ODESSA, TX— Before the game, Gregg Gatto said he wanted to see his team finish the weekend. They had a chance to do it against Amarillo and failed. But on Saturday afternoon, they succeeded.
The Odessa Jackalopes (11-11-1) defeated the Lone Star Brahmas (11-10-4) 4-0 on Saturday to secure the weekend sweep.
Unlike last night, and many of the previous games at the Ector County Coliseum, the Jackalopes took the lead and never looked back.
Late in the first period, while on the penalty kill, the Jacks forced the puck out to the offensive zone. James Crossman received a pass from Zach Heintz and went right back to Heintz who was streaking in to the front of the net. Instead of shooting Heintz passed to a wide-open Kyle Herbster who pulled off the back-door play to perfection.
Herbster’s first of two goals on the night gave Odessa a 1-0 lead.
In the first minute of the second period the Jackalopes struck again. This time it was Patrick Dawson who was trailing on a three-on-two. After receiving a pass, Dawson picked his spot and sent a hard shot that beat the goalie high blocker and grazed the crossbar on its way into the net.
Dawson, a former Brahma, made it 2-0 Jackalopes against his former team.
In the third period the Jackalopes played smart and drew several power plays that they were able to capitalize on. Kyle Herbster scored to make it 3-0 and then assisted on another power-play goal when he sent a picture-perfect pass to the stick of Connor Smith for a tap-in.
The Jacks held firm defensively for the remainder of the game to secure the 4-0 victory, a weekend sweep and Alex Camarre’s first shutout of the season.
Camarre, who came in relief of Kade Phipps in the second period of Friday’s game, played four and a half periods of perfect shutout hockey. Camarre made 26 saves on the night and 46 over the course of the weekend.
With the sweep, the Jackalopes improve to a .500 record of 11-11-1 on the season and they also take over sole possession of 5th place in the NAHL South division.
They will travel to Corpus Christi for a two-game series next weekend.
