Maybe some cheese to go with that whine?

Brahmas force another Jackalopes meltdown, win 6-3

“I thought we had a great first period and did a good job in the first five or six minutes of the second period...but then when we didn’t get a call on a hit on Booter (Darryl Bootland) it seemed to throw us off our game and we had a meltdown out there."

- Odessa Jackalopes coach Paul Gillis (courtesy www.oaoa.com)

Wow. How many times have we seen a very good Odessa Jackalopes team completely melt down and lose a game to the Brahmas? Tonight was one of those games.

And how many time have we listened to super-homer "broadcaster" Brien Rea humiliate himself on the radio feed? Seriously, once again calling for Jackalopes players to intentionally start laying our players because he feels they are getting away with "dirty" hits? This is CHL hockey - maybe Rea should ask Dave Van Drunen what he thinks about calling for reckless retaliation.

Suffice it to say, the better team held their own at the Ector County Coliseum today. Your Texas Brahmas came back from a 2-0 deficit in the first frame and scored six unanswered goals (by five different players) in the space of 17:53 to earn a 6-3 road win. The Brahmas record goes to 13-9-3 (7-5-2 on the road) with

From the Odessa American online (Lee Scheide):

(Todd) Robinson started the scoring less than a minute into the contest. Taking a pass from Sebastien Thinel along the right wing, Robinson skated down toward the right post, with Brahmas goaltender Kevin Beech quickly moving to close off any opening.

But Robinson continued moving behind the net and when Beech was slow to react, the Jackalopes’ center curl around the net and stuffed the puck inside the left post at the 31-second mark of the opening period.

Then, as the period was winding down, Robinson struck again, this time coming down the left wing before skating into the left circle and across the slot, where he used Bootland as a screen before snapping a shot between the pads of Beech with 3:23 remaining in the first period.

That prompted Texas Brahmas coach Dan Wildfong to change goaltenders and Jeff Harvey came onto the ice for the Brahmas and promptly shut the Jackalopes down for the rest of the period and most of the game.

In the second period, it took Texas just 59 seconds to take the lead on goals by Tyler Allen, Chad Woollard and Jason Krischuk.

Allen’s marker came at the 3:19 mark of the period after an Odessa turnover in the neutral zone. The Brahmas quickly came down ice on the counterattack, with Allen finding the back of the net inside the right post from the right hash marks.

Woollard evened the contest 33 seconds later, after the Jackalopes had trouble gaining possession and clearing the puck from their own zone. Texas Jason Deitsch was able to gain control along the right wing and quickly fed Greg Hogeboom in the left circle.

Hogeboom found Woollard driving toward the right post and fed a perfect pass through the slot that Woollard was able to desposit behind Jackalopes goaltender Joel Martin at 3:52 of the second period.

Just 26 seconds later, Krishuck gave the Brahmas a lead they never would relinquish when he ripped a shot from the top of the slot that Martin never saw as Jackalopes defenseman Garrett Gruenke was trying to make a play on the puck and screened Martin.

More to come Monday night (just got back from vacation)...

Photo Credit: Robert Keith