NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TX — The Odessa Jackalopes (18-29-2) fell to the Lone Star Brahmas (25-18-7) on Saturday night 4-1 at the Nytex Sports Center in North Richland Hills.
The Jackalopes had a much better start then last night, but found themselves down 1-0 after a turnover in front of the net. Odessa responded a few minutes later after an excellent passing play set up by Joseph Winkelmann and Michael Sacco. Sacco was able to find a late-arriving Kellen Tharaldson on the rush and slipped him a perfect pass. Tharaldson drifted to the high slot before sending a hard wrist-shot that beat the Lone Star netminder low blocker side.
Tharaldson’s fifth goal of the season tied the game up 1-1.
The second period though was when the Brahmas surged ahead. Two goals by Lone Star forward Michal Stinil, including one that occurred 61 seconds into the second period, gave the Brahmas a 3-1 lead. The Jackalopes had a couple of good chances to get on back in the second but were unable to break through again.
The third period started with fireworks, though not literal ones, as two separate fights broke out in the first 20 seconds of the period. Matt Hutton and Carter Wade were the two combatants for the Jacks with both players giving a good account of themselves in the fisticuffs.
The third period saw the Jacks kill off a Lone Star power play before getting one of their own. They were unable to convert on the man advantage situation and ended the weekend 0/5 on the power play.
Former Jackalope Zach Heintz scored an empty net goal with just over two minutes to play to extend the Lone Star lead to 4-1. That lead stood for the rest of the game.
Despite the loss, goaltender Kade Phipps had a strong prefomance in net, stopping 27 of 30 Brahma shots, most of them coming in the first and second periods.
With the loss the Jackalopes still sit 11 points out of a playoff spot with now 11 games left to play in the regular season.
