The Odessa Jackalopes, fresh off of a 2-1 regulation loss the night before, looked to bounce back into the win column as they took on the Wranglers once again.
The 1st period was all Jacks as midway through the period, the 4th line shined. Teddy Manlove chipped a pass to Adam Armijo into the zone, Armijo did the same as he chipped the puck into a cutting Hayden DeMars who was sent on a mini breakaway. DeMars went forehand, backhand and deposited the biscuit into the basket to make it a 1-0 game. Just 42 seconds later, the Jacks would come back down the ice, Cam Dunn along the left wing dipped his shoulder around the defender, got in on a breakaway and doubled the Jacks lead to 2-0. Amarillo would outshoot the Jacks 8-7 in that period, but Odessa had the 2-0 lead going into the first break.
The 2nd period was a physical battle as both teams showed signs of tempers flaring. Both teams would be awarded two power plays in the 2nd, the Jacks were unsuccessful in both attempts. The first power play for Amarillo was given with under a minute to play in the 2nd period and the Wranglers only needed 22 seconds as Jack Ivey wristed one home past Quentin Sigurdson to cut the deficit to one goal. The Wranglers heavily outshot the Jacks in the 2nd, 15-5 for a game total of 23-12.
All it took was three minutes in the 3rd period as Jack McDonald made a spin-o-rama pass cross ice, from wall to wall onto the tape of Ben Ivey who fired a one-timer home to equalize the game at two. Two more power plays for Amarillo saw them get some high danger scoring chances, but they were unable to break the 2-2 deadlock and the game would require extra time.
Both teams registered a shot on goal in the overtime period, but neither team had any established offensive zone time, meaning the game would require a shootout to decide the winner. The Wranglers were up first and Nolan Gagnon made a nice cutback move to beat Sigurdson. The Jacks would miss on their first attempt, but the captain Jack Christen would tie it up in the 2nd round. Both teams were unsuccessful in the 3rd round. Connor McNaughton would beat Sigurdson, meaning James Richman would have to score to keep the game alive. Richman sniped one home from the hash marks, glove side, forcing a 5th round. The Wranglers did not score, bringing up Michael Kadlecik. Kads skated in slowly, got to the middle and wristed one home, glove side, to deliver the extra point to the Jackalopes.
Following the game, Jacks head coach Scott Deur talked about the similarity in how the game played out in Thursday and Friday night’s contests, “Obviously we had a good first period, and then I thought we were just kinda holding on. I thought Amarillo got better as the 2nd and 3rd [periods] went on. Then you get into a 50/50 game in the shootout, lucky enough to come away with the extra point there.”
The Jacks improve to 13-11-4 (30pts) and the next Jacks game is tomorrow, Saturday, December 16th, as the Jacks take on the Amarillo Wranglers.
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!