ODESSA, TX — What was a thrilling last couple of games for the Odessa Jackalopes (6-6-2-0) ended with a tough 2-1 loss to the Lone Star Brahmas (14-4-1-0) at the Ector county Coliseum on Saturday night.
For the first time in five games, the Jackalopes found themselves surrendering the first goal of the game. It came less than three minuets into the contest off a pass to the base of a circle that found a Brahma wide open. The Jackalopes had an opportunity to tie the game on a power play later on in the period but were unsuccessful on their first outing.
A major flashpoint developed in the final minutes of the first as Adam Kolcon was assessed a five-minute major penalty for head contact aver a collision in behind the Jackalopes net. Odessa was successful in killing off the last minute of the penalty in the first period and the first few minutes of the second period. But Lone Star capitalized on a broken play, somewhat slimier to the goal scored by the Jackalopes in overtime on Thursday.
The Jackalopes were able to answer back though on a power play of their own. This one was also of the five-minute variety and Odessa stuck just 45 seconds into the advantage. Tyler German was standing at the top of the crease when he received a pass from Dayne Hoyord below the goal line. German was able to put the puck home for his second goal of the season and sent a storm of teddy bears crashing down on to the ice for the Jackalopes’ annual teddy bear toss. The goal more importantly trimmed the Lone Star lead to 2-1.
But on the remaining four minutes of the advantage, the Jackalopes couldn’t not find any headway offensively as they were constantly frustrated at the Brahma blueline.
Despite a couple of chances in the late stages of the third period, Odessa couldn’t find the equalizer and were denied the three-game sweep of the Brahmas going into the holiday break.
Despite the loss, there were more then enough positives from the past few games for the Jackalopes to take away. Odessa scored a power-play goal for the third night in a row and ended the series three-for-eleven on the man advantage. The Jacks penalty kill was even stronger, holding the highly touted power play of Lone Star to just one power-play goal in eleven tries. But perhaps most importantly, the Jackalopes were able to take four out of a possible six points against the top team in the South Division, a feat that seemed out of reach just a year ago.
Photo Credit: Danne´ Braden Photography
