Odessa 7 @ Rio Grande Valley 3 - The Jackalopes spoiled the home opener of the Killer Bees on Thursday night on the strength of four, 2nd period goals on their way to a convincing 7-3 win. Defenseman Christian Hausinger had three points in the win, including a goal and two assists. 

Four of Odessa’s seven goals came on the power play as they went 4 for 6 with the man advantage on Thursday.  After a scoreless 1st period, the Jackalopes scored the game’s first goal in the opening minute of the 2nd period as Leo Lumm sprung Hampus Sjodahl for a goal. Christian Hausinger and Ryan MacKellar scored back-to-back power play goals later in the 2nd period just four minutes apart to push the lead to 3-0. That would spell the end of the night for Killer Bees goalie Ben Johansson, who was pulled in favor of Nick Schmit. The Jackalopes made the score 4-0 on a nice individual effort by Colton Schmidt, who scored his first goal of the season, which would also turn out to be the game-winner.

It didn’t take long for Odessa to increase the lead once more as just 2:29 into the 3rd period Rhys Phelps scored to make the lead 5-0.  However, the Killer Bees did not throw in the towel as they scored three straight goals in a span of five minutes as JB Baker, Dean Balsamo and Parker Wood scored to bring Rio Grande to within 5-3. However, the Jackalopes put the game out of reach with two more power play goals from Derek Brown and Lane Valimont. The goal for Brown moved him into a tie for the NAHL scoring lead with teammate Kenny Hausinger, who was held scoreless on Thursday night. The Jacks got goals from seven different players.