ODESSA, TX — The Odessa Jackalopes (18-26-2) fell to the Amarillo Bulls (34-6-6) 8-2 on Friday night at the Budweiser Bull Pen.
Odessa found themselves down in a 3-0 hole in the first period as the Bulls’ offensive powers showed. They laid siege to the Jackalopes and capitalized on their chances.
The Jackalopes countered with Everett Wardle’s third goal of the season. After a long shot by Matt Hutton produced a large rebound Wardle crashed the net and picked up the loose puck. After skating to his right, he sent a quick shot into the wide open cage to trim the Amarillo lead to 3-1.
The Bulls struck back about two minutes later to re-establish their three goal lead heading into the second period.
In the second period the Jackalopes had plenty of chances on special teams. Several power play and short handed chances came Odessa’s way but they failed to convert. Instead it was Amarillo who scored two more times to push their lead to 6-1 heading into the third period.
Odessa added another one in the third period as Oscar Tyskhagen put away a rebound after the puck took a deflection off the post and bounced right to him.
The native of Rattvik, Sewden made no mistake as he buried his first ever North American Hockey League goal.
However, like they did the entire night, Amarillo countered quickly to the Jackalopes goal.
A scrabble play out in front resulted in the puck somehow rolling across the goal line and into the net as Jackalopes netminder Alex Camarre tried to locate it beneath his body.
Amarillo scored again on a power play goal from a one-timer from the right corner that beat Camarre moving from his right to his left. Both goals were credited to Alex Peterson who finished the night with three goals.
Though the loss stings, it does not adversely affect the Jackalopes’s playoff chances as they and Amarillo were the only teams active in the NAHL South division. The Jacks will look to split the series on Saturday night when they face the Bulls again at 7:05 pm.
