The Odessa Jackalopes took on the Colorado Grit, Saturday evening after falling to Colorado 1-0 the night before. This was night two of Military Appreciation Weekend for the Jacks and there was a live swearing in ceremony pre-game before the national anthem in front of the 2,960 Jacks faithful.
The first period was very tight, both teams getting chances on the man advantage. However, the lone goal of the period would come on the Jacks PP as Trevor Mitchell fired a shot near the point, and in front was Hayden DeMars to deflect the puck into the back of the net, giving the Jacks the 1-0 lead with about four and a half minutes to go in the period. The Jacks would outshoot the Grit 15-13 in the 1st and take the 1-0 lead into the 1st intermission.
The 2nd period was the biggest outburst of the season for the Odessa Jackalopes. Cameron Dunn began the scoring just a minute into the 2nd period as he deflected a shot from the point off the stick of Riley Rosenthal, putting it into the bottom right corner for the 2-0 lead. Then toward the midway point of the 2nd period, the Jacks would find themselves back on the power play, when Trevor Mitchell walked inside the left faceoff circle and ripped one past Jack Erickson, widening the lead to three. The Jacks would be far from done, as forward Zach Benayon would pull a deke around a defender behind the net, attempt a wraparound that was thwarted by Erickson, but on the 2nd effort, Benayon found the back of the net far side to extend the Jacks lead to 4-0 with 8 minutes to go in the 2nd. The Jacks would commit a penalty just a few seconds later, and this time shorthanded, Hunter Whisenand found himself on a breakaway from his own blue line and he made no mistake, sniping one past the Grit goaltender and giving the Jacks a 5-0 lead. That would be Whisenand’s 1st career NAHL goal. While Colorado would respond less than a minute later, narrowing the lead to 5-1, that was short-lived as the Jacks found themselves shorthanded once again and DeMars would gain a stride on a defender and patiently outwait the netminder and deposit the puck in the back of the net restoring the Jacks five goal lead. Going into the locker room, the Jacks were up 6-1 and feeling pretty confident.
While there were no goals to speak of in the 3rd period of play, Colorado responded extremely well, with a good amount of pressure as well. They would test Jacks goaltender Quentin Sigurdson, who was starting his 2nd straight contest, with 15 shots in the 3rd period alone. Sigurdson was able to stop all of them and the Jacks skated away with the 2 pts.
Following the game, Jacks Head Coach Scott Deur was happy to see the special teams firing on all facets, “Anytime you go into a game you want your special teams to be above 100%, we were able to do that. You got DeMar (DeMars) who was able to score a power play goal and get a penalty kill goal, he’s been vital on both sides of the puck there”
The Jacks improve to 7-9-2 on the season, while the Grit fall to 6-10-3 on their campaign. The next game is Friday, November 17th, at 7:11 P.M on the road against the Shreveport MudBugs. These games will be streamed on NAHLTV with an audio only version on YouTube.
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!