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!
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