In what was one of the most bizarre finishes of the season, the Squirrels defeated the Jesters 5-4 after a 9-round shootout Tuesday.

Up 4-2 in the second on goals by Casey Carpenter, Mark Tessar, Ben Sumner and Carpenter again, the Squirrels then surrendered two down the stretch. In the shootout, Carpenter scored the game-saver in the third round, then the winner in the ninth round. As one of the Jesters skated up for his second shot of the shootout, he overskated the puck not once, but three times, before the play was called dead, giving the Squirrels the victory. The same player had previously scored in the second round. Greg Hainer also scored in the shootout.

The Jesters got revenge after an opening season loss to the Squirrels, this time winning 5-2. Stu Miller and Jeff Ford scored for the Squirrels.

The Squirrels took advantage of a short Jesters bench and Casey Carpenter’s scoring Tuesday in a season-opening 4-2 victory. Jesters’ goalie and former Squirrel Ed Owen kept his team in the game with 31 saves, and Bob Sewell made 25 for the Squirrels to secure the victory.

In one of the weirdest games of the season, the Squirrels pulled away from the Jesters on Thursday and held on in the second game of the night for both teams.

Both teams skated to a 0-0 tie in the first period, as the Squirrels survived being down a man for five minutes. Just two shifts into the second period, the teams traded goals in a nine-second span.  Mark Tessar scored his second of the game a few minutes later, then got a natural hattrick on the power play. Don Marks pushed the score to 4-1 with just 3:10 remaining.

But the Jesters weren’t done, scoring once with two minutes remaining, then somehow snuck in a shot with under a minute left to put the game within reach.

The Squirrels, however, killed off the rest, before an errant clear sailed across the rink and into the netting, giving the Jesters one last offensive-zone face-off with a second remaining. The Squirrels survived, leapfrogging the Jesters back into first place.

In what can only be described as a lousy game for both teams, the Jesters bested the Squirrels in their second game of the night Thursday as both teams appeared drained of energy.

The Squirrels did, however, tie the game at 3 with five minutes to go, but the Jesters took advantage on the next shift and scored the go-ahead goal, holding on for a 5-3 victory.

Casey Carpenter, Mark Tessar and Stu Miller scored for the Squirrels.