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Saturday Scores: Odessa sweep keeps playoff hopes alive

March 11, 2012

Odessa 5 @ Wichita Falls 4 - With two critical points on the line towards a playoff spot, the Odessa Jackalopes delivered for the second straight night, scoring late in the third period to top the Wichita Falls Wildcats on Saturday at Kay Yeager Coliseum. With the win, the Jackalopes improved to 22-25-5 overall this season and with 49 points, remain alone in fifth place in the NAHL’s South Division standings, six points shy of the Corpus Christi IceRays for the South Division’s fourth and final playoff spot with eight games remaining in the Jacks’ regular-season schedule.  For the second consecutive evening, the Jacks and Wildcats entered the second period scoreless, but on Saturday, the middle frame brought goals in spades. The Jacks took a 1-0 lead just 1:52 into the period when Josh Obregon poked a Tyler Cayemberg pass through the legs of Wichita Falls netminder Matt Leon for his team-leading 17th goal of the season. Odessa doubled the lead three minutes later on a solid wrister from Lawrence Cornellier that beat Leon to the glove side. The Wildcats answered back just two minutes later, when Tucker Poolman snuck a rebound past Jacks goalie Connor Hellebuyck on the backhand to make it 2-1. After Alex Ostrowski extended the Odessa lead at 10:37 of the second period on his second goal in as many nights thanks to a nifty passing play from Brandon Gorges and Tyller Robert, the Jacks entered the second intermission with a 3-1 lead. Early in the third however, Wichita Falls sprung to life with back-to-back goals from Nick Szopinski at 2:21 and 5:02 to tie the game at three. Resilient as ever, the Jackalopes punched back just 90 seconds later, when Ryan Doucet slipped the first of his two goals on the night past Leon for a power-play tally and a 4-3 Odessa edge. The Jacks maintained that lead deep into the third and after a near line-brawl at 11:39 that resulted in 30 combined penalty minutes and a game ejection for Leon, Wichita Falls winger Zach Pochiro skated through a crowd of defenders and outdueled Hellebuyck to tie the game at four with just over two minutes to play in regulation.  As both teams steadied themselves for overtime, Doucet took matters into his own hands as the 6’4” winger wrangled a Cornellier feed from the far corner 13 seconds after the Pochiro goal and muscled it past Wildcat goaltender JoJo Jeanetta to put Odessa on top for good 5-4. The win was Odessa’s third in a row, tying a season-high and fifth in their past six games. Boxscore

Austin 6 @ Bismarck 2 – The Bruins won their 8th straight game with a convincing 6-2 win in Bismarck on Saturday.  The Bruins were led by Charlie Adams who had a goal and two assists and goaltender Nichola Lehr, who made 41 saves.  John Simonson and Chase McDonald gave Austin a 2-0 lead in the 1st period.  Adams, Jonathan Gehrt and Jeremy Finger added goals in the 2nd period and Austin Nelson scored in the 3rd period. Boxscore

Corpus Christi 7 @ New Mexico 5 – Paced by two goals and an assist by Brandon Smith, Corpus Christi picked up a weekend sweep of New Mexico to remain in the 4th and final playoff spot in the South. It wasn’t until the 3rd period until the IceRays were able to shake off the Mustangs, who got a three point night from Jimmy Peplinski in the losing effort. Boxscore

Kenai River 2 @ Fairbanks 4 – The Ice Dogs creeped closer to a division title with a sweep of the Brown Bears on Saturday in a 4-2 win.  Max Birkinbine had a goal and two assists in the win and Pavlo Padakin had a goal and assist.  Fairbanks led 2-0 after the 1st period with goals from Alec Hajdukovich and Padakin.  Kenai River tied the game at 2-2 with goals from Sean Muller and Brett Lubanski, before two goals in the 3rd from Birkinbine and Logan Wendling. Boxscore

Fresno 4 @ Alaska 3 – Fresno moved back into a tie for the 4th and final playoff spot in the West with a 4-3 in Alaska on Saturday.  Mikhail Bushinski, Kyle Buffardi, Filip Winkler and Karl Andersen all scored for Fresno in the win, while Evan Hesse, Wehebe Darge and Joe Schmitz scored for the Avalanche.  Tomas Sholl made 25 saves in the win. Boxscore

Wenatchee 4 @ Dawson Creek 0 – Robert Nichols had to make just 17 saves, but he broke a new franchise record with his 9th shutout of the season as the Wild completed a three-game road sweep of the Rage.  Chris Kerr scored twice including the first and last goals of the game.  Matt Cope and Shawn Pauly added the others for Wenatchee, who outshot the Rage, 35-17. Boxscore

Alexandria 4 @ Aberdeen 1 – Seth Ronsberg had a hat-trick and both Alexandria goalies combined to make 39 saves as the Blizzard picked up a 4-1 road win in Aberdeen.  Thomas Williams picked up three assists and Tucker Coborn also had a three point night.  CJ Reuschlein scored first for the Wings, but the Blizzard answered with four straight, including three from Ronsberg. Boxscore

Texas 2 @ Amarillo 0 – Hunter Leisner stopped all 33 shots for his 3rd shutout in a Tornado uniform as Texas completed a weekend sweep in Amarillo against the 1st place Bulls.  Taylor Herndon scored on the power play in the 2nd period to give the Tornado a lead they would never lose.  Jordan Lovick would add the second goal and an assist in the win. Texas outshot Amarillo, 38-33. Boxscore

Port Huron 4 @ Michigan 1 – Port Huron edged closer to the North Division title with a 4-1 win on the road against the Warriors.  In a dominant 1st period, Michigan got four goals from Alex Globke, Brett D’Andrea, Nolan Valleau and Max Reavis.  Michael Economos scored the lone goal for Michigan in the 3rd period.  Max Milosek made 25 saves for his 17th win of the season. Boxscore

Springfield 2 @ Kalamazoo 3 – Kyle Gattelaro scored in the final minute as the K-Wings snapped the Jr. Blues winning streak with a 3-2 win on Saturday.  Josef Pontasch gave the Jr. Blues a 2-0 lead in the 1st period with back-to-back goals.  Trevor Boyd and Andrew Graves answered back to make it 2-2 before Gattelaro’s late-game heroics.  Ken MacLean made 31 saves in the win. Boxscore

Topeka 2 @ St. Louis 1 (SO) – Topeka head coach Scott Langer picked up win #300 as the RoadRunners dominated the shootout in a 2-1 win over the Bandits, which salvaged a weekend split.  Ryan Stouffer gave the Bandits a 1-0 lead, but Michal Pastor answered with his second goal in as many games to tie it up in the 3rd period and send the game to a shootout.  Goaltender Cal Peterson stopped all three Bandits shooters to secure the win. Boxscore

Traverse City 4 @ Jamestown 2 – The North Stars scored three times in the 3rd period to come-from-behind to defeat the Ironmen, 4-2.  Chris Waterstreet, Seth Adams, Eric Rivard and Nathan Harris all scored for Traverse City, who outshot Jamestown, 33-20.  Zack Szajner and Anthony Coles scored in the losing effort for the Ironmen, who remain 10 points out of a playoff spot with just 10 games to play. Boxscore

 
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