The Amarillo Wranglers finally got to skate on their own ice playing host to the Odessa Jackalopes to open the home schedule in a special three games series at the Budweiser Bullpen last Friday through Sunday.
The Wranglers used the home ice to take two out of three from the Jackalopes. Despite falling 4-3 in Friday’s series opener, Amarillo rebounded for a 5-4 victory Saturday and took the rubber match with a 2-1 win on Sunday.
The Wranglers are currently in fourth place in the North American League South Division (7-6-0-1, 14 points), just a point behind the third place Oklahoma Warriors.
Amarillo will be back at home this weekend taking on the El Paso Rhinos on Friday and Saturday.
Friday’s game
Coming off an 11-game road trip that encompassed over 4,500 miles and 84 hours of bus time, the Wranglers were excited to be home. After a disappointing sweep the week prior in Oklahoma City against the Warriors, Amarillo was laser-focused to stop their two-game losing streak.
The last game of the road trip in OKC produced over 300 penalty minutes and the 2 game suspension of eight Amarillo players and a single game suspension for head coach Micheal Hill. At one point during this slugfest, there were seven Amarillo players in the penalty box.
As result of the suspensions of the eight Amarillo players, numerous West Texas Wranglers players from the NA3HL (N3) team were called up for duty. From a coaching perspective, owner and president of the Amarillo Wranglers organization Austin Sutter took over the head coaching reigns this Friday night, along with his son and West Texas Wrangler General Manager Brit Brookes filling in as assistant coach.
In front of an exuberant and large opening night crowd, the Jackalopes scored first in the opening period when forward Jack L’Esperance snuck one past Amarillo goal minder Trent Peterson, giving Odessa the early 1-0 lead. At the 8:31 mark of the first period Amarillo Center Ty Izadi executed his contortionist act, scoring his third goal of the season and knotting this game up 1-1. Odessa scored again at the 7:02 mark of the first period, taking a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Four and a half minutes into the second period, Odessa’s Luke McPherson got a lucky bounce as the Jackalopes added to their lead, 3-1. Towards the end of the second period, Wranglers team Captain Jacob Miller sniped one past Odessa goaltender Colin Davis on the Power Play, cutting their lead to one goal. The Jackalopes took a 3-2 lead going into the final intermission.
At the 10:18 mark of the 3rd period, Odessa added to their lead by scoring a power play goal, giving Odessa the 4-2 lead. Amarillo made it close when Onsala Sweden native Alfons Jentler scored his second goal of the season to cut Odessa‘s lead to 4–3. Despite the efforts of the “seventh man” in the Amarillo Civic Center, by way of the N3 West Texas Wranglers who positioned themselves directly behind the bench of the Jackalopes by displaying robust and appropriately disruptive enthusiasm, Amarillo was not able to score another goal in this game and lost 4-3.
Amarillo goalie Trent Peterson stopped 26-of-30 shots in the loss, giving him an overall record of 3-4.
Saturday’s game
The Budweiser Bullpen was electric Saturday night as over 2,000 fans were hungry for a victory. Also to add to the excitement of the evening, the Texas Tech Red Raiders Club Hockey Team was in attendance as they cheered on the Amarillo Wranglers. The Red Raiders were in town playing a couple of games against the University of Texas at San Antonio in the Ice Ranch for some American Collegiate Hockey Association action.
To add to the excitement of this game, injured goaltender for the Wranglers and veteran returner Charles Antoine-Girard made his first home start of the season since coming off the injured reserve list. Girard finished last season as one of the hottest goalies in all of the NAHL. Michael Hill, head coach of the Amarillo Wranglers, was also back from his one-game suspension along with his assistant coach Lucas Stern.
The Odessa Jackalopes scored on a power play at the 16:17 mark of the first period when Nicholas Puricelli got one past Girard, giving Odessa an early 1-0 lead. The Captain and team point leader Jacob Miller launch a rocket at the 8:49 mark of the first period on the power-play, tying this game 1-1. The score remained tied 1-1 going into the first break.
