Jacks Pull Off Thriller!

Hello fellow Jackalope fans! Happy Halloween to everybody! Lets go ahead and get down to business, shall we? The Jacks played the IceRays for the second time this season last night, and for the second consecutive time, the Jacks won the game in a shootout. Although the Jacks were able to gain the two points, there were a couple of things that worried me about last night's game. First of all, the Jackalopes were pretty heavily outshot: something like 52-36 I believe. There is no way the Jacks should be giving up that many shots, but I guess some of that can be contributed to Van Drunen and Bria not playing. I can't wait for the captain to return as he is definitely the true leader on defense and he is dearly missed. Bria is also missed and I wish him a speedy recovery. Now lets get back to last night's game. The Jacks also took too many penalties last night, but I must say that I was very disappointed with the officiating of Ryan Hersey. With the Jacks leading 4-2 in the third period, Hersey made some questionable calls and gave the IceRays a five on three man advantage. Not only that, but Kory Karlander had his stick slashed out of his hands by an IceRay without getting the call from the man that had been calling every little thing the entire night. This lead to the Rays getting a powerplay goal with the two man advantage and pulling to within one goal of the Jacks in the third period. By the way, even Greg Rajan admitted on his blog that Karlander had his stick slashed out of his hands and that there should have been a penalty called on the play. With that being said, the IceRays tied the game less than two minutes later as Justin Quenneville managed to slap one past Jack's goaltender, Joel Martin. Neither team managed to score during the remainder of the third period, nor did either team manage to score in overtime, meaning that once again the Jacks and Rays would need a shootout to determine a winner. The shootout only took three rounds to complete as Joel Martin stopped all three of the IceRays shooters, while Mike Ramsay and Sebastien Thinel both found the back of the net for the Jacks, with Ramsay's being the game winner. Although the Jacks managed to come away with the two points, the IceRays made sure that they gave the Jacks a run for their money. By the way, these same two teams meet again at the ABC in Corpus in what is sure to be another great game. I must say, however, that I do expect Juha to start this upcoming game, and if he plays like he has played in his first three games of the season, then I think the Jacks will do just fine. Finally, I would like to point out that as of right now, the Jacks are in first place not only in the Southern Conference, but in the entire league as well. Hopefully that is a sign of what is to come in the Jack's future!

In other CHL news:

• The Gorillas drop two in a row over the weekend to the Laredo Bucks and the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. Their record now sits at 5-3-0 and they are currently in second place in the Southern Conference.


• The Texas Brahmas defeat the Allen Americans in a shootout at the always loud Nytex Sports Centre. This is the first game of the season that the Americans have not won, although they do still pick up a point as it took a shootout to decide things. As of right now, they still have not lost a game in regulation.


• Finally, Hillman and his Mavs were finally able to put a couple in the win column as they swept a couple of games in Wichita over the weekend. Is this a sign that the Mavs are getting on the right track, or did the Mavs just win against another terrible team? Time can only tell.

Until Thursday Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets get to fishing on Thursday night!

Jacks Pummel Apes!

Boy oh boy, what a night for the Odessa Jackalopes! Hello fellow Jackalope fans and all I can say is how 'bout them Jackalopes?!?! What was expected to be a tight, close game between the Gorillas and Jacks turned out to be an absolute beat down at the expense of the once undefeated Amarillo Gorillas, who started off the season with a 4-0-0 record only to get their behinds handed to them by Odessa. Lets go ahead and move to the highlights of the night, shall we? This was a night to remember for the Jacks as Jeff Pierce had a hat trick sealed up early in the second period; Garret Gruenke scored the first goal of his professional career; the Jacks went 4-9 on the powerplay while killing off six of seven of Amarillo's powerplay chances; the Jacks tied a franchise record by scoring nine goals in the game; and lastly the Jacks put up an incredible five goals against the red hot Amarillo goaltender, Mike Brown. By the way, the Jacks had already scored five goals against Brown not even six minutes into the second period leading to him being replaced in net by Finnish goaltender, Tuomas Lohtander. Let me say that Lohtander sure is no Juha Toivonen as he did not do too much better than Brown allowing four goals on fifteen shots. With all of this being said I guess one word that would best describe this game would be: domination! The Jacks now move on to a record of 3-1-0 while the Gorillas suffer their first defeat and fall to a record of 4-1-0. The Jacks will host the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs at the ECC tomorrow night (who lost to Allen by a final of 2-1 tonight) and hopefully the Jacks will have similar results and send the Mudbugs back to Louisiana wondering what could have been!

Until tomorrow night Jack fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and we look forward to seeing the Mudbugs tomorrow night!

