Americans fail to sweep at home

ALLEN, Texas – The Odessa Jackalopes’ job in Game Five Saturday night was simple – win or be on the links brushing up on their short game Sunday morning. Apparently, they didn’t feel the need to trade in their hockey sticks for golf clubs so soon and they made sure the Allen Americans knew it with an impressive 6-3 defeat of the expansion club.
 
The Jacks came out at warp speed in the opening period, determined to send a message right away. The first delivery came just 3:23 into the period when Collin Circelli fed Dave Van Drunen from behind the net and Van Drunen’s one timer ripped into the net on just the second shot of the game for Odessa. Allen’s play was reminiscent of last Saturday’s contest where the opening period was dominated by Odessa; they weren’t as lax but they definitely didn’t look like they came to play.
 
The opening ten minutes belonged to Odessa offensively where they recorded five shots and blanked the Americans’ tries at the net. Allen’s first shot on net wasn’t until near the 11 minute mark but a spark of life was ignited on their second try. Bruce Graham snapped in a rebound off of Jacks goaltender Joel Martin’s pad, to bring the Americans even at 1-1.
 

A minute and a half later, the Americans looked like they may have found themselves again when Justin Bowers lit the lamp but that hope was to be short-lived in the following minutes. After releasing the shot, Bowers was sent to the ice by a cross check to the teeth courtesy of Kory Karlander. Surprisingly, the official ignored the hit, as well as the resulting blood on the ice and called no penalty. An irate Bowers and Allen bench let referee Kevin Graber hear their full displeasure at the non-call as the replay was shown over and over again on the big screen.
 
To add insult to injury, two and a half minutes later Karlander would go on to score the evener off a rebound. Immediately following the play, Bowers was sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct, still letting his displeasure be known to Graber for the non-call a few minutes prior. Pouring salt in the wound, Odessa’s Mike Ramsay would notch the go-ahead goal for the Jacks on the resulting power play just 20 seconds into the man advantage. The first period came to a close with the Jacks leading on the board in all stats; 3-2 in the score and 13-10 for shots.
 
During the middle frame, the Americans finally started to show some vigor and pressured Odessa in their own end but the Jacks’ defense responded and clogged the slot, blocking shots to assist their goaltender as they did effectively, all night long. Ramsay would get his second tally of the night, this one also on the power play at 9:45 of the second period to increase the Jacks lead to two. The goal sparked the Jacks and they resumed their high-flying play, out-hustling and winning the sideboard battles for the puck that the Americans had been doing so successfully the past two games.
 
With just 34.5 seconds left in the second, Justin Bowers put a scare into Odessa when he redirected a Jordie Benn point shot past Martin to cut the Odessa lead to one. Allen held the edge in shots at the end of two, 14-10 and with the goal in the closing seconds, looked like they might rebound.
 
The third period was high tempo with plenty of opportunities for both teams, shots on net would finish at 17-13 in favor of the Americans but they failed to get any past Martin. Odessa would put the finishing touches on the Americans when Mike Lesperance drilled a slap shot past Chris Whitley at 13:42. The final blow was an empty netter notched by Sebastian Thinel at 19:32, giving the Jacks one more day to play.
 
After the empty net goal, Justin Bowers was assessed a two minute, a ten minute and a game misconduct as was Head Coach Dwight Mullins. The Americans were still fuming over the earlier non-call by the referee and again let their displeasure be known, the referee and linesman all appeared visibly angered at the Allen bench as the penalties were handed out.
 
Now the teams make the long trek back to West Texas. Game Six is set for Monday night at the Ector County Coliseum.
 
Contact the author at mauricefitzgerald@prohockeynews.com

Contact the photographer at chip.crail@prohockeynews.com