It's Hunting Time!

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It is a chilly December day here in the Permian Basin, and the Jacks are gearing up for the Laredo Bucks, as they visit the ECC (aka the Jack Shack) for the fifth meeting between the two teams so far this season.  The season series thus far is tied at 2-2, so the Jacks will be looking to get the upper hand on the Bucks tonight, and more importantly the Jacks will look to earn two points to move out of the cellar of the Berry Conference.  As I have said before, the Berry Conference is packed so tightly in the standings that if the Jacks win in regulation tonight (depending on how the other Berry Conference teams fare tonight) they could move from last place in the conference standings all the way to being tied for fifth place in the conference.  While fifth place is still not where the Jacks want to be in the standings, it would be a lot better than being in last place in the conference standings, so hopefully the boys will come out on fire tonight and get to hunting!  If the Jacks play as well as they did the last time they hosted the Bucks at the ECC earlier this month (a 4-1 Jackalope victory), then I really like the Jacks chances of taking the two points.

That said, inconsistency has been the Jacks number one enemy so far this season, so hopefully the Jacks will start playing some consistent, good hockey starting tonight.  They are coming off a huge 3-2 OT victory over the Colorado Eagles at the BEC (the first victory for the Jacks ever at the BEC), so hopefully they will come into tonight's game with confidence and a bit of a spark, so to speak.  Speaking of the Jacks and Colorado Eagles, this past weekends series between the two teams saw a split for the Jacks, with the Jacks being hammered 8-3 in Friday's game, while playing a much better game on Saturday, stealing two points after the two teams went into OT.  Todd Robinson scored the game winning power play goal with just six seconds left in OT.  Apparently Colorado head coach Chris Stewart wasn't very happy that the Jacks received a whole seventeen second power play in OT, as he received an abuse of officials game misconduct at the end of the game.  I guess he forgot that his team enjoyed two lengthy five on threes in regulation, as well as a thirty-four second power play to start OT.  Mr. Stewart, everything doesn't go your way all the time, and it's about time you learn that.  That being said, it was like a tale of two teams when it came to the Jacks this past weekend.  Hopefully the Jacks that showed up on Saturday show up tonight against Laredo.

  Moving on, according to Pointstreak Ryan Hersey will be tonight's referee, so I'm fully expecting several penalties to be called on both teams.  If that turns out to be true, then the Jacks special teams are going to have to be very good tonight, and our goaltender (Martin I'm assuming) has to be on top of his game as well.  Our defense will also have to play some good hockey tonight, and since Michael Schutte has been activated from the IR, there should be no excuses for our defense playing poorly tonight.  The D will be fully healthy, and with all of the talent on the defense, they better play up to their potential tonight.  As far as our offense goes, I'm not too worried.  Despite currently sitting in the cellar of the Berry Conference, the Jacks have scored the fourth most goals in the Berry Conference, and the fourth most in the entire CHL for that matter.  Our offense seems to be "clicking", and Gillis and Cressman seem to have found line combos that really work for the team, so as I just stated I'm not worried about our offense at all.

  Before I wrap things up here, I would like to say thank you to the Odessa Jackalopes players, Slap Jack, as well as all of the Jackalopes staff that were out and about in the community the other day, spreading the holiday cheer to many people right here in the Permian Basin.  They continue to show that they care for our community, and as I have said many times before, it's about time for the community to return the favor by showing up at the ECC to support the boys.  Our attendance has been pretty bad so far this season (partially due to having so many home games on weekdays), and folks from Odessa, Midland, as well as the rest of the small towns of the Permian Basin need to show that they care for this team as much as this team cares for the community.  With that said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  Be sure to check The Enforcer in the coming days for any updates pertaining to the Odessa Jackalopes.  If I'm not able to blog again before Christmas, I would like to say Merry Christmas to all of my readers, as well as wish everybody a happy new year!


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and it's hunting time tonight at the Jack Shack!

