On Saturday the Jacks faced the New Mexico Ice Wolves to conclude their weekend series. Odessa won game one by a score of 5-4, which put them only six points behind the Ice Wolves for the final playoff spot.
The first period started off slow compared to the previous night. New Mexico registered ten shots onto Quentin Sigurdson but could not beat the Sartell, MN native. Odessa managed to get eight shots on William Craig, but he too denied them all. Resulting in a 0-0 score after 20 minutes of play.
The Ice Wolves picked up the pace in the second period by scoring two goals in the opening five minutes. The first came from Andrew Carls (3) and later it was Hunter Hastings (9). Shortly past the halfway point of the period, Ryan Johnson (15) would make it 3-0 for New Mexico. Now with under five minutes remaining in the period, Tony Leahy (10) would record the fourth unanswered goal for the Ice Wolves. Marking the most goals in the second period this season for New Mexico. As time was winding down, Odessa was finally able to beat Craig after Emerson Goode (26) took a shot from the left circle. The Ice Wolves would take a 4-1 lead heading into the final period. They were also outshooting Odessa, 23-16.
Odessa was able to cut the lead in half at the 4:05 mark of the final period. The goal was scored by Tanyon Bajzer (19) after he redirected a pass from Trevor Taulien. Odessa kept attacking the offensive zone and had a few scoring chances but was unable to get any more goals on the scoresheet. Alfred Lindberg (9) would score an empty-net goal to make the final, 5-2 New Mexico. The Ice Wolves finished with 31 shots and the Jacks had 30. Odessa went 0/2 on the powerplay and New Mexico went 0/1.
The losss snapped the Jacks six-game point streak (5-0-0-1). Odessa now sits in sixth place and are eight points out of a playoff spot with 13 games remaining in the regular season. They will now travel to El Paso to close out their season series with the Rhinos. Both games are scheduled for 8:00 p.m. CDT.
Photo credit: Danne Braden
