Last night the Jacks faced the Oklahoma Warriors for the first time this season. Odessa entered the game in seventh place with a 7-8-0-1 (15pts) record. Whereas Oklahoma was in second place with 25 points and a 12-2-0-1 record. Yesterday also marked the first of four-straight meetings between these two teams. This is also the final road trip for Odessa in 2022.
The Warriors came out in the opening period firing on all cylinders as they put up three-unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes. Their first goal was scored by the Swedish native, Malte Hasselgren (8). Four minutes later the Warriors were on their first powerplay of the game and Brendan Williams (7) capitalized on it. Less than a minute later it was their captain, William Lawson-Body (7), putting home the third goal. Head Coach Scott Deur called a timeout to slow the Warriors momentum and it immediately paid off for the Jacks. Tanyon Bajzer (7) would notch the first goal for Odessa just 17 seconds after Oklahoma went up 3-0. The score remained in favor of the Warriors, 3-1, when the horn sounded to end the opening period. Oklahoma registered a season-high 21 shots on Greg Orosz and Odessa put up 12 on Cameron Korpi.
In the middle period, only one goal was scored, and it came 8:19 into the period. It was off the stick of Rylan Brady (7) as he gave Oklahoma a 4-1 lead. The Warriors applied a lot of pressure throughout the second period, but Orosz remained strong between the pipes. The Jacks were only able to record three shots in the middle frame compared to Oklahoma’s 16.
The final period of regulation is when the Jacks started to find their groove. Emerson Goode (11) pulled the Jacks within two of Oklahoma within the first minute. Odessa continued to try and generate scoring chances throughout the final period. Even with their net empty in the final two minutes, they were unable to convert. Resulting in a 4-2 victory for the Warriors. Oklahoma finished with 38 shots but only one in the final period. Which is their fewest number of shots in any period this season. As for Odessa, they put up 22 shots through three periods of hockey. Oklahoma went 1/3 on the powerplay and Odessa went 0/1.
With the win, the Warriors remain perfect on home ice (5-0). The Jacks are now 4-7 as the visiting team and enter game two tonight on a two-game losing streak. The puck drop for game two is scheduled for 7:15 pm CDT.