Jacks Hoping to Soar in Colorado

Hello fellow Jackalope fans.  It's a beautiful day here in the Permian Basin as the Jacks gear up to take on the Colorado Eagles for a pair of weekend games up in Loveland Colorado.  This will be the Jacks first visit back to the BEC since the Van Drunen/MacMillan incident, and I'm hoping that they go in to Colorado looking for revenge against the Eagles in the form of a scoreboard beat down.  Obviously, the Jacks were more than likely embarrassed by the outcome of the late November game between the two teams at the ECC that resulted in the Jacks losing by a final of 5-2.  I'm sure they are ready to prove to the rest of the league, but more importantly to themselves that they are a much better team than their current record indicates, and a couple of wins against the Turner Conference leading Eagles would undoubtedly give the team some much needed confidence to help propel them to play some more good, consistent hockey in order to start really climbing in the Berry Conference standings.

  While I would be content with a weekend split with the Eagles (as everybody knows how difficult it is to win at the BEC), I have faith and know that the Jacks are more than capable of stealing two wins in Loveland.  Personally, I would like to see Michel Robinson get both starts against Colorado, and if he plays like he did a couple of nights ago against Arizona, then I really like the Jacks chances of skating away with four huge points.  Obviously I have no clue if Robinson will get both starts in net for the Jacks this weekend (although I do assume he will at least get the start tomorrow), but personally I would prefer to see him get both starts in net to see what he is capable of against a great team in a hostile environment, while at the same time sending a message to Joel Martin that if he doesn't pick up his game soon, then Robinson may start seeing more and more consecutive starts.  That's just my two cents on the goalie situation, and I know Gillis likes the play-till-you-lose rotation, so that is what I am actually expecting to see when the Jacks take on the Eagles.

  Hopefully we will see the Jackalopes explosive offense this weekend as well as some good defense, although it was announced a few days ago that Michael Schutte has once again been placed on the 10 day IR, meaning the Jacks will once again be without one of their top defensemen for at least the weekend series against Colorado.  With that said, the Jacks now have Justin Sawyer on their blue line, so I would be willing to bet that the Eagles will be more reluctant to resort to any goon tactics this weekend, although I would not be surprised if I am proven wrong.  If they do go that route, though, (as they have been known to do when trailing in a game) then the Jacks should be prepared with three enforcers in Garrett Gruenke, Darryl Bootland, and the aforementioned Justin Sawyer.  I'm sure all three of those guys will be more than ready if the Eagles decide to get dirty and intimidate our skill players, although I'm personally hoping for some good, clean, hard fought hockey games between two very talented teams.  I must give credit to the Eagles for not gooning things up against the Jacks at the ECC last month, but of course they won that game easily, meaning they really had nothing to be frustrated about.

Finally, now that I have hyped up (or at least tried to) the weekend series against the Jacks and Eagles, I will end this post by addressing where the Jacks currently are in the Berry Conference standings.  The Jacks current record sits at 9-12-1, and they are currently tied for 6th place in the Berry Conference with the Arizona Sundogs and Tulsa Oilers, with all three teams having nineteen points a piece.  The standing are so tight in the conference, that the Jacks are just one loss away from being back in last place in the conference standings, yet only one two points back of being tied for fourth place in the conference.  To further display how tight the standings are in the Berry Conference, the Jacks are also just four measly points away from being tied for third place in the conference, so if the Jacks can start playing some consistent hockey at the level that we all know they are capable of playing at, then I would predict that by the end of December the Jacks will be (at least) in fourth place in the conference, but I actually would not be surprised to seem them in third place in the conference.  It sure will not be easy for the Jacks since the standings are so tight and there really are no weak teams in the league, but I have faith that this team is now quickly heading in the right direction.

Don't get me wrong as I believe there is still quite a bit of work to be done in order for this team to be considered one of the elite in the league, but if the last ten games are any indication of how the Jacks are coming along, then they should start to rapidly climb in the standings not only in the Berry Conference, but in the entire CHL as well.  As a fellow Jackalope poster over on the CHL Forums pointed out, the Jacks are 7-3 in their last ten games, so hopefully this is a sign that the Jacks are indeed on the right track.

  With all of this said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  Be sure to check The Enforcer frequently in the coming days, as I will hopefully be blogging with the good news that the Jacks were successful against the Eagles.  I can't guarantee that I will blog this weekend at all as I've been swamped with some of my final school work for the semester, but I fully intent to blog some time next week. 


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets get some revenge against those Colorado Eagles!

