Odessa took the ice last night for their weekend’s second game against Corpus Christi. The Jacks won game one by a score of 3-1 with all three goals coming from Dayne Hoyord to mark his third career hat trick. In game two, the IceRays once again went with Lukas Malant as for Odessa they started Quentin Sigurdson.
The Jackalopes wasted little time getting on the board as John Wojciechowski (3) scored at the 1:22 mark of the opening period. Less than two minutes later, Tanyon Bajzer (17) stripped the opposition of the puck and would send a backhander up and over the shoulder of Malant. After letting in two goals on three shots, Malant was pulled and replaced by Patrik Jurcak. Shortly before the period’s halfway point, the Jacks found themselves on the powerplay. Justin Hughes (2) forced the puck past Jurcak to make it a 3-0 Odessa lead. The score would hold for the rest of the first period. However, the IceRays were outshooting the Jacks, 20-7.
In the middle period Odessa was able to add to their lead as leading scorer, Emerson Goode (24), sniped the puck top shelf. His goal came at the 5:32 mark of the second period and gave the Jacks a 4-0 advantage. It would be the only goal of the second period but both teams put up double digits in shots. After 40 minutes of play, Corpus Christi had 30 shots and Odessa had 20.
The third period saw a lot of physical play as well as two goals. The first was scored by Nils Forselius (10) with six minutes left in regulation. The goal ended Sigurdson’s hopes of his first career shutout. A few minutes later, the IceRays were on the powerplay, but the Jacks would find the back of the net. J.R. Perdion (9) made a spectacular move around a defender and beat Jurcak to put Odessa up 5-1. It was just the second short-handed goal of the season for Odessa. The final horn would sound to give Odessa the win and the weekend sweep. It also improved their record over the IceRays this season to 6-0. Corpus Christi outshot Odessa, 40-32. The Jacks went 1/2 on the powerplay and the IceRays went 0/6.
Odessa will carry their two-game win streak into Brahmaland on Monday for an afternoon matchup with second-place, Lone Star. The Jacks are currently 10 points out of a playoff spot but still have games in hand on Shreveport and New Mexico.
Photo credit: Danne Braden
