Faced with possible elimination, the Odessa Jackalopes rallied on home ice on Thursday night to shut out the Texas Brahmas 2-0, forcing a game seven showdown for the Southern Conference Championship. The winner will advance to the Ray Miron President's Cup Final against either Colorado or Mississippi. Odessa goaltender Juha Toivonen earned his second shutout in the series, stopping all 25 shots faced.
Toivonen continued in net even though he was in obvious pain after sacrificing his body in order to make several huge saves in the middle period.
"I wasn't coming out," Toivonen told the Odessa American. "These are the games that you want to play in and I wanted to stay out there. The guys were playing well in front of me and that gave me confidence. Now we play one game for everything."
Odessa out shot the Brahmas in the first period 14-8 but were unable to solve Brahmas goaltender Brett Jaeger.
Odessa’s Paul Kelly would score the game-winner at the 11:00 mark of the second frame. The play began in the right corner of the Odessa zone where defenseman Garrett Gruenke took control of the puck and passed it to Kelly who made his way across the neutral zone to the right point. Kelly then evaded a Brahmas defenseman and skated to the left across the Texas zone, sending his shot from the left hash mark over Brett Jaeger’s right shoulder.
Thus far in the series, the team who scored first went on to win the game. This much was true as the remainder of the game became a battle for control of the puck with Odessa forcing the Brahmas to play much of the rest of the game in their defensive zone. The Brahmas out shot the Jacks 14-7 in the second and managed to hit the post twice, but could not beat a red hot Toivonen.
The third period remained scoreless until Brahmas coach Dan Wildfong pulled Jaeger in favor of the extra attacker. The strategy backfired however as the Brahmas were forced to defend the empty net after the Jacks gained control of the puck several times. Odessa finally scored when Jean Bourbeau’s shot made its way to the back of the net with just 5.79 seconds left in the game. Kenny Bernard and Russ Moyer were credited with the assist.
After the game, Brahmas head coach Dan Wildfong was distressed by the lack of effort on the part of some of his players.
“When you have a chance to go to the finals and you don’t perform to the best of your ability, it’s very frustrating to the coach and to the players who worked their tails off to try and get there,” Wildfong said. “They’re not just going to give us a game. We didn’t put enough pressure on their goalie, we didn’t shoot enough and we tried to make too many cute plays.”
The Brahmas now find themselves in the same position they were in last season in the Northern Conference Championship against the Colorado Eagles. Only last year, it was the upstart Brahmas team that forced the deciding game, only to lose a heartbreaker at the Budweiser Events Center. The difference this time just may be the home ice advantage for Texas, where they have a 4-1 post-season record and a league best 26-5-1 regular season record.
“It definitely gives us an advantage; we played pretty well there all year,” Wildfong said. “But it’s game seven. There is no tomorrow. Our backs are against the wall just like their backs are against the wall. It’s going to be a dogfight.”
Odessa out shot the Brahmas 9-3 in the final period and 30-25 in the game. The Jacks have out shot their opponent in every post-season game thus far.
Juha Toivonen earned the victory, his second shutout in three games and his seventh consecutive win in the post-season. Brett Jaeger took the loss, stopping 28 of 29 shots. His playoff record is now 7-3.
Odessa went 0 for 6 on the power play. Texas went 0 for 4. The Jacks were assessed 12 minutes on six infractions. The Brahmas were given 16 minutes on eight infractions.
The 3rd star went to Brett Jaeger for his work in net for the Brahmas. The 2nd star was given to Paul Kelly for his game winning goal and the 1st star was awarded to Juha Toivonen for his outstanding performance.
You can view the box score here
You can view my photos from the game here
Game seven is scheduled for this Saturday, April 25 at the NYTEX Sports Centre with a 7:05pm CST opening face off.
Photo Credit: Robert Keith
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