Breaking News! (Updated)

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  We have some breaking transaction news from the Odessa Jackalopes as it was announced earlier today that the Jacks have traded defensemen Pierre-Olivier Beaulieu and David Brown to the Bloomington Prairie Thunder in exchange for defenseman and enforcer Justin Sawyer.  This was a bit of a surprising move to me, not necessarily that a trade was made by the Jacks, but more on who was traded by the Jacks.  I could have thought of a couple other Jackalope players that I would have waived/traded before either of these guys, but that's just me, and I know Gillis knows what he is doing so I definitely won't second guess his decision.  With that said, I would like to wish both Beaulieu and Brown all the best up in Bloomington, and would also like to say welcome to Justin Sawyer.

As far as who the Jacks received in exchange for Beaulieu and Brown, I must say that the Jacks definitely needed to add some toughness to the team, and that is exactly what Sawyer will bring to the ice.  I know he played with the Oklahoma City Blazers a couple of seasons ago, and I do remember the name, but since the Jacks never played the Blazers that often, I don't really remember him.  However, from what I have seen on Youtube, I was pretty impressed with his fighting skills, so hopefully he will be that much needed spark that the Jacks have been without for pretty much the entire season.  The Jacks will now have three enforcers on the team, so there should be no more excuses that toughness is what this team is lacking.  Sawyer also seems (based partially on his stats as well as what I have read on certain team boards) to be a pretty good defenseman, so that is also good news for the Jacks.  Ultimately I think a trade was probably needed to shake up this team a bit, and I think this is exactly what this trade will do.

Also, before I wrap things up here, it was also announced earlier on Pointstreak that defenseman Michael Schutte has been activated from the IR, which is even more great news for the Jacks.  I think a defensive pairing of Dave Van Drunen/Michael Schutte would be one of the best in the entire CHL, and now that the team will have a  healthy defense, I'm expecting the Jacks to start consistently playing some good hockey.  I have faith that they will (hopefully starting this weekend) when they take on the Bucks and Bugs respectively.  With all of this said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  Be sure to check The Enforcer in the coming days, as I hope to blog soon with good news that the Jacks are back to their winning ways.

*It was also just announced on the CHL website that Sebastien Thinel has been named the CHL Player of the Month.  Very well deserved as Sebby has been red hot pretty much since the season started, so I would like to say congratulations to Thinel for being named the CHL Player of the Month for the month of November 2010.  It's no secret that Sebby is my favorite player, and I truly believe that he is the heart and soul of this team and franchise.  For the month of November Sebby averaged almost two points per game as he had 25 points (10G/15A) in thirteen games with a +/- rating of +10 in the month. Once again, congrats to Sebby, and keep up the great work!


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and welcome to Odessa Justin Sawyer!

Rush Crushed!

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It is a very windy day in the Permian Basin, and the Jacks are gearing up for the Colorado Eagles (who visit the ECC tomorrow evening) after sweeping the defending Ray Miron President Cup Champs Rapid City Rush this past weekend.  While the Rush were far from crushed in the game on Saturday night (with the Jacks winning 3-2 after a seven round shootout) the Rush were absolutely crushed on Fridays contest where the Jacks pummeled the defending champs by an 8-0 final.  The Jacks made a huge statement this weekend in the Black Hills, and lets hope the Jacks continue to play good hockey tomorrow night when they take on the Turner Conference leading Colorado Eagles.

  By the way, this will be the first meeting between the Jacks and Eagles since the Van Drunen/'MacMillan incident that left Van Drunen with a mangled face and broken jaw.  It should be an emotional, interesting, exciting night, and lets just hope that the Jacks put an absolute beatdown on the Eagles on the scoreboard.  I'm hoping for a huge crowd at the Jack Shack for tomorrow's contest since the Van Drunen/MacMillan incident received quite a bit of publicity throughout the Permian Basin.  I know it's a weekday game, and very few teams have good weekday game crowds, but I'm hoping for a huge exception tomorrow.  I hope people from Odessa, Midland, and the surrounding cities and towns come out to support the boys and let the Eagles know how we feel about them.  But, more importantly I hope all these folks show up tomorrow to let Dave Van Drunen know how we feel about him.  He is our captain, our leader, our best defenseman, and the backbone of this Odessa Jackalope team.  We are extremely happy that he has been back in the lineup for the past few games, and I am very pleased that he will be in the lineup tomorrow when the Jacks take on the Eagles.  It can't be said enough how vital Dave Van Drunen is to this team.  It's time for this community to get behind the Jackalopes, and come out to support them like the Jacks support the community.

