The Odessa Jackalopes fell Friday evening in overtime to the New Mexico Ice Wolves, 4-3. Saturday night they looked for redemption and the weekend split.
New Mexico would get the scoring started under five minutes into the period as defenseman Francois Devilliers pinched in on the play and fired one home past Ivan Zhigalov to make it 1-0 New Mexico. Midway through the 1st is when tempers flared. Bryce Johnson of the New Mexico Ice Wolves took exception at the half wall to Kowin Belsterling, threw his gloves to the ice, and chased Belsterling, who did not want to fight. A couple of Jackalopes came in to Belsterling’s aid, including goaltender Ivan Zhigalov. New Mexico goaltender Andy Vlaha skated up to his blue line and before you knew it we had an old fashioned goalie fight. That would result in both goalies getting ejected from the contest. Coming into the game for the Jackalopes was Aries Carangi, who had only played one career NAHL game prior to last night. Once order was restored and play began once again, the Jackalopes played with much more conviction and created some great scoring chances, however they were just unable to find the back of the net. New Mexico would extend their lead in the last minute of the period on a two-on-one rush to make it 2-0. Shots on goal for the 1st would end in favor of the Jacks 12-11.
The Ice Wolves came into the contest with the 2nd best PP in the league and they would display that to start the 2nd period as they extended their lead to 3-0. The Jacks would not give up and continued to create chances and late in the 2nd on the power play, Cam Dunn would find the back of the net once again. That was Dunn’s 11th point in his last 7 games. The period would end 3-1 in favor of the Ice Wolves, overall shots on goal read 22 a side.
The pace slowed down in the 3rd period, both teams looked a little bit tired, but that didn’t stop the Jackalopes from getting pucks in the back of the net. The Jacks were on the penalty kill midway through the 3rd, the puck bounced off of Dillon Kuntz’ stick and there was Nick Metelkin who pushed it ahead and sent himself on a short-handed breakaway. Metelkin would go five-hole on Fuller to bring the game to within one goal. The Jacks continued to pressure New Mexico, and with a couple minutes left, the Jacks would pull the goalie. As Carangi was skating toward the bench, the Ice Wolves gained possession and fired it into the open net. That made it 4-2 Ice Wolves, but the game wouldn’t be done just yet. The Jacks pulled their goalie once again and Marcus Fechko fired a wrist shot home with 16 seconds remaining to pull the Jacks within one. The Jacks would win the ensuing faceoff, pull Carangi, and skate into the offensive zone. A short angle shot came in, the rebound loose in front, Michael Kadlecik was ready to shoot it toward the net, but the backchecking New Mexico defenseman was able to tie Kadlecik’s stick up and that would be the game.
The Jacks fall to 20-24-7 on the year. Their next game is, Thursday, March 14th vs. the New Mexico Ice Wolves, 7:15 P.M. CST
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.