Amarillo, TX – The Odessa Jackalopes (0-1-0-0) fell to the Amarillo Bulls (1-0-0-0) 5-3 in the regular season opener on Saturday night. Amarilo was able to get off to an early start thanks to a loud home crowd.
Odessa received their goals from Eric Huss to open the scoring, with Zac Herrmann and Evan Rochowiak adding one a piece in the 3rd. Goaltender, Brett Epp, made 36 saves en route to the loss.
The Jackalopes experience bus problems on the way to Amarillo, resulting in a six and a half hour bus trip from Odessa, and a 45-minute delay to the start time. After spending a little too much time on a sweltering bus, the Jacks came out cold.
Amarillo got on the board first as Alex Borowiec netted one past Epp at the 3:27 mark, only to be followed by Alex Peterson three minutes later.
Odessa would retaliate as Huss received a beautiful pass from Peyton Frantti to snipe his first NAHL goal.
Amarillo would get two more in the second as Peterson netted his second of the game, followed by Michael McPherson’s first goal, bringing the Bulls to a three-goal lead after two.
The Jacks wouldn’t go down without a fight in the 3rd. Viktor Johansson’s faceoff win to Zac Herrmann was enough for Herrmann to fire one through traffic for a top-shelf goal. A few minutes later, the teams saw themselves at 4-on-4, and Evan Rochowiak saw the back of the net on a backdoor pass to bring the Jacks within 1.
Amarillo would receive a power play a few seconds later, leading to Simon Morberg’s goal with 3:30 remaining in regulation to seal the deal.
The Jackalopes ended up 0-3 on the power play, and 3-4 on the penalty kill. Amarillo’s Jason Grande fended off 28 shots for a Bulls’ victory.
The Jackalopes will head to Blaine, MN for the 2017 NAHL Showcase taking place this Wednesday-Thursday.
The 2017-2018 Odessa Jackalopes single game tickets are on sale now! To reserve your seats, contact the Jackalopes’ ticket office today at 432-552-7825 or log on to www.jackalopes.org for more information.
Also, be sure to follow the Jackalopes on Twitter and Facebook (@LetsGoJacks), Instagram (odessajackalopes), and add us on Snapchat (odessajacks) all year long.
— ODESSA JACKALOPES —
