Texas Tornado – Odessa Jackalopes Weekend Preview
By Kirk Estes
The Texas Tornado and Odessa Jackalopes will faceoff this weekend at the Ector County Coliseum in a battle of NAHL South Division teams that have combined for 18 straight losses. Neither team has been able to crack the win column since January 26th. The reason for the two winless streaks though are 180 degrees apart as the Tornado have been unable to consistently put the puck in the net while Odessa has been unable to keep them out.
David Dudich – Texas Tornado Booster Clug: Texas Tornado rookie Forward Scott Conway will look to continue his hot hand against Odessa.
For the Tornado to have any chance at catching the Topeka Roadrunners and secure home ice advantage for the playoffs they must turn things around immediately. A good start would be a sweep of Odessa this weekend. History is on the Tornado’s side as they are 9-1-0 against Odessa this season and 13-3-1 all time. Texas has outscored Odessa 59-20 this season and 19 Tornado players have at least one goal against Odessa this season.
| Last 5 Games | W | L | OTL | Pts |
| Texas Tornado | 0 |
5
0
0
Odessa
0
5
0
0
Special Teams
The Tornado should look to their strong special teams play to help snap the losing streak. Texas will go into west Texas with the 11th ranked road power play having converted 17 of 105 opportunities for 16.2%. The road penalty kill for the Tornado has been nothing short of spectacular this season allowing only 9 power play goals on the season on 96 times short handed for 90.6% to rank second in the league. The penalty kill has been especially potent over the last 9 road games giving up only a single goal on 34 penalty kills.
Odessa’s special teams have struggled all season and the Tornado will look to take advantage of that during the series. The Jackalopes home power play currently sets 20th in the league at 11.6% scoring 11 goals on 95 opportunities. Their home penalty kill ranks dead last in the 24 team league at just 72.8% allowing 31 goals on 114 times short handed.
Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games
GP |
W
L
OTL
SO
GA
GAA
SV
SV%
Texas Tornado
5
0
5
0
0
19
3.80
151
.888
Odessa
5
0
5
0
0
26
5.20
171
.868
Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)
| Texas Tornado | G | A | Pts |
| Brandon Hawkins | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Scott Conway | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Max Shuart | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| CJ Reuschlein | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Odessa | |||
| Matt Volonnino | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Corey Hoffman | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Anthony Olguin | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Jimmy Peplinski | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Brett Wagner | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Odessa’s Steven Haydon leads the league in Major Penalties with nine in 44 games played, and as a team the Jackalopes are fourth in the league with 43.
The Texas Tornado are averaging 3.65 goals per game despite their recent struggles good for third in the league while allowing 2.71 goals per game placing them ninth in the league. Odessa is last in both categories scoring only 2.02 per game while allowing 4.94 per game.
Odessa is 2-19-2 at home on the season and have been outscored by 74 goals on the Ector County Coliseum ice.
In shots on goal differential per game the Tornado hold a huge advantage at a +5.14 compared toOdessa’s -17.07.
The Tornado are 22-1-0 when leading after two periods but are 0-12-1 when trailing after two periods.
Tornado rookie forwards Scott Conway and Brandon Hawkins have feasted on the Odessa defense this season. In 10 games played Conway has 21 pts (9G-12A) and Hawkins has 16 pts (8G-8A). Justin Greenberg 13 pts, CJ Reuschlein 11 pts and Jackson Leef 11 pts all have scored in double digits against the Jackalopes.
Both teams have made roster moves since last facing each other on Jan 19.
Texas released D Alex Temby, F Brett Heikkila and traded F Brad Pung and F Jordan Paine. Additions to the roster include G Aaron Davis, D Donavan Gardiner and F Max Shuart.
Odessa traded leading scorer F Lawrence Cornellier, and D Austin Ho. They released D Curt Rau, F Jalen Krogman and G Phil Heinle. Odessa acquired G Erick Majerle via trade with Brookings and F Trace Jablin via league transfer.