Sundogs Fall to Odessa 4-3 in Southwest Division Battle
February 2, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Arizona Sundogs News Release
PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. - The Arizona Sundogs and Odessa Jackalopes battled at the Ector County Coliseum in Odessa, Texas Saturday night, with both teams looking to grab the Southwest Division's top spot. Coming into the game, the Sundogs held a one-point advantage over second place Odessa. The two clubs traded leads throughout the game but it would be the Jackalopes using the 4-3 victory to climb back atop the Southwest Division.
Odessa opened scoring in the first period to take a one-goal lead as John Osborne found the back of the net on the Jackalopes' first powerplay of the night. Olivier Proulx and Mario Joly assisted on the man advantage goal at the 8:13 mark. Arizona answered back at 15:38 of the period as Karl Sellan found the back of the net for the third time in two games. Olivier Latendresse took the initial shot and Sellan banged at the loose puck until it crossed the goal line. Dusty Collins also gathered an assist on the play. The Sundogs took the lead with just 41 seconds remaining in the opening frame on a Jason Visser wrist shot past the blocker of Odessa netminder Alexandre Vincent. Mark Kolanos and Jon Landry were credited with helpers on the late go ahead marker.
The Sundogs opened a two-goal lead early in the second period as Tyler Liebel gathered a Chris Bartolone shot from the point that bounced off the sideboards and snuck it in as Vincent adjusted from the shot. Visser tallied his second point of the night with an assist on the Sundogs' first powerplay marker. Odessa answered back with their second powerplay tally at the 4:20 mark to pull within one as Nathan Ward deflected a Sebastien Thinel shot through the legs of Sundogs netminder Rob McVicar for his 13th of the season. Proulx notched his second assist of the night on the Ward goal. The Jackalopes tied the game at three goals apiece with 3:01 to play in the middle frame as Joly grabbed his second assist of the night, with a length-of-the-ice feed to Thinel. The St. Jerome, Quebec, native faked a pass and slid a shot beneath McVicar for his 23rd of the year.
At 5:40 of the third period, Proulx grabbed his first goal and third point of the game as the puck found the back of the net off his stick to give his club a 4-3 lead. Thinel turned and fired a low shot from the blue line to grab the lone assist on the Jackalopes' fourth goal Saturday night. For the second straight night, Arizona pulled netminder Rob McVicar in place of an extra attacker but the effort fell short with the Odessa Jackalopes skating away with the 4-3 victory and a one-point lead for the top spot in the Southwest Division.
McVicar blocked 41 of 45 shots in the loss while Alexandre Vincent stopped 44 of 47 shots in the win. Arizona finished 1-for-2 with the man advantage while Odessa converted on 66.7% of their chances, finishing 2-for-3 on the powerplay. With the loss, Arizona falls to second place in the Southwest Division, one point back Odessa.
Arizona now returns to Prescott Valley for a Wednesday night matchup against the Corpus Christi Rayz at Tim's Toyota Center. Game time is set for 7:05pm. Tickets are available by phone at 1-866-4-GET-TIX (1-866-443-8849), online at www.gettix.net and in person at the Tim's Toyota Center Box Office.
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