FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 7, 2012
‘RILLO REVENGE: JACKS CRUSH BULLS 5-1
Win is first for Odessa vs. Amarillo this season, ties series at one game apiece.
AMARILLO, TX– One night removed from a three-goal loss to the Amarillo Bulls, the Odessa Jackalopes did the NAHL’s top team one better, beating the Bulls by four in a 5-1 victory on Saturday at Cal Farley Coliseum at Amarillo Civic Center. The win was the Jacks’ first in eleven total meetings with the Bulls this year and tied Odessa’s best-of-five game South Division semifinal series at one game apiece with Amarillo as the series shifts to Ector County Coliseum for games three and four on Monday and Tuesday night.
For the second straight game, the Jacks took a 1-0 lead on the Bulls as Taylor Portner put the Jacks up by a goal just under seven minutes into the game on an all-alone play in front of Amarillo netminder Gregg Gruehl, assisted by Curt Rau and Tyler Cayemberg. The Jacks then doubled their lead five minutes later, when Lawrence Cornellier stuffed home a Ryan Doucet feed at 11:55.
After a mostly scoreless second-period, Amarillo potted the only middle-frame marker at 18:24, when John Gustafsson tapped a rebound play off a Joe Kozlak shot past Odessa’s Connor Hellebuyck to make it a one-goal game. Entering the third period up by a razor-thin one-goal margin, the Jacks bore down, rattling off back-to-back-to-back goals from Alex Ostrowski at 8:25, Ryan Doucet at 9:54 on a Cornellier two-on-one feed and Tyller Robert capped the scoring at 12:36 to post the Jackalopes’ winning margin of 5-2.
On the heels of a tough game on Friday, Hellebuyck bounced back to his MVP-caliber form Saturday, stopping 49 of the 50 shots he faced en route to his first career NAHL playoff win. In a relatively tame game penalty-wise, both teams ended up 0/4 on the power-play in a contest that featured no formal fights.
With the series tied at one, the Jackalopes return home Monday and Tuesday, April 9th and 10th for the first NAHL playoff games in Jacks history at Ector County Coliseum as Odessa looks to take the series edge on the top-seeded Bulls.
To reserve playoff tickets, Jacks fans are invited to call the Jackalopes’ ticket office at 432-552-7825 during regular business hours (8:30 am to 5:00 pm) Monday through Friday. Playoffs tickets are also available online at www.jackalopes.org.
Be sure to follow the Jackalopes on Twitter @LetsGoJacks all season long and don’t forget to ‘Like’ the official “Odessa Jackalopes” fan page on Facebook.
— ODESSA JACKALOPES —
