The Jacks spent over 60 days on the road before returning home to take on the El Paso Rhinos Friday night at the Ector County Coliseum. They were excited and eager to play in front of their home fans.
The first period was a strong period for the Jacks. They outshot the Rhinos 11-8 that period and scored the lone goal. Zach Benayon skated through the neutral zone along the left wing, pulled a deke around a defender and shot it toward the net where it was stopped by the pad of Rhinos goalie Kael DePape, but the rebound found its way into the slot and Matvey Ivanov was there on the doorstep to put home the loose change to give the Jacks the 1-0 lead.
The 2nd period was where the physicality began to ramp up. At the 8:00 mark of the 2nd period there was a scrum in the far corner, Jacks zone. Rhinos defenseman Alexander Pellerin had slashed a Jacks player and Tommy Manzella had taken exception. The two dropped the gloves, both landing some hard blows. Following the fight, the trainer would attend to Pellerin, as it appeared he had a cut above his eye. Both would receive 5 and a game misconduct for fighting. Just a few minutes later into the period, the Rhinos would strike back with a tally of their own off of a beautiful shot by Eddie Shepler. The Jacks didn’t have a response and the game would go into the 3rd period tied at 1.
The 3rd period was all El Paso. They were getting a majority of the scoring chances and shots on goal that period, but as always, Jacks goaltender Quentin Sigurdson stood strong and made sure the game remained tied. Midway through the period, the Jacks would be on the power play and a shot came in from the far faceoff circle, Michael Kadlecik with great hand-eye coordination tipped the puck, changing its direction as it went 5-hole on DePape, giving the Jacks the 2-1 lead. El Paso would continue to press on, and eventually pull the goalie with 1:15 remaining, but good shot blocking from the Jacks and amazing goaltending from Sigurdson, secured the 2 pts for the Jacks.
Odessa improves to 6-7-2 on the season and moves from 9th to 7th in the division, while the Rhinos fall to 10-4-1. The next Jacks game is Saturday, October 28th at 7:15 P.M. CDT. These games will be streamed on NAHLTV and 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!