Jacks End Opening Weekend With Mediocre 1-1 Record

Well fellow Jackalope fans, opening weekend is a thing of the past and the Jackalopes had their highs and their lows after coming back in an absolute thriller beating the Corpus Christi IceRays in a shootout by a final score of 3-2 on Friday night only to fall to the Gorillas (really?) on Saturday night. Lets start with the Jacks home opener against the IceRays at the Ector County Coliseum on Friday night. While I was heading to the game I was thinking that the Jacks would win fairly easily, although I did know that the Rays did improve from last season's team. Then game time comes and I am really getting pumped until the first period ends with a 1-0 score in favor of the Rays. While not too worried yet, I was still a little shocked that the Jacks had not found the back of the net yet. I really became worried when the Jacks were trailing with 32 seconds left in the third period by a score of 2-1. With an empty net and a powerplay, the Jacks had the two man advantage, and boy did they take advantage of this. The Jacks scored with a little over a half a minute left in regulation forcing the game into overtime. Neither team was able to score into overtime leading to the Jack's first shootout of the season. After going into an extra round in the shootout, Colin Circelli finally netted the game winner while Jacks goaltender Joel Martin was able to stop Tendler from the Rays to preserve the Jack's victory. It was a close game, probably too close, and I thought the Jacks offense looked a little flat considering we were the second best offense in the entire league last season. With all of this being said, the Jacks still walked away with two points heading into Amarillo's home opener on Saturday night. Saturday night's game was a game that I was disappointed with the final outcome, but I did see some things that I liked pertaining to the Jacks. While the Jacks did lose by a 2-1 final score (to Amarillo? I still can't get that taste out of my mouth) they did put 43 shots on net which proves to me that the Jacks offense will be just fine and that they ran into a very hot goaltender in Mike Brown. This game also showed me that Joel Martin is a very good goalie stopping 24 of 26 Amarillo shots including a penalty shot. While I can't wait for Juha to come back as soon as possible, I must say that I think the Jacks will be just fine with Martin until Juha gets well. So the Jacks end the weekend with a 1-1 record. Not exactly what I was expecting, but I do think the Jacks are still one of the powerhouses of the South and will be contending for the President's Cup come playoff time. I also must say that the Bumble Bees from Hidalgo better watch out come Tuesday night because they are sure to feel the wrath of the mighty Jackalopes!

In other CHL news:

• The Laredo Bucks had an impressive weekend defeating the Mudbugs and Killer Bees and starting the season with a 2-0 record. Pretty impressive, but the deer better watch out for the Jacks come November 20th.


• The Allen American swept the Arizona Sundogs this weekend in Arizona.


• Scott Hillman and his "mighty" Mavs were swept in Rapid City by the much improved Rush.


• And finally, the Bulls and Birds split a pair of games over the weekend in a rematch of the 2008-2009 Ray Miron President Cup Finals.

Until next time Jacks fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and I'm counting down 'til Tuesday night!

The Kings of the South?

Hello fellow Jackalope fans! It has been a while hasn't it? I apologize for not blogging in a while but I have been tied up with school for the last couple of weeks and have not had time to do much blogging. Anyways, lets get right to the point. I don't usually start a whole new post for a team other than the Jacks, but I believe there is one team that deserves some recognition after the incredible weekend that they had. That team would be none other than the surprisingly undefeated Amarillo Gorillas. I will be the first to admit that prior to the regular season starting I, like many other CHL fans, had the Gorillas at the bottom of the Southern Conference. From the players that Amarillo signed I was not too impressed. However, the CHL world is probably still in total shock as the Apes ended their opening weekend with a 3-0 record. Is this a sign that the Gorillas are going to be a contender in the South this season? Only time will tell, but I will stick to my guns and say that reality will return to Amarillo in the next couple of weeks and they will no longer be one of the top four teams in the South. I will say, however, that the Gorillas have earned my respect and it would not surprise me if the 'Rillas end up barely clinching a spot in the playoffs come March. I know many of you are thinking "Is this guy crazy? We are only a couple of games into the new season and he is already predicting playoff teams?" I know, I know. The season is still very, very early but the Gorillas are already turning heads with their strong play. With all of this being said, lets go ahead and break down the Gorilla's weekend, shall we? Game one for Amarillo was against the usual cellar dwellers of the Northern Conference, the Wichita Thunder. In many people's eyes it would not matter who won this game because both of these teams are supposed to be the "losers" of their respective conferences. The Gorillas displayed pure domination as they pummeled Wichita by a final score of 5-0. Amarillo held the Thunder to only eighteen shots on goal as Mike Brown picked up the shutout. The Apes also killed off all seven of Wichita's powerplay chances. After getting home from watching the Jacks pull off a thriller against the IceRays and seeing this final score on Pointstreak I didn't think too much about it for the simple fact that the Gorillas beat the Wichita Thunder. Then Saturday rolls around and I am feeling pretty good because I am thinking that the Jacks are going to put an absolute beating on Amarillo when the final score ends up being 2-1 in favor of the Gorillas. I was in shock for several minutes after this game, but then I began to break down this game as well. The Jacks absolutely bombarded Mike Brown with shots on goal, but he ended up stopping an impressive 42 out of 43 shots on goal, while Amarillo managed to get two goals on 26 shots on net. This tells me two things: The Jacks ran into a very hot goaltender in Mike Brown, and the Jacks have nothing to worry about as they technically outplayed the Gorillas in just about every area, except for goaltending. The Jacks were also playing their backup goalie (who actually did very well by the way) while the Gorillas were starting their starter. Another thing to note from this game is that the Jacks went 0-10 on the powerplay, which is definitely something that Gilly and the boys are going to have to fix very quickly. Now lets move on to game three for the Gorillas which was against the usually always tough Mississippi River Kings. I thought the Kings would take this game because Mike Brown would not be in net that game for Amarillo, and I felt it was time for the Gorillas to be brought back to reality. Once again I was wrong as goaltender Lohtander for the Apes played very well in net while the Gorillas once again displayed their offensive power putting up five goals on 31 shots. The final ended up being 5-2 and the Gorillas were able to kill off 4 out of 5 of the King's powerplay chances. Wow! What a weekend for Amarillo! Not only do they end the weekend with a 3-0 record but they also beat one of the South's best teams as well as one of the North's best teams. Like I already stated, only time will tell if the Gorillas truly mean business, but after this weekend I would tell everybody to not be surprised by anything. As of right now the Gorillas (I can't believe I am about to say this) are the Kings of the South.

Until next time Jack fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and the Bumble Bees are going to get crushed come Tuesday night!