ODESSA, TX—Like many games at the Ector County Coliseum this year the Jackalopes found themselves in a hole. They were down 1-0 in the first period. But they kept their composure, and they attacked, and they were rewarded.
The Jackalopes (10-11-1) defeated the Lone Star Brahmas (11-9-4) 6-3 at the Ector County Coliseum on Friday night to start the first home weekend against the Brahmas and end the month of November on a good note.
The Jackalopes scored two goals in every period.
The first two goals came from Matt Hutton and Kellen Tharaldson. Hutton was the recipient of a perfect tic-tac-toe play to give him a chance at a tap-in goal that he did not squander. Pretty good for your first North American Hockey League goal.
Tharaldson’s goal came from a point blast on the right side that beat Brahma netminder Seth Eisele and made it 2-1 Odessa.
The Brahmas rattled off back-to-back power-play goals (one in the last minute of the first, another in the first minute of the second) to take a 3-2 lead. But just like in the first period the Jacks settled in, kept focus and kept attacking.
After killing off a separate penalty, Zach Heintz was the recipient of a beautiful cross-ice pass from Patrick Dawson and sent a hard shot low and into the net to tie the game up at 3-3.
In the last minute of the second, while on a power play, Michael Sacco scored his first of two goals to regain the lead for Odessa 4-3.
Despite an early surge for Lone Star to start the third, for the most part the period belonged to Odessa. Connor Smith scored off a slap shot that beat Harrison Feeney in close while Sacco caped off the night with an empty-net goal.
With the victory, the Jackalopes improve to a tie for 5th place in the NAHL South division. Odessa will go for the sweep of the Brahmas on Saturday afternoon at the JackShack. Face-off is set for 3:11 pm.
