vladimir Lidstrom would start the comeback (assists to Lord Vader and Geoffrey Allen) with his 3rd goal of the season. Ten minutes later, Liam Kinsler would connect on passes from Kristoffer Ruud and Jack Durden to tie the game with just under six minutes to play. Neither team could finish it off in regulation or an overtime period, so we head to the shoot out. Shots would be stopped left and right by the goalies, but Reed Laing would step up and finish the shoot out and the game, giving Portland the 4 to 3 victory.