A 3 goal 1st Period helps Odessa tie the Series against the Brahmas

From the Central Hockey League Website: www.centralhockeyleague.com

From North Richland Hills, Texas: The Odessa Jackalopes got 27 saves from Juha Toivonen and a pair of goals from Sebastien Thinel as they topped the Brahmas, 5-1, at the NYTEX Sports Center on Friday Night. The win evens up the Southern Conference Semifinals series at 2-2 as the road team has won every game in the series so far.

Thinel's first tally was part of a three-goal first period as the Jackalopes took the lead and early control in the game. Mike Ramsay opened the scoring at 7:09, followed by Collin Circelli at 12:53 on the power play, and then Thinel at 15:07 as he took a pass on the right side of the net, and buried his own rebound for Odessa.

The game's scoring was halted until the third period, when Odessa's Jeff Pierce scored on a rebound at 7:11 to extend the Jacks lead to four. Kevin Seibel scored the lone goal for the Brahmas as his wrist shot from the point slipped through traffic, and past Toivonen who never saw the puck.

Thinel capped off the game with his second of the night at 18:47, a bad-angle shot from the left-wing corner on a Brahmas turnover.

It was the second straight game that the Jackalopes ended the first period with a 3-0 lead and the second straight game that Brahmas goaltender, Joe Palmer, came in for relief for Brett Jeager.

The Win now extends the series to at least six games in order to decide a winner. Game five will be played on Saturday back in Odessa at Ector County Coliseum.


Series tied 2-2


Game Boxscore

Odessa Jackalopes 5 Texas Brahmas 1 (3-0, 0-0, 2-1)

1-0 ODE: Mike Ramsay (Lesperance, Bernard) 7:09 1st

2-0 ODE: Collin Circelli (PP) (Dunn, Bernard) 12:53 1st

3-0 ODE: Sebastien Thinel (Pierce, Circelli) 15:07 1st

4-0 ODE: Jeff Pierce (Mbaraga, Thinel) 7:11 3rd

4-1 TEX: Kevin Seibel (Chorneyko, Burto) 14:18 3rd

5-1 ODE: Sebastien Thinel (Unassisted) 18:47 3rd


Game Stats

SOG: ODE 38 TEX 28

PP: ODE 1/8 TEX 0/6

PIM: ODE 18 Minutes on 9 Penalties TEX 31 Minutes on 10 Penalties

Goalies: ODE Juha Toivonen 27 SVS on 28 Shots TEX Brett Jeager 7 SVS on 10 Shots Joe Palmer 26 SVS on 28 Shots


ATT: 2312

3rd Star: Collin Circelli (ODE)

2nd Star: Jeff Pierce (ODE)

1st Star: Juha Toivonen (ODE)