The Odessa Jackalopes were back in action taking on the Amarillo Wranglers in the final regular season meeting between the two teams. Coming into the contest the Jackalopes had a 4-2-1 record against the Wranglers.
The first period started out really well for the Jacks as they dictated the pace and took control of the game. A defensive blunder by the Wranglers would be taken advantage of by Charlie Smith who was in on the forecheck. Smith wristed one from along the goal line and it beat the goaltender to make it 1-0 Jackalopes with 15 minutes still to play in the 1st. The Jackalopes would continue to dominate the 1st period as they would go on to outshoot the Wranglers 9-3 and go into the 1st intermission with the 1-0 lead.
The 2nd period Amarillo would come out with a bit more pace and drive, but the defensive turnovers were much of the same. The Jackalopes capitalized on their opportunities in the 2nd period as Lem Vardy possessed the puck in the deep slot, had a lane to shoot, but alertly saw Hayden DeMars standing uncovered at the top of the far faceoff circle and DeMars sent a screamer along the ice that beat the goaltender, extending the Jacks lead to 2-0 with 15:00 to go in the 2nd period. The Jacks would be short handed in the last few minutes of the 2nd for the first time in the contest and the weekend. The special teams dominance continued, as Michael Kadlecik won a foot race to the loose puck off of a clear, found Cam Dunn in front of the net, who returned it to Kadlecik for the open net short handed goal. That made it 3-0 Odessa, which they would take into the 3rd period.
Frustration began to boil over for the Wranglers as they got physical and pushy throughout the final period of regulation. A slew of penalties in that 3rd period occurred, which included a scrap with a minute and a half remaining in the game. Defenseman Riley Rosenthal dropped the gloves with Magnus Gadowsky, in what turned out to be a spirited tilt. It was the Jacks who got the last laugh as James Richman would tack on his 13th goal of the season to ice the game at 4-0 in favor of Odessa, giving them the weekend sweep. This would be the 1st career NAHL shutout for Ivan Zhigalov, the Jackalopes netminder.
The Jacks improve to 20-23-6 on the season. Their next game is Friday March 1st @ 7:30 P.M. CST as the Jacks travel to New Mexico to finish out the six-game road trip against the Ice Wolves.
All Jacks games can be streamed on the North American Hockey League’s streaming service NAHLTV, with the voice of the Jacks, Brandon Luisi. A free audio only version will also be available on the Odessa Jackalopes YouTube page.