Last night the Jacks were finally on home ice as they hosted the Lone Star Brahmas. Lone Star entered in sixth place while the Jacks were tied with Amarillo for first. Prior to yesterday’s game neither team had played in three-straight games.
The Jacks started the game with some pressure, but Jan Skorpik had an answer for each of the Jacks seven shots. Yesterday was Skorpik’s first NAHL game after coming down from the USHL. Lone Star registered eight shots on Alex Proctor, and he was able to save them all. Resulting in a scoreless first 20 minutes of play.
The score was finally broken in the second period with each team getting on the board. Nicholas Niemo (7) beat Proctor 1:14 into the middle period. Niemo now leads the Brahmas in goals. Lone Star would stay in the lead until there was less than two minutes left in the period. Rylan Yates (4) found the back of the net to extend his point streak to eight games (4g-5a). Yates had this to say regarding his lengthy point streak, “A big credit goes to my linemates. We have all being playing well and clicking together. I was lucky to get a little bounce last night and put it in.” The second period ended tied at 1-1. At the end of the second period shots favored Lone Star, 21-10.
Lone Star continued to pressure the Jacks throughout the majority of the third period. Putting up 16 shots in the final period. Proctor continuously came up big making highlight reel after highlight reel save. The Jacks were unable to capitalize on any of their five shots in the period resulting in the game going to overtime. The Brahmas had three shots in the extra five minutes and Odessa had one. With 65 minutes gone and still a 1-1 score, the game then headed to a shootout. For the second-straight game the Brahmas would have to finish a game via shootout. Lone Star scored on two of their three shootout attempts while Odessa missed on both of their shots. Giving Lone Star their fifth win of the season and the Jacks fifth loss. Lone Star outshot Odessa, 41-16.
Proctor made 39 saves and with his stellar performance it moved him into second overall for goalies (1.91 GAA) and first for save percentage (.940%). While it was the first overtime loss for the Jacks this season, they did earn a point which now puts them in sole possession of first place. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Brahmas and moved them into a tie with Wichita Falls for fourth place. Game two is scheduled for tonight at 7:15pm at the Ector County Coliseum.
Photo credit: Danne Braden
