Friday Finals: Shreveport Shutouts Oklahoma at Home

Tyler Hodges defended the net, picking up his third shutout of the season

Oklahoma 0 @ Shreveport 3 - The Shreveport Mudbugs played host to the Oklahoma Warriors for a Friday night special at George’s Pond. Heading into the series, the Warriors had been road warriors, featuring a four-game heater as the visiting team, while the Mudbugs were looking to turn around their losing ways after falling in their past three games heading into the contest. The matchup kicked off with the Mudbugs striking first, thanks to Grayson Gerhard finding the back of the net midway through the frame. Heading into the second period, it was a scoreless affair until the final 52 seconds of the period. Gerhard would extend Shreveport’s lead while securing a season-first, a two-goal performance. As the contest progressed into the final 20 minutes of the game, Shreveport would add insurance at the 8:44 minute mark when Jason Simons tallied his second of the year. The Mudbugs would come out victorious with a 3-0 shutout victory. Between the pipes for Shreveport, Tyler Hodges spotlighted a 21-save performance, notching his third shutout of the season.

New Mexico 5 @ Odessa 3 - The Ice Wolves hit the road to take on the Jackalopes for the start of a two-game set starting on Friday night. New Mexico is in the hunt to build on its winning ways and tighten the gap to the Lone Star Brahmas at the top of the standings, while Odessa is in a battle for positioning in the middle of the standings. Three points separate third place and sixth place. The matchup kicked off with the Jackalopes striking first with longtime T1ER forward, Brandon Catalano. The CarShield skater found twine midway through the first period. However, a little over 30 seconds later, New Mexico’s Nayan Pai would even the score 1-1. Five minutes later, Ice Wolve’s alternate captain, Stanley Hubbard, would score his first power-play tally of the season to give New Mexico the 2-1 lead heading into the second frame. The Jackalopes would come out striking quickly in the second period to tie up the contest, with former Louisiana Driller Alex Thomas scoring less than 90 seconds into the frame. Both teams would continue to trade chances until New Mexico’s captain, Sean Gibbons, scored in the final three minutes of the period. However, the Jackalopes would respond with Jack L’Esperance scoring at the 1:17 minute mark to even the contest once again for Odessa at 3-3 heading into the last period. The third period featured New Mexico’s captain Gibbons tallying his second of the night, to give New Mexico the lead once again, this time in a 4-3 fashion. The Jackalopes would look to even the score in the final moments of the game by pulling goaltender Colin Davis to give their team the man advantage. However, New Mexico would add insurance with 1:13 to spare. New Mexico’s Pai would score an empty-netter to give the Ice Wolves a decisive 5-3 victory. The hero of the contest for New Mexico was Sean Gibbons, who featured a three-point performance with his team.