The Odessa Jackalopes took on the Amarillo Wranglers on Saturday night to close out the opening half of the 2023-24 season.
The 1st period was a physical battle, but dominated by the Jackalopes. The Jacks outshot the Wranglers 13-3 in the opening frame, but the score remained knotted at goose eggs after 20 minutes. 20 penalty minutes were issued between both teams, 16 to Amarillo and 4 to the Jacks.
The 2nd period, Amarillo went to work. They would score two goals in five minutes. Topi Puikkonen lit the lamp for the Wranglers both times giving them a 2-0 lead going into the 2nd intermission. More penalties ravaged that 2nd period as both teams would get into shoving matches after whistles.
The 3rd and final period of the weekend began perfectly for the Jacks, as Cam Dunn was able to snipe one home from just above the hash marks to cut the deficit to one. That would mark five straight points where Dunn has at least one point. The Wranglers would answer back near the midway point of the 3rd to make it a 3-1 game. The Jacks would pull their goalie while on the power play with 3:30 remaining and it would pay off as Michael Kadlecik would deflect one home off of a shot-pass from Riley Rosenthal. The Jacks committed a penalty with 2:11 to go, but the Wranglers would even the sides up with a penalty of their own 21 seconds later. The Jacks once again pulled the goalie for the extra attacker, but came up just short in the end, dropping the contest 3-2.
Following the game, Jacks head coach Scott Deur talked about his overall thoughts on the 10 game homestand, “We had a decent homestand. We’re above .500 at Christmas time. With our schedule and traveling, the way it had to be at the beginning of the year, I guess I’m satisfied. I think we definitely left a couple of games here at home that I would like to have back. We’re going to get better and go from there” Deur also talked about the growth of his team from the rough start, to being above .500 at Christmas and in a playoff position, “They’re just chipping away, they’ve got each other’s backs. It’s a tight group in the locker room, really good leadership. They’re showing them how I want things done, they’ve responded and now some of the younger guys are starting to figure it out on the ice and it’s good to see. We’ll see what the second half has for us.”
The Jacks fall to 13-12-4 (30 pts) and the next Jacks game is Friday, December 29th, as the Jacks take on the Corpus Christi IceRays.
These games will be broadcast to NAHLTV with an audio only version available on the Odessa Jackalopes YouTube page.
Reminder Jacks fans single game tickets are on sale and season ticket packages are still available. You can find them online or call 432-552-7825 and Tania can help you out. Come be a part of the Jacks family as we celebrate 27 continuous years of hockey in Odessa!