The Newest Member of the Jackalopes is... Dave LaCouture?

The newest member of the Odessa Jackalopes is Dave LaCouture. While he may not be the huge player signing that we were all hoping for, I believe that he will be a great addition to the Jacks. LaCouture is now the Senior Vice President of Marketing for the Odessa Jackalopes, and he is now also a minority owner of the team. This proves that the Jackalopes are pushing forward and trying to bring in new fans to the Jack Shack. LaCouture played NCAA hockey where he won a national championship with the University of Maine, and he also played in the AHL for a short time. Mr. LaCouture's primary duties will be marketing for the Jacks as well as helping to improve youth hockey in the Odessa area. Hopefully LaCouture will live up to the hype that the the Jacks ownership and General Manager Joe Clark are giving him. Maybe he can make hockey in West Texas more appealing and draw a good crowd for the upcoming season. With the team that the Jacks have had in the last two seasons, they deserve an average crowd of at least 3,500 every game. In reality they deserve much more, and hopefully once new people start attending more Jackalope games they will become hooked and start attending the games regularly. It only took a couple of games for me and I was instantly converted into a die-hard Jackalope fan. I also feel that if the Jacks front office focuses on the Permian Basin's youth in focusing on youth hockey, this will draw more and more fans from around the basin to come to Jacks games and help rock the Jack Shack. If the young people of the Permian Basin get hooked on hockey, parents of these kids will have no choice but to go to the games as well, and after a game or two they will probably be hooked for life. You can read the full story on Mr. Dave LaCouture at the Jacks website which can be viewed at http://www.jackalopes.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=241:06story11&catid=69:newstory&Itemid=119.

In other CHL news:

• The Laredo Bucks raised over $3,000 for WINGS of Laredo. Even though they may be one of the Jack's biggest foes during the hockey season, the Bucks really do take care of their community in many ways. You can read the full article on this particular story at http://www.centralhockeyleague.com/pressroom/news/index.html?article_id=3511.


• The Amarillo Gorillas resigned defenseman Neil Smith for the upcoming season. Honestly, the Gorillas are going to need a heck of a lot of work to be a contender next season, and I am really not too impressed with Mr. Smith's stats. I am looking forward to the Jacks beating down the apes in the 2009-2010 season. You can read the full article on the Gorilla's recent signing at the league website which can be viewed at http://www.centralhockeyleague.com/pressroom/news/index.html?article_id=3510.


• Still waiting for news out of New Mexico as to whether the Scorps will be returning for the upcoming season or not. I personally hope that they do as they are a key piece of Jackalope history, and the league definitley would not be the same without the Scorpions. Word has it that the announcement will come very shortly, and news regarding division realignment should follow shortly after. I think the divisions are going to be very interesting next season, but we will all have to wait and see how things go.


• The new Independence team will be announcing their team name and logo tomorrow (wednesday) at 3:00 PM. They have narrowed their team name list down to ten possible names which include the Independence IceHawks, the Bullfrogs, and the Missouri Maulers just to name a few. My personal favorite is the Missouri Maulers. You can read the article on this story at the Independence website which can be viewed at http://www.independenceprohockey.com/news/?article_id=7.

Until next time Jack fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!!