The Texas Tornado (16-3-6, 38pts, #2 South) wrapped up the Thanksgiving weekend with two games against the Odessa Jackalopes. After edging the Jackalopes in their first meeting 4-3 on Wednesday the 23rd in Frisco, Texas traveled to Odessa for the weekend set.
A 2-1 SO loss to Odessa started the trip and the Tornado were able to bounce back and secure a 3-0 victory on Saturday, leaving their mark over the holiday week at a decent 2-0-1.
More on the Tornado after the jump…
Tornado Stymied by Odessa’s Hellebuyck, Fall 2-1 in SO
Just a short 48 hours after the Tornado beat the Jackalopes in a shootout, the roles were reversed and Odessa earned the bonus point on Friday. Texas struggled to decipher the puzzle that was Jackalopes goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who made 48 saves to drop the Tornado in the shootout, 2-1. Reid Mimmack did his part in net for the Tornado, but his 31 saves weren’t enough to earn the victory as his record falls to 5-1-3. Hellebuyck stopped all 32 shots he faced in the first two periods alone. Mimmack was perfect through 40 minutes as well, and the Tornado took the lead at the 10:17 mark of the third thanks to a goal credited to C.J. Reuschlein. It appeared that Mychal Monteith would pick up his first tally as a member of the Tornado after he shot the puck from the right wing circle, but Reuschlein was ruled to have deflected the puck in for the goal. Once again, Odessa came from behind to force the tie with exactly three minutes remaining. As was the case on Wednesday, OT decided nothing and the teams headed to the shootout. Jack Prince potted the lone goal again for Texas, but this time Odessa got two goals and was victorious in the skills competition.
Texas Bounces Back, Shut Out Jackalopes 3-0
The Tornado got goals from three of their lighter scorers Saturday, all within 2:59 of each other, to skate away with a 3-0 victory against Odessa. Just 24 hours after the Tornado were stymied 48 times by Odessa, Texas was able to get three goals in rapid succession for the win. Joakim Jutras earned his third shutout of the season and made 22 saves to do so, improving his record to 11-1-3 on the campaign. Texas scored all of its goals in the middle stages of the second on markers by Skyler Spiller, Mitchell McPherson, and John Kirtland. Spiller and McPherson both have two goals on the season, while Kirtland’s was his first of 2011-2012.
Looking Ahead:
–Texas has just 3 home games in December, all against the Corpus Christi Ice Rays. Game dates are Friday, December 9th, Saturday, December 10th, and Wednesday, December 28th. Corpus has beaten Texas both times they played this season, both games coming in Corpus Christi.
–On December 10th, the Tornado will be hosting their annual “Holiday Party” during and after the game. The first 1,500 fans in attendance that night will get a Tornado Holiday ornament, and there will be a post-game skate with Santa and the Tornado players, as well as Ike the Polar Bear. Tickets for all games can be found here.
As always you can follow all things Tornado at www.tornadohockey.com and www.NAHL.com
I can be reached directly at Nick@TornadoHockey.com