Brahmas lose a wild one in Odessa

Jackalopes victorious in 10 round shootout, Brahmas clinch playoff berth

In the only game to be played with the Brahmas at the Ector County Coliseum this season, 4,011 Jackalope fans watched their team rally three times to erase Brahma leads. In the second shootout in as many games between the two teams, the Jacks would emerge victorious after 10 rounds, to celebrate a 4-3 win.

On the up side, the Brahmas earned a point and clinched a playoff berth as a result of a loss by the Corpus Christi IceRays. They remain three points ahead of Odessa in the Southern Conference standings with 73 points. A loss tonight by the Laredo Bucks gave the Brahmas a 13 point lead in the Southeast Division. They remain just three points behind the Colorado Eagles in the hunt for the Governor's Cup.

The Brahmas got on the board first tonight when Craig Minard made a wrist shot from the near side point. The puck deflected off a body, went over Juha Toivonen's shoulder, then hit the post and went into the net. The score was 1-0 at the 8:17 mark. Greg McConnell and Tyler Skworchinski were in on the assist.

Brian Swiniarski leveled Ross Rouleau at the 10:17 mark, earning a trip to the penalty box for interference. Later, Juha Toivonen took a stick to the face mask, resulting in a high-sticking call against Travis Banga at the 16:20 mark. However, in the period, neither team capitalized on two powerplay opportunities each.

Odessa outshot the Brahmas 11-8 in the first 20 minutes but went into the locker room down a goal.

The second period started out tame enough but soon turned into a wild one, resulting in powerplay scores from each side.

The Brahmas had an uncharacteristic five penalties in the period including four in a row. A Too Many Men Bench Minor created a 5-on-3 for 1:16 at the 8:39 mark. The Brahmas' penalty killers stopped five shots until it went to 5-on-4, then stopped two more shots to kill the penalty. Unfortunately, Scott Sheppard would almost immediately receive a four minute high sticking double minor at the 10:25 mark.

59 seconds later, Mike Lesperance cashed in on the power play with 8:36 left in the period. Sebastien Thinel started the play with a feed to Colin Circelli in the right corner. He waited patiently for Lesperance to gain an advantage in the left circle. The moment he did, Circelli fired the pass to Lesperance's tape and the rookie forward quickly one-timed it behind Cacciola to even it up at 1-1.

The Brahmas regained the lead less than four minutes later when Brandon Benedict was credited with a powerplay goal, the result of some quick passes with Scott Sheppard and Nathan Saunders in a triangle formation. Like the first goal, the puck deflected off someone in the crowd in front of the crease before dropping behind Toivonen at the 15:13 mark.

The Brahmas outscored the Jacks 16-13 in the middle period to even the shot count at 24 through 40 minutes.

The Jacks began the third period with 1:20 left on the powerplay, but were unable to capitalize.

But Mike Ramsay managed to tie the game with 10:29 left to play when his wrist shot from the left circle hugged the ice and split the pads of Cacciola. Karlander started the power-play goal by waiting behind the net to the left of Cacciola and then firing the cross-ice pass to Ramsay. Philippe Plante also assisted.

Just under two minutes later, Jason Deitsch took a feed from Brandon Benedict and Kevin Mcleod after he skated into the crease. He scored after faking Toivonen to the ice, then lifted the puck under the crossbar to make it 3-2 at the 11:28 mark.

Paul Gills pulled Toivonen with 1:47 left in regulation in favor of the extra attacker. It payed off when Colin Circelli, after two tries by Sebastien Thinel, finally pushed the puck inside the right post to send the game into overtime. Jeff Pierce was also credited with the assist.

The Brahmas took the only four shots in overtime, but were unable to beat Toivonen and the game went into the shootout.

Brian Swininarski, Sebastien Thinel and Colin Circelli scored for Odessa, only to be matched each time by Jason Deitsch, Jordan Cameron and Craig Minard. Then, Philippe Plante skated into the zone through the right circle and snapped the shot before Cacciola was set in the crease, scoring what would become the game winner. Tyler Skworchinski got the Brahmas' final chance but was unable to beat Toivonen and just like that, the game was over.

The Brahmas outshot the Jacks 36-35 in regulation and 4-0 in overtime.

The Brahmas fought hard but it was costly penalties (if not the ineffective penalty kill) that hurt the Brahmas the most. Anyone who watched the game saw an Odessa squad that would not give up and certainly earned their win in more areas than just the shootout.

The Brahmas record goes to 34-12-5.

David Cacciola takes the loss tonight with 31 saves on 31 shots in regulation. His record goes to 9-6-1-1.

The Brahmas went 1 for 5 on the powerplay and were assessed 23 minutes on 11 infractions. The Jacks went 2 for 10 on the man advantage and were assessed 12 minutes on five infractions.

All three stars went to Odessa players so that's all I will say about that.

You can view the box score here

The Brahmas return home tonight in order to rest up for tomorrows game against the 30-14-6 Oklahoma City Blazers. The opening face off will be at 3:05pm. Be there!