Central Hockey League: Jackalopes win tight game with Blazers

When two evenly matched teams face each other, the outcome usually is decided by a fortuitous bounce or a mistake, sometimes both.

That was the case Friday when the Oklahoma City Blazers skated into Ector County Coliseum to face the Odessa Jackalopes in the penultimate game of the Central Hockey League regular season - and it fell in the Jackalopes' favor.

Skating with a two-man advantage just past the midway point of the third period, Odessa's Sebastien Thinel redirected a shot by Dominic Leveille inside the right post to break a tie game and send the Jackalopes to a 3-2 victory in front of 3,891.

Paul Kelly and Leveille also scored for the Jackalopes (39-18-6). Leveille, Mike Ramsay, Dave Van Drunen, Kenny Bernard, Jarad Bourassa and Kory Karlander all finished with one assist.

"I thought that was two good hockey clubs in a playoff-style game," Jackalopes coach Paul Gillis said. "It was physical and they kept coming and we responded.

"I thought we moved the puck out of our own end very well tonight and that's something we worked on in practice."

Odessa returns to the ice tonight to host Laredo in the final game of the regular season. It is a playoff preview as the Bucks finished third in the Southern Conference and will meet the Jackalopes on March 27 and 28 at Ector County Coliseum to open the best-of-7 conference semifinals.

Brian Passmore and Ted Vandermeer scored for Oklahoma City (38-18-7), which sits tied with Bossier-Shreveport for the third playoff spot in the Northern Conference. Bossier-Shreveport holding the tiebreaker for the position, though both teams already have qualified for postseason action.

After 20 minutes of scoreless hockey, the Jackalopes and Blazers found the back of the net twice in the second period.

The Jackalopes started things with Kelly's fifth goal in seven games with the team. Winning the faceoff to open the second period, Kelly watched as Van Drunen and Ramsay worked the puck into the middle of the Oklahoma City zone, where it was pushed to the goal line to the left of the Blazers' net.

Kelly was first to the puck and shot from a sharp angle, banking the puck into the net off goaltender Andy Franck's leg just 17 seconds into the period.

Leveille extended Odessa's lead with 8:36 left in the period, finishing a nice rush by Bourassa through center ice and Bernard down the left wing into the Blazers' zone.

>> Jackalopes 3, Blazers 2 

Oklahoma City                 0     2       0     -    2

Odessa                           0     2       1     -    3

First Period-None. Penalties-Chad Hinz, Oklahoma City (hooking), 5:05; Stacey Bauman, Oklahoma City (tripping), 5:34; Ted Vandermeer, Oklahoma City (goaltender interference), 13:24; Mike Ramsay, Odessa (hooking), 14:41.

Second Period-1, Odessa, Paul Kelly (Mike Ramsay, Dave Van Drunen), :17. 2, Odessa, Dominic Leveille (Kenny Bernard, Jarad Bourassa), 11:24. 3, Oklahoma City, Brian Passmore (Jason Seerey, Jeff MacDermid), 14:40 (pp). 4, Oklahoma City, Ted Vandermeer (Josh Patterson, Eric Przepiorka), 16:52 (pp). Penalties-Jeff MacDermid, Oklahoma City (roughing), 6:52; Justin Sawyer, Oklahoma City (fighting), 11:10; Garrett Greunke, Odessa (fighting), 11:10; Dave Van Drunen, Odessa (hooking), 13:58; Russ Moyer, Odessa (cross checking), 15:25; Tyler Harder, Oklahoma City (slashing), 19:30; Sebastien Thinel, Odessa (roughing), 19:30.

Third Period-5, Odessa, Sebastien Thinel (Dominic Leveille, Kory Karlander), 13:16 (pp). Penalties-Brian Passmore, Oklahoma City (roughing), 8:43; Tyler Fleck, Oklahoma City (charging), 9:10; DJ Jelitto, Oklahoma City (tripping), 10:18; Tyler Fleck, Oklahoma City (leaving the penalty box), 11:22; DJ Jelitto, Oklahoma City (tripping), 13:56; Jeff Pierce, Odessa (hooking), 15:41.

Shots on Goal-Oklahoma City 10-12-4-26. Odessa 12-12-7-31.

Power-play opportunities-Oklahoma City 2 of 5. Odessa 1 of 9.

Goalies-Oklahoma City, Andy Franck. Odessa, Alexandre Vincent. A-3,891 (5,100). T-2:45.

Referee-Dan Dreger. Linesmen-Rich Walters, Shane Nakic.