  Now that I've hyped up tomorrow's game, lets go ahead and take a look back at this past weekends games that featured the Jacks taking on the Rush.  We will start with Fridays contest where the Jacks absolutely crushed the Rush by an 8-0 final, which was the worst defeat the Rush have suffered in their franchises history.  Several Jackalopes registered multiple points in the game, with eleven different Jackalope players registering at least one point in the game.  Todd Robinson finished the night with four assists; Sebastien Thinel had two goals and one assist; Kenny Corupe and Kenny Bernard also had two goals and one assist a piece; Mike Lesperance tallied one goal and one assist; Jeff Pierce, Mike Ramsay, and Alex Dunn all finished the game with two assist a piece; Dominic Leveille had one goal; and finally Patrick Mbaraga and Phil Plante each had one assist in the game.  Man, that was a lot to type.  Congrats to all those guys on registering points in the blowout against Rapid City, and congrats to the team as a whole for picking up two big points against a very good Rapid City team.  Now lets move to the play of Michel Robinson, who picked up his as well as the teams first shutout of the season.  Simply put, Robinson was fantastic in net for the Jacks stopping all thirty of the Rapid City shots.  Congrats to Robinson on the shutout, and if I were a betting men I would say that Robinson gets the start in net tomorrow night when the Jacks host Colorado.  The Jacks special teams were also (for a change) great in the game, with the power play going 4-11, while the penalty kill killed off all five of the Rush man advantages.  All in all, it was a great win for the Jacks, and the largest margin of victory the Jacks have had against any opponent so far this season.

With that said, I think everybody was shocked that the Jacks beat the Rush so badly on Friday on Rapid City's home ice, and nobody was surprised to see a much more competitive game on Saturday night.  The Jacks completed the sweep of Rapid City on Saturday night by defeating the Rush by a final of 3-2 after a seven round shootout.  This was a great game to listen to on the radio, so I can only imagine how exciting it was for the home crowd to watch it live.  Sebastien Thinel continues to be red hot as he tallied both of the Jackalope regulation goals in the second game.  Corupe, Plante, and Robinson all finished the night with one assist a piece, and Alex Dunn scored the game winner in the shootout.  Congrats to all the guys on an exciting win, and an even bigger congrats to the boys for skating away from Rapid City with four HUGE points.  Michel Robinson was in net for this game as well, and once again he was simply amazing.  He stopped 32 of the 34 Rapid City shots on goal, as well as six of the seven Rush shooters in the shootout.  His record now sits at 2-2-1 with a 2.15 goals against average and a 93.3% save percentage.  He is quickly becoming a favorite of mine, and he is definitely proving that he is not a backup to anybody.  Finally, the Jacks power play was terrible in this game going 0-6, where they were unable to convert on two lengthy five on threes as well as three minutes of a five minute major against Rapid City's Les Reaney after he was called for slew footing.  It is still very perplexing how the CHL's best power play from a season ago is now one of the worst power plays in the CHL the very next season with multiple returning players.  I just don't get it.  With that said, the Jacks penalty kill was pretty good once again killing off six of seven Rush man advantages.

  Now that I have covered both games against Rapid City this past weekend, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  Remember to show up tomorrow for what is sure to be an exciting game between your Odessa Jackalopes and the Turner Conference leading Colorado Eagles at the ECC.  Be sure to check The Enforcer frequently as I will hopefully have a recap of tomorrow's game some time later in the week.


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets make chickens out of those Eagles tomorrow night at the Jack Shack!

