It looks like we will be seeing Coach Paul Gillis for at least a couple of more seasons as the Jacks have announced today that Gilly has received a contract extension through the 2011-2012 season. For me, this is an obvious no brainer as the Jacks have improved to heights that had never been reached before until Gillis stepped behind the bench. Lets go over the last couple of seasons with Gilly in charge, shall we? In Gillis' first season, he took the Jacks to the playoffs (which they missed the previous season) and defeated the Austin Ice Bats in the mini series of the playoffs. They did get swept by the Laredo Bucks in the next round of the playoffs, but Gillis made sure that those same results would not occur during the next season. Last season was arguably the best season that the Jacks have ever had in franchise history as they set and tied several franchise records that are absolutely impressive. The record that was tied is when the Jacks won an impressive eleven games in a row. I was thrilled at this great accomplishment, and I am sure that Gillis was as well. The Jacks then set a new franchise record by leading the league in powerplay goals as they scored an amazing 110 goals with the man advantage. Finally, the Jacks did something that they were never able to do in franchise history until last season in the playoffs when they defeated the Laredo Bucks in the playoffs to advance to the Southern Conference Finals. This ended numerous streaks that the Bucks had in the playoffs, and this was the first time in franchise history that the Jacks won a series in the playoffs against the Bucks. I was actually lucky enough to travel to Laredo for game six (the series clincher) and I must say that game six between the Jacks and Bucks is like something you would see in a movie. The Jacks and Bucks would trade a couple of goals in regulation until the Bucks would finally take a one goal lead which forced the Jacks to pull Juha Toivonen with under one minute to play. It was funny, because one of my aunts that came with me was so disgusted that she wanted to leave the game then and there as the just knew that we would have to play game seven at the Jack Shack. I told her to sit down, because you never know what could happen in a short amount of time, and besides, it is rude to leave a game early just because your team is down. As time was winding down the Bucks made a very long shot at the empty net only for it to ring off the post. Then, I believe the Bucks iced the puck which led to a faceoff in the Bucks zone. The Jacks won the faceoff, and with 34 seconds left in the game Dominic Leveille wristed the game tying goal past Laredo goaltender Sebastien Centomo to force the game into overtime. My family and I went absolutely nuts and the Bucks staff even put us up on the video board which brought boos and insults our way from the Laredo faithful. The LEC went absolutely silent, except for the few Jack fans in attendance and of course the Jacks themselves who celebrated knowing that they now had a chance to steal game six and put an end to the series. Overtime came and not very deep into the period a wide open Russ Moyer received a pass in front of Centomo and he snapped a wrister that went right under the cross bar to put the series away and cement the Jacks a spot in the Southern Conference Finals. Once again, my family and I celebrated like crazy as the Jacks players and coaches celebrated on the ice knowing that they had just made history. This is a memory that will be embedded in my mind probably for the rest of my life, and I can honestly say that it can be mostly credited to the coaching of Paul Gillis. Sorry to kind of get off topic there, but I felt that it was necessary to express my feelings as the Jacks made history in Laredo. Anyways, as we were leaving the LEC to come back to Odessa, we turned on the radio and listened to Bucks radio broadcaster Brian Benway talk about all of the streaks and traditions that the Jacks just put to a hault to for the Bucks, which were pretty impressive by the way, and I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. The next day on Benway's blog, I found it very funny when Benway claimed that Wichita didn't have the most annoying fans, Odessa did. I'm sure that he was talking about my family and I as we sat fairly close to the broadcasters booth and we are pretty raucous at times, and definitely passionate for our Jackalopes. With that being said, the Jacks then went on the the Souther Conference Finals (which my family and I went to North Richland Hills for every game as well) and forced the Texas Brahmas to seven games, only to fall in game seven to the eventual league champions. The Jacks also won the Southwest Division, produced the CHL MVP in Sebastien Thinel, and had a rookie of the year candidate in Jeff Pierce. What a season that was for the Jacks, and all of this happened under the reign of Paul Gills. Congratulations to Gillis on the extension, and hopefully he will help to finally bring the cup to Odessa in the very, very near future! You can read the article pertaining to Gillis' extension at the Jacks website which can be viewed at http://www.jackalopes.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=259:08story11&catid=69:newstory&Itemid=119.
In other CHL news:
- The league finally announced the "life changing" news that was "just for the fans" yesterday when they launched the Loyalty Rewards Program. I like the idea of a rewards program, but the way the league set up this program, it is actually kind of humorous and very unrealistic. Hopefully the league will make some changes to the program, but if they don't, I do not see it lasting for more than one season.
- The Wichita Thunder announced the re-signing of Jason Duda for his 14th season with the less than impressive Thunder. The guy is definitely a proven player and pretty much owns the Thunder record book, but he gets injured quite frequently, and lets face it; it would take an absolute miracle for Duda to make a true difference for the bottom feeder Wichita Thunder.
- The Arizona Sundogs have announced that they have signed former Scorpion netminder, Kyle McNulty for the upcoming season. This is a pretty good signing for the Sundogs as McNulty is a decent goaltender who had a winning record on a losing team last season. By bringing in players like Konrad Reeder and Kyle McNulty the Sundogs have a decent chance at making the playoffs. I still predict that they will be one of the mini series teams, but I still think that they have the potential to barely make the playoffs.
- In "The Jungle", the Gorillas announced the re-signing of Jake Morissette for the upcoming season. The guy is an okay player, but like I said about the Thunder, it will take an absolute miracle for the Gorillas to put together a winning team this season. I predict that they will once again sit at the bottom of the standings not only in the conference, but in the league as well, and the Gorilla faithful will once again be really disappointed when the apes fail to make the playoffs for yet another season.
Until next time Jack fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and October can't come soon enough!
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