Saturday, November 14, 1998

Aviators defeated by Jackalopes in Odessa

ODESSA -- The Abilene Aviators were handed a 3-1 loss at the "Jack Shack" in Odessa Friday night in the first of 12 consecutive road games for Abilene.

The Aviators had an extremely short bench for the game, with three players on the roster serving suspensions, Matthew Raby away with a death in the family, and Stephen Maltby unable to play after suffering a back injury in Thursday night's win over Amarillo. As teams in the WPHL are only able to suit 24 players per game, this left the Aviators severly undermanned for the contest.

The Aviators outshot Odessa 40-25 in the game, but were unable to get more than one past Jackalope goalie Billy Pye.

The Aviators trailed 2-0 at the end of the first period, but Jayson Brunette brought the Aviators to within one at the 7:22 mark of the second period, making the score 2-1 and giving Abilene their only goal of the game.

Odessa picked up the first of their goals just more than three minutes into the opening period, and the second on the 7:21 mark of the first.

The Aviators caught a break midway through the final period when the Jackalopes were called for a two-minute penalty, but Abilene failed to capitalize on the opportunity.

Not only did Abilene not score on the power play opportunity, but Odessa's Ryan Equalie scored a short-handed goal with 10 seconds left in the Abilene advantage.

The loss drops the Aviators to 12-3, still the best record in the league. The Aviators currently lead all teams with 24 points.

Odessa 3, Abilene 1

Odessa 2 0 1--3

Abilene 0 1 0--1

First period -- 1. Odessa, Jacque Rodrigue (Anderson, Lukacs) 16:57; 2. Odessa, Dunn (Lavergne, Equale) 12:39. Penalties -- Abilene, Gregoire (elbowing) 13:38; Odessa, Fiorone (slashing) 12:12; Abilene, Booth (roughing) 8:50; Odessa, Laine, (hooking) 8:31; Odessa, Equale (holding) 3:44.

Second period -- 3. Abilene, Jayson Brunette (Poulin) 12:43. Penalties -- Odessa, Lukas (double minor) 19:32; Abilene, Poulin (double minor) 19:32; Abilene, Brule (hooking) 19:13; Odessa, Lukas (fighting) 7:54; Abilene, Margettie (fighting) 7:54; Abilene, Dallman (misconduct) 7:20; Odessa, Girhiny (roughing) :51; Abilene, Poulin (roughing) :51.

Third period -- 4. Odessa, Ryan Equale (Morque), 9:08. Penalties -- Abilene, Margettie (unsportsmanlike), 18:25; Odessa, Morque (unsportsmanlike) 18:25; Odessa, Rodrigue (roughing) 17:30; Odessa, Lindberg (interference) 10:58; Abilene, Roy (high sticking) 7:15

Shots on goal -- Abilene: 14-12-13--39; Odessa: 8-13-4--25

Goalies -- Abilene: Martino (6-13-3--22); Odessa: Pye (14-11-13--38)

A -- 4,408