Arizona Remains Top Team in Southwest Division with 5-3 Win
November 15, 2007 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Arizona Sundogs News Release
PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. - The Arizona Sundogs and Odessa Jackalopes, in a battle for the Southwest Division's top spot, faced off in the first of two games Thursday night at the Ector County Coliseum in Odessa, Texas. The Arizona Sundogs (7-2-1) came into the game with a one-point lead over the Jackalopes (7-3-0) for first place. The Sundogs used a three-goal third period to win their fourth straight and third straight away from Tim's Toyota Center.
Odessa's Sebastian Thinel found the back of the net past Sundogs netminder Andrew Gallant at the 9:39 mark to score the first period's lone goal and give his club the game's first lead. Josh Legge and Dominic Leveille were credited with the assists on Thinel's tenth of the year. Both teams were unable to convert on the powerplay in the opening period, with Arizona going 0-for-3 with the man advantage and Odessa finishing 0-for-2.
Just twenty-three seconds into the second period, the Sundogs pulled even on a Mark Kolanos even-strength marker from Jason Visser and Alex Leavitt. With the assist, Leavitt extends his point streak to eight games, having failed to collect a point in just one contest this season. With 4:53 remaining in the second, Odessa coughed up the puck in their zone and defenseman Jon Landry capitalized, firing the puck past Odessa's Mike Gorman. Patrick Levesque and Chris Greene collected assists on the Sundogs go ahead goal. With time winding down in the middle frame, it seemed as though Arizona was going to take a 2-1 lead into the dressing room. Odessa had other plans following a Landry slashing call as Leveille collected his club's first powerplay goal of the game with one second remaining. Thinel and Nathan Ward teamed up to find a wide open Leveille between the circles for the equalizer to close out the period's scoring.
Arizona regained a one-goal lead 4:30 into the third on its first powerplay tally in six chances. Leavitt grabbed his second helper of the game skating out of the corner and dragging the puck past an Odessa defender before feeding Dusty Collins on the near post. Sliding left to right, Gorman had no chance as Collins notched his fourth of the year. Kolanos also assisted on the play for his second point on the night. Arizona's 3-2 lead was short lived as the Jackalopes answered back just 95 seconds later. The threesome of Leveille, Thinel and Ward teamed up for the group's second score in as many periods to even the score at 3-3. Determined to hold a lead in the third, the Sundogs tallied their second goal with the man advantage when Kolanos found the back of the net on Chris Bartolone and Alex Leavitt passes just shy of the midway point for a 4-3 advantage. Pushing the lead to 5-3, defenseman Sean Sullivan found his way on to the score sheet with his third of the year at the 11:07 mark. Collins and college teammate Rob Lehtinen assisted on the Sullivan tally for the game's final points.
Sundogs rookie netminder Andrew Gallant appeared in his fourth straight game and blocked 26 of 29 shots to improve to 4-0-0 on the season. Mike Gorman deflected 23 of 28 shots in net for Odessa. Both clubs converted on 25% of their powerplay chances with Arizona finishing 2-for-8 with the man advantage while Odessa was good on 1-of-4 chances. In 60 minutes of play, the Jackalopes held a one-shot advantage over the Sundogs for a 29-28 mark.
With the win, Arizona improves to 8-2-1 on the season and opens a three-point lead over the second place Jackalopes in the Southwest Division. The two teams square off again tomorrow night at 6:05pm (Arizona time). The Sundogs radio broadcast will be tape delayed until 7:00pm (Arizona time) and can be heard on the Official Broadcast Home of the Arizona Sundogs, 96.7 FM The Wolf.
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