The Amarillo Wranglers were able to pick up two points on a recent road trip to Odessa. The Wranglers beat the Jackalopes to open a two-game series last Friday, before Odessa bounced back with a 6-3 win Saturday.
Amarillo is currently sitting at 13–14–0–1 with 27 points in the North American Hockey League South Division. The Wranglers will be back at home Saturday and Sunday for holiday hockey hosting the El Paso Rhinos.
Friday’s game
Sitting one game below .500 and in last place in the South Division, just three points out of fourth place, Amarillo looked to lasso two very important points.
Coming off his inaugural First Star of the Game, center Ty Izadi hit a bullet from the face off dot to open up the scoring on a power play at the 15:15 of the first period. Amarillo held the 1–0 lead going into the first break.
Within two minutes of the start of the second period, Amarillo forward Tyler Tsoukalas scored his third goal of the season, extending Amarillo‘s lead 2–0. At the 11:10 mark of the second period, Odessa’s Caden Chiossi got the lucky bounce and found the back of the net, cutting Amarillo’s lead to 2-1. One of the unsung heroes and veterans of the Amarillo Wranglers, Mason Lupo, went coast to coast, scoring his first unassisted goal of the season, giving Amarillo the 3-1 lead.
Amarillo‘s Daniel Rassega scored his team leading 14th goal of the season as he took a pass from defenseman Caden Hegarty to extend Amarillo’s lead 4-1. Ty Izadi closed out the victory for the Wranglers on an empty net goal, putting the icing on the cake in this 5-1 victory.
Wranglers goalie Charles Antoine Girard was razor sharp between the the pipes as he scored his ninth victory of the year with a save percentage of 0.923
Saturday’s game
Thus far this season, the Wrangles are 4-7 playing on Saturday’s. A victory this past Saturday night over the Odessa Jackalopes would mean a three way tie for sixth place, the last playoff spot in the South Division.
The Amarillo Wranglers hit the ice influenced by John Travolta with a little “Saturday Night Fever” attempt at “Staying Alive” in the Southern Division playoff hunt. The Odessa Jackalopes scored quickly in the first period at the 18:08 mark, taking a very early 1-0 lead. Odessa Jackalope and Amarillo native Austin Richards started the rush as a puck ended up on Luke McPherson’s stick that found the back of the net at the 14:33 mark of the first period. Odessa held onto a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.
The second period produced Amarillo‘s only bright spot when team captain Jacob Miller received a pass from Kirill Evstigneev fresh off his return from the World Juniors, as Amarillo cut Odessa’s lead in half 2-1.
The third period saw a massive amount of scoring with a total of six goals unfortunately, Amarillo only had two. Odessa did their “Jive Talking” and closed this Saturday night game with a loss at 6-3.
Hegs and the Hounds
Amarillo has had its disproportionate share of dominant lines. The 2018-19 line of Gabriel Seger, David Ojamae and the most prolific scorer in NAHL history Logan Jenuwine. The 2021–22. Amarillo Wranglers produced the scoring trio of Logan Cleary, Glebs Prohorenkovs and Kristaps Skrastins. Cleary currently plays DIII hockey at Connecticut College. Prohorenkovs plays DI at the Niagara University. Skrastins is in his senior year playing D1 hockey for University of New Hampshire.
This season for the Amarillo Wranglers, an interesting line is developing that is affectionally called Hegs and the Hounds. This trio consists of Canden Hegarty, Daniel Rassega and Ty Izadi. In the last six games, this line has produced 28 points. With the season almost half over, this group of skaters will have to up their game if they want to be considered a top line in Amarillo hockey history, but they are off to one heck of a start.
Editor’s Note
Please listen for Tommy Tee‘s weekly recap of Amarillo Wranglers hockey on the “Drive at Five” with Lance Lahnert every Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. exclusively on 710-AM KGNC.