Weekend in the Black Hills

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  As promised, I will give a preview of this weekends games where the Jacks take on the Rapid City Rush of the Turner Conference.  Lets start with where both teams currently stand in their respective conferences.  The Rush currently sit in second place in the Turner Conference, trailing only Colorado by three points in the standings.  There current record sits at 8-5-2 (18 Pts.), with with a 5-2-0 home record thus far.  They will surely be a huge test for the Jacks this weekend, but I'm liking the Jacks chances based on their recent performances (for the most part).  Now lets check to see where the Jacks currently stand in the Berry Conference.  The Jacks are currently tied for last place in the Berry Conference with Tulsa, and have a record of 5-10-1 (11 Pts.).  They definitely need to improve their play on the road as their road record currently sits at an unacceptable 2-6-1.  The Jacks also recently had their three game winning streak snapped by the Texas Brahmas, but hopefully they will get another one started this weekend against the Rush.  As bad as it sounds that the Jacks are currently tied for last in the Berry Conference, the conference is currently so tight that the Jacks are only five points away from being in third place.  Therefore, if the Jacks offense continues to be explosive like it has been over the last several games, if the Jacks defense wakes up (which it hopefully will with the return of Dave Van Drunen), and if the Jacks can get some consistent goaltending, then I feel the Jacks will start winning more and more in the very, very near future, and hopefully start to climb their way to the top of the Berry Conference. 

Now that we had addressed where both the Rush and Jacks currently sit in their respective conferences, lets go ahead and talk about both teams special teams.  The Rush currently have the CHL's second best power play unit with a 24% power play conversion percentage.  On the other side of things, the Rush penalty kill is currently ranked 17th in the CHL with a PK percentage of 77.78%.  The Jacks special teams have been flat out horrible this season, with their power play ranking 17th in the CHL with a 13.41 success rate, while their penalty kill is currently the worst in the league as the team has only been able to kill off 74.44% of the oppositions power plays.  This is one of the main areas that has been killing the Jacks all season long, and it is simply stunning how a team that has so many returning players from last season that had the league's best power play and penalty kill to have one of the league's worst special teams play the very next season.  It just doesn't make much sense, but hopefully the Jacks will correct this problem very soon.

Finally lets go ahead and address both teams leading scorers as well as goaltender play.  The Jacks currently have the CHL's top and third highest scorers in Sebastien Thinel and Todd Robinson respectively.  Thinel leads the league with 28 points (10G/18A), while Robinson is currently third in scoring in the CHL with 24 points (9G/15A).  Jackalopes goaltending has been a bit inconsistent this season with Joel Martin sporting a record of 4-7-0 with a 3.86 goals against average and an 88.6% save percentage.  Michel Robinson, despite not winning a game for the Jacks yet has actually played very well in net.  His current record is 0-2-1 with a 2.97 goals against average and a 91% save percentage.  I say Robinson gets both starts in net for the Jacks this weekend, although that is purely a guess on my part.  Not lets move on to Rapid City's leading scorers and goaltenders.  The top two scorers for the Rush are Ryan Menei and Derek LeBlanc respectively.  Menei currently has 20 points (11G/9A) while LeBlanc has 16 points (8G/8A).  Scott Wray also has 16 points (7G/9A).  Goaltending for the Rush has been decent as well this season, with Danny Battochio sporting a record of 7-3-2 with a 2.85 goals against average and a 91% save percentage.  His backup, however, has been less than stellar with a 1-2-0 record with a 4.23 goals against average and an 87% save percentage.

  Now that I have given a preview for tonight's game against the Rush, I'm going to go ahead and get off of here.  I have been swamped recently with a ton of schoolwork, and finally had a day to get back to blogging.  I hope to blog again either on Sunday or Monday hopefully with good news about the Jacks weekend in the Black Hills, so be sure to check up on The Enforcer regularly.


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and crush the Rush this weekend!

Be Back Soon!

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It has been a while since I last blogged, and quite a bit has happened since my last post.  I have been absolutely swamped with school as of late, and I plan on blogging hopefully on Friday to preview the Jacks/Rush games this weekend in Rapid City.  I just wanted to drop in here and let everybody know that I have not given up on the blog, and will be blogging again very soon.  So, be sure to check The Enforcer in the coming days, and as always GO JACKS GO!!!


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and welcome back Dave Van Drunen!

Jacks Continue to Struggle Early in Season

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It's been a while since I last blogged, and to be completely honest with all of you, you haven't missed much when it comes to the Jacks.  The Jackalopes continue to struggle, as they lost both games to the RGV Killer