Central Hockey League: Ramsay's outburst sparks Jackalopes past Eagles

Odessa Jackalopes forward Mike Ramsay is so hot right now it’s surprising the ice isn’t melting under his skates.

The Colorado Eagles, however, did.

Ramsay took over the game in the first period, scoring a hat trick in a span of four minutes and 10 seconds, all on the power play, to jumpstart the Jackalopes’ 9-4 victory in front of a season-high 4,313 at Ector County Coliseum.

“I’m just going to keep on shooting the puck,” said Ramsay, who added an assist in the victory.

“We were playing well early and got the chance to go on the power play and I got three great passes from Collin, Sebby and Kory (Karlander) and was able to get the puck on net. I don’t know what it is right now, but it feels pretty good.”

Ramsay has scored 12 goals in the past seven games and this was his second hat trick in 10 days, the other coming at Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 27.

Collin Circelli and Jean Bourbeau each scored a pair of goals for Odessa (36-7-4), with Kenny Bernard and Philippe Plante finishing with one marker each.

Sebastien Thinel had five assists on the night and now has 502 points in his Jackalopes’ career.

“I thought that we played much better tonight,” Jackalopes coach Paul Gillis said. “I thought we did a better job in winning the battle to the loose puck and we created some chances and finished.

“I was disappointed after last night (Friday) because I didn’t think we competed and I challenged them and they responded tonight.”

The Eagles (28-10-5) were up 2-0 on the strength of goals by Aaron Schneekloth and Steve Haddon and the energy in the Coliseum was lacking by the time that Colorado’s Ed McGrane was called for a hooking penalty with 7:08 left in the first period.

Just 13 seconds later, Ramsay was unloading a slapshot from the left circle that beat Eagles’ goaltender Andrew Penner inside the left post, cutting the deficit in half.

Colorado’s Riley Nelson then earned a trip to the penalty box for a slash 21 seconds later and at the 6:18 mark, 37 seconds after his first goal, Ramsay let fly again from the same spot on the ice and Penner, hugging the left post to cut off the angle, could only watch the puck find the net inside the right post to tie the game.

That brought the crowd to its feet and put some jump in the rest of the Jackalopes, with Thinel earning another power play when he was hooked going around the Eagles’ Jim Jackson on the right wing.

It took a while this time, as Ramsay wasn’t on the first power-play unit that took the ice for Odessa, but when he did step off the bench, he found his favorite spot, Karlander found him with the puck and Ramsay ripped another slapshot inside the right post with 2:45 left in the first period to give the Jackalopes the lead for good.

Odessa, however, wasn’t finished scoring in the first period. Sanford collected a loose puck at the top of the Colorado zone and skated into the right circle and then slid a pass through the crease to Bourbeau at the left post, who pushed it past Penner just 23 seconds after Ramsay’s third goal.

“This was a great way to come back tonight,” said Bourbeau, who also participated in two fights on the night. 

>> Jackalopes 9, Eagles 4 

Colorado                         2     1       1     —    4

Odessa                           4     3       2     —    9

First Period—1, Colorado, Aaron Schneekloth (Riley Nelson, Kevin Ulansk9< 8:15. 2, Colorado, Steve Haddon (Felipe Larranaga, Ryan McLeod) 11:21 (pp). 3, Odessa, Mike Ramsay (Collin Circelli, Sebastien Thinel) 13:05 (pp). 4, Odessa, Mike Ramsay (Sebastien Thinel, Philippe Plante) 13:50 (pp). 5, Odessa, Mike Ramsay (Kory Karlander, Juha Toivonen) 17:15 (pp). 6, Odessa, Jean Bourbeau (James Sanford, Brian Swiniarski) 17:38. Penalties—Garrett Gruenke, Jackalopes (fighting), 1:08; Jay Birnie, Colorado (fighting), 1:08; Mike Lesperance, Jackalopes (holding), 4:53; Kory Karlander, Jackalopes (tripping), 9:26; Kenny Bernard, Jackalopes (elbowing), 12:34; Jay Birnie, Colorado (roughing), 12:34; Ed McGrane, Colorado (hooking), 12:52; Riley Nelson, Colorado (slashing), 13:26; Jim Jackson, Colorado (slashing), 15:51.

Second Period—7, Odessa, Collin Circelli (Sebastien Thinel, Dominic Leveille) 1:41. 8, Colorado, Aaron Schneekloth (Riley Nelson, Jim Jackson) 14:25. 9, Odessa, Kenny Bernard (Dave Van Drunen, Mike Ramsay) 14:48. 10, Odessa, Jean Bourbeau (Kory Karlander) 18:58 (sh). Penalties—Jean Bourbeau, Jackalopes (fighting), 9:18; Jason Beatty, Colorado (fighting), 9:18; Brian Swiniarski, Jackalopes (boarding), 14:14; Dominic Leveille, Jackalopes (hooking), 15:45; Garrett Gruenke, Jackalopes (interference), 18:48.

Third Period—11, Odessa, Collin Circelli (James Sanford, Sebastien Thinel) 12:10. 12, Colorado, Ryan McLeod (Aaron Schneekloth, Felipe Larranaga) 13:11. 13, Odessa, Philippe Plante (Sebastien Thinel, Mike Lesperance) 16:48 (pp). Penalties—Ryan Tobler, Colorado (fighting) :43; Ryan Tobler, Colorado (instigator), :43; Ryan Tobler, Colorado (instigator misconduct), :43; Jean Bourbeau, Jackalopes (fighting), :43; Jeff Pierce, Jackalopes (tripping), 8:34; Aaron Schneekloth, Colorado (tripping), 16:06; Brett Thurston, Colorado (instigator), 19:42; Brett Thurston, Colorado (fighting), 19:42; Brett Thurston, Colorado (instigator misconduct), 19:42; Brett Thurston, Colorado (game misconduct), 19:42; Fraser Filipic, Colorado (roughing), 19:42; Fraser Filipic, Colorado (instigator), 19:42; Fraser Filipic, Colorado (fighting), 19:42; Fraser Filipic, Colorado (instigator misconduct), 19:42; Fraser Filipic, Colorado (Abuse of officials game misconduct), 19:42; Garrett Gruenke, Jackalopes (fighting), 19:42; Garrett Gruenke, Jackalopes (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:42; Brian Swiniarski, Jackalopes (fighting), 19:42; Brian Swiniarski, Jackalopes (secondary fighting game misconduct), 19:42.

Shots on Goal—Colorado 10-17-10—37. Odessa 16-13-8—37.

Power-play opportunities—Colorado 2 of 6. Odessa 4 of 7.

Goalies—Colorado, Andrew Penner. Odessa, Juha Toivonen. A—4,313 (5,100). T—2:50.

Referee—Tudor Floru. Linesmen—Brett Johnston, Nate Farkas.