Central Hockey League: Jackalopes knock off Mavericks

The Odessa Jackalopes celebrated Scott Hillman’s eight years with the organization in a ceremony before Tuesday’s Central Hockey League contest against visiting Missouri.

Then, when the puck dropped, they proceeded to unceremoniously send the expansion Mavericks down the road to Wichita with a fifth consecutive loss to start the season.

Collin Circelli, Kory Karlander and Paul Kelly each scored twice, with Kenny Bernard and Alex Dunn each adding one goal as Odessa skated away with an 8-1 victory in front of 1,817 at Ector County Coliseum.

“It was a little sloppy early, but we got through that time and got some timely goals in the second period,” Odessa coach Paul Gillis said. “We lost our focus a little bit in the third period when all that ruckus started, for about two shifts and then we got it back and got the two short-handed goals to get the energy back.”

It was the final home game for the Jackalopes (4-1-1) until Nov. 13. They will begin a four-game road trip Friday in Corpus Christi.

The night was marred by an incident at the 5:29 mark of the third period after Kelly was hooked to the ice by Missouri’s Shaun Arvai and crashed into Mavericks goaltender Mike Gorman.

As the bodies were being pulled off of Gorman, Missouri’s Karl Sellan and Odessa’s Alex Dunn decided to escalate matters with a fight that sent both to the penalty box. While in the box, however, Sellan took offense to actions from several of the fans behind the glass and climbed the glass and, using the water bottle in the penalty box, doused the fans.

That immediately earned him a game misconduct penalty and likely a review by the Central Hockey League. Also, four of the fans involved in the incident were escorted from the Coliseum.

Dominic Leveille added three assists in the victory, with Dunn and Sebastien finishing with two helpers each. Bernard, Kelly, Jeff Pierce, Mike Ramsay, Philippe Plante and Mike Lesperance each finished with one assist.

“That was a different kind of game,” Ramsay said. “They have a good team, they just haven’t put things together yet.”

The Jackalopes put the first goal on the board just past the midway point as the Mavericks were being called for delayed penalty. As the Missouri players tried to cycle back to their bench, Kelly was left alone at the top of the slot and Dunn, on the right-wing board, slid the puck into the middle where Kelly raced toward Gorman and snapped the puck low inside the left post.

Missouri, however, tied the game with a power-play goal less than two minutes into the second period when Jeff Christian, at the right post, redirected a shot by Bill Vandermeer inside the right post past Jackalopes goaltender Juha Toivonenn just 1:57 into the period.

Odessa, however, quickly regained the lead when Circelli netted his first of the night with 5:22 gone in the period after a nice play by Lesperance.

Carrying the puck through the center of the ice, Lesperance raced into the left circle and behind the net and fed Thinel, who had his shot blocked by Gorman. Circelli, however, was in the right spot at the right time and banged home the rebound at the right post for a 2-1 lead that the Jackalopes would never give up.