The Odessa Jackalopes held off the New Mexico Ice Wolves in a 5-3 victory Thursday at Ector County Coliseum in North American Hockey League action.
Playing the start of a seven-game home stretch, the Jackalopes improved to 21-24-5-2. The team remains in seventh place in the North American Hockey League South Division with 49 points, just seven points behind the sixth place Oklahoma Warriors.
New Mexico now sits at 28-16-6-2 and in fourth place with 64 points.
The Ice Wolves managed to outshoot the Jackalopes, 25-21.
Odessa goalie Aries Carangi finished with 22 saves.
Kowin Belsterling had two goals for the Jackalopes while Michael Kadlecik, Charlie Smith and James Richman also found the back of the net for Odessa.
“I’m glad with the way that we played,” Odessa head coach Scott Deur said. “I thought we could’ve controlled the game a little quicker. Our power play seemed to be off today … but overall, I thought our goalie played pretty well for his second start. He stopped the ones that he could see. We’re happy with the start to the weekend.”
The Ice Wolves struck first with a goal by Yusako Ando with an assist from Olivier Lamothe, ten minutes into the game and the visitors had a 1-0 lead.
It wasn’t until there was 4:30 left in the first period when the Jackalopes equalized, thanks to a goal from Belsterling with an assist from Theodore Manlove.
The final minute of the period saw both teams penalized as Odessa’s James Richman and New Mexico’s Max Matthews were sent to the penalty box for roughing.
Both teams ended the first period tied up at 1-1.
The Jackalopes only needed five seconds in the second period to find the back of the net and take the lead as Kadlecik scored, with an assist from Cameron Dunn.
New Mexico’s Johnny Johansson was penalized for tripping, five minutes into the period.
It wouldn’t hurt the Ice Wolves as the visitors managed to score a shorthanded goal from Ryan Seelinger with an assist from Blayne Mortenson with 14:56 left in the period and the game was tied at 2-2.
Then, it was the Jackalopes’ turn to score a shorthanded goal.
Shortly after the Jackalopes’ Nick Metelkin was sent to the penalty box for head contact, Odessa went back in front, courtesy of a goal by Belsterling for his second of the night to make it 3-2 with 6:01 remaining in the period. Trevor Mitchell had the assist.
With less than a minute before the end of the period, Odessa doubled its lead as Smith capitalized on a 2-on-1 advantage, sending the puck past New Mexico goalie Andy Vlaha for the 4-2 lead.
Lamothe was called for a penalty for tripping, two minutes into the third period, giving the Jackalopes a power play opportunity.
However, the hosts could not capitalize on the 5-on-4 advantage and Lamothe returned to the ice with his team still trailing by two goals.
Then, both teams found themselves playing 4-on-4 hockey after New Mexico’s Bryce Johnson and Odessa’s Thomas Manzella’s fight resulted in both players being sent to the penalty box.
New Mexico got a goal back after Lamothe scored to make it 4-3 with less than 15 minutes left in regulation.
With 2:44 left in the game, the Ice Wolves pulled Vlaha from the net in exchange for an extra attacker.
However, it wouldn’t work as Odessa’s James Richman quickly scored an empty net goal to make it 5-3 with 2:07 remaining and seal the game for the hosts.
>> PENALTIES: In total, there were 11 penalties from Thursday’s game with five for Odessa and six for New Mexico.
Six of those combined penalties came in the third period as there was no love lost for either side.
>> UP NEXT: The Jackalopes will continue their home stretch with a two-game series against the Corpus Christi IceRays, starting with a 7:15 contest Friday at Ector County Coliseum.
The IceRays (16-31-2-3) currently sit one spot behind the Jackalopes in the South Division with 37 points and have been eliminated from playoff contention.
It’ll be the first meeting between the two teams since December.
“We’ll look at some film tonight and be ready for them tomorrow when they get here,” Deur said. “We haven’t watched them too much. We’ll start planning for them. It’s been a long time since we’ve played them.”
New Mexico will next face El Paso at 8 p.m. March 19 at the El Paso County Events Center.
In their last series, the IceRays won both games in Corpus Christi back on Dec. 29 and 30.
>> PLAYOFF SPOTS: So far, three teams from the South Division have clinched spots in the Robertson Cup playoffs as Lone Star (40-10-3-3), Shreveport (37-13-0-2) and El Paso (32-13-3-2) have already punched their tickets for this year’s postseason.
It’ll be the first playoff appearance for El Paso.
