Lee Scheide says: Let's see how Jackalopes handle some prosperity

ALLEN Momentum. Every team wants it.

But as fickle as the winds in West Texas, momentum moves of its own accord, favoring one team one second before quickly changing its allegiance in the middle of a season, game or in the Odessa Jackalopes case, one shift.

Even as the Allen Americans were scoring the go-ahead goal Saturday in Game 5 of the Southern Conference Finals at the Allen Event Center, Jackalopes co-captain Kory Karlander was swinging the momentum back toward his club.

As Bowers was following through on his shot, Karlander checked the Allen forward to the ice, stunning Bowers for several seconds and silencing the crowd of 4,919 for even longer.

When Bowers regained his feet, everyone wearing red, on and off the ice, began clamoring at referee Kevin Graber for Karlander’s head. Karlander and Allen captain Jarret Lukin even had a spirited conversation while Graber was reporting the goal to the official scorer before turning to address the pair and it was quickly evident with Lukin’s body language that he didn’t agree with Graber’s final decision.

No penalty, let’s play some hockey.

Moments later, on his next shift, Karlander buried a rebound at the left post on Jean Bourbeau’s shot to tie the score and Bowers, already upset, reached the boiling point and began chirping at Graber from the bench, eliciting a warning from the man in the orange stripes.

Bowers, however, couldn’t leave well enough alone and continued to jabber about what he felt was an injustice, and when Graber had heard enough, Bowers got the chance to watch from the penalty box for two minutes.

Odessa’s Mike Ramsay, however, made sure Bowers earned an early exit from the sin bin when he banged home a rebound at the right post just 20 seconds after Karlander found the net.

That gave the Jackalopes a lead they didn’t let go and the fickle hand of momentum had swung back toward the Permian Basin, where Odessa plays host to the Americans at 7:05 tonight in Game 6 at Ector County Coliseum.

“There is still so much work to be done,” Odessa goaltender Joel Martin said. “It’s do or die every night now for us, and that’s the way that we need to play (today) to keep going.”

Now, in a series that would have been over for the Jackalopes without the heroics of Jeff Pierce’s overtime goal to win Game 2, Odessa has seized the momentum it so desperately sough the past three nights in the Metroplex.

To a man, the players on the Jackalopes roster understand what happened Saturday night as both teams packed for a return trip to West Texas. Bowers, along with Allen coach Dwight Mullins, earned some extra penalty minutes at the end of the game for their continued harangue of Graber, while the Jackalopes skated off the ice with smiles on their faces.

Smiles that can quickly disappear, however, should the momentum gained by 60 minutes of solid play on Saturday be erased by early mistakes Monday.

Momentum has pledged its allegiance to the Jackalopes, for the time being.

It’s up to them to keep it.