Amarillo, TX – The Amarillo Wranglers defeated the Odessa Jackalopes 6-5 in overtime on Saturday. The Wranglers wore their Barbie-themed specialty jerseys for Barbie Night at the Budweiser Bullpen.
Amarillo entered the game with a record of 4-4-1-0 while the Jackalopes carried a record of 4-6-0-1. The Wranglers started Luca Ganz in net, while the Jackalopes went with Quentin Sigurdson in goal for the second straight night.
Wranglers defenseman Colin Doherty opened the scoring with his first goal of the season 6:04 into the first period. Topi Puikkonen and Kyle DeMarco picked up the assists. But just 33 seconds later, Odessa responded with a goal of their own from Christian Tavare to make it 1-1. Amarillo retook the lead with 9:53 to go in the first when Connor McNaughton put home his second goal of the year on a perfectly placed shot from the top of the near circle. Roman Zap picked up the only assist on the goal. After 20 minutes of play, the Wranglers held a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
In the second period, the Wranglers continued to add to their lead. 2:40 into the period Jack Ivey notched a power play goal to make it 3-1 Wranglers. Excellent puck movement on the man advantage helped Ivey get wide open at the top of the far circle to allow him to rip a one-timer past Sigurdson. Papaspyropoulos and Gagnon earned assists on the goal. 3:34 later, Topi Puikkonen scored in the low slot on a centering feed from Jack Ivey to give the Wranglers a 4-1 lead. Following the goal, the Jackalopes made a goaltending change replacing Quentin Sigurdson with Maksim Bely. With 10:51 to go in the second period, Alex Papaspyropoulos scored his third goal of the season from DeMarco and Williams to extend the Wranglers’ lead to 4. However, the Jacks would stop the bleeding with 40.8 seconds to go in the period, as Theodore Manlove scored to make it a 5-2 game heading into the second intermission.
The Manlove goal would be the first of four unanswered goals by the Jackalopes, as Christian Tavare scored his second of the game 6:53 into the third from Manlove and DeMars to cut the deficit to 2. With 8:43 to go in regulation, the Jackalopes scored on the power play to pull within one. It was Hayden DeMars’ fifth goal of the season from Pietila and Christen. DeMars cashed in again with 4:28 to go in the third from Manzella and Manlove to tie the game at 5.
2:42 into overtime, the Wranglers’ Jack Ivey scored the game-winning goal from Nolan Gagnon and Ben Ivey to send Wranglers fans home happy and improve the team’s record to 5-4-1 on the season.
Five Wranglers skaters recorded multi-point games in the win: Jack Ivey had two goals and one assist, Topi Puikkonen and Alex Papaspyropoulos each had a goal and an assist, and Nolan Gagnon and Kyle DeMarco each recorded two assists.
The Wranglers will be back in action on Friday night when they welcome the defending Robertson Cup champion Oklahoma Warriors to the Budweiser Bullpen for the first of five straight games vs Oklahoma. Puck drop will be at 7:15, you can get your tickets at panhandletickets.com or watch on NAHLTV.