The energy was quantifiable in the Budweiser Bullpen as this game moved into the second period. The “contortionist” and Long Beach native Ty Izadi was able to drop a pass to line-mate Tiernan O’Rourke to score his first goal as a Wrangler. O’Rourke came to Amarillo from the Danbury Hat Tricks earlier in the season and has played nine games with a total of 4 points. This goal gave Amarillo a 2-1 lead. Odessa answered back, just nine seconds later and scored a cumbersome goal, tying this event up 2-2. Newly acquired defenseman, Cru Smith, formerly with the Lone Star Brahmas, scored his first goal for the Wranglers as Amarillo took a 3-2 lead going into the last intermission.
Odessa was able to score quickly once on a power-play goal and once when Caden Ghiossi scored his fourth goal of the season for the , giving them a 4-3 lead with nine minutes left in the game. With a exuberant Amarillo crowd on their feet and the support of the Red Raiders, the “contortionist” and one of the scrappiest players in all of the NAHL Ty Izadi found a way to get the “biscuit in the basket,” tying this nailbiter up 4-4 with just 40 seconds left on the clock. This game moved to overtime.
Overtime hockey in the NAHL consists of a five minute three-on-three hockey extravaganza that, in this writer‘s opinion, is the most exciting overtime protocol in all of sports. The overtime period was ping-pong hockey going back-and-forth as both goalies stood on their head. With just 10 seconds left in the overtime period, Amarillo’s Lucas Schaffer hit a perfect line pass to Jake “the Snake” Boulanger as he found the back of the net to end this incredible game, giving Amarillo the victory 5-4. This was Boulanger’s first game winning goal of the season.
Amarillo goalie Charles Antoine-Girard scored his first victory of the season by saving 31-of-35 shots.
Sunday’s game
Amarillo hit the ice fully loaded and rid of all of the suspensions. Wranglers goalie Charles Antoine-Girard was able to shake off the cobwebs from the night before and was eager with anticipation to show the win hungry crowd the sheriff was back in town.
The first period was a magnificent performance as Girard made a statement between the pipes standing on his head, stopping the Odessa on slot of shots by not allowing a single biscuit to be buttered. Knoxville, Tenn., native and Amarillo forward Jake Thornton scored his first goal as a Wrangler and in the NAHL, with an assist by line mate, Mason Lupo and the rare goalie assist by Girard, giving Amarillo a 1-0 lead heading into the first break.
The second period was more ping-pong hockey when, at the 17:12 mark of the period, newly acquired forward Amarillo’s Caden Hegarty (First Star of the game) scored his first goal as a Wrangler. Odessa’s Alex Thomas on a power play was able to shoot one past Girard to make this game interesting as Amarillo enjoyed a 2-1 lead going into the final intermission
The third period was nothing short of spectacular as both goalies played like a cobra drinking Red Bull. Amarillo goalie Girard put on an amazing show for the exuberant Sunday evening crowd and was able to stifle Odessa’s offensive advantage after they pulled their goalie with almost two minutes left in the game. Amarillo captured its second victory and as many days by a 2-1 margin.
Charles Antoine-Girard was victorious by stopping 33-of-34 shots and earning his second victory in as many days.
Local Players
Since the advent of the Amarillo Ice Ranch, Amarillo has become a destination for world class hockey talent and is becoming a world class developmental point for the next generation of high-level hockey players.
Friday night in the Budweiser Bullpen two local hockey players that started their hockey journey in Amarillo played against each other. Odessa defenseman and team captain Austin Richards and Amarillo forward Gunnar Vick gave Amarillo fans a glimpse of what the future holds for local talent. Ironically, both players’ fathers coached them in the beginning phases of their hockey journey right here in Amarillo.
Austin‘s father, Roger Richards, coached his son during his youth hockey days. Rusty Vick coached his son Gunnar Vick as an assistant coach. Both Austin and Gunnar played on the same youth team.
At the grand opening of the Amarillo Ice Ranch, Wrangler’s owner/president/visionary stated that “one day there will be a NHL player that comes from Amarillo”. It certainly looks like this statement will come true sooner than later.
Editor’s Note
Please listen for Tommy Tee‘s weekly recap of the Amarillo Wranglers hockey on the “Drive at Five” with Lance Lahnert every Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. exclusively on 710-AM KGNC. Scheduled to appear this week will be goalie Charles Antoine -Girard and defenseman Cru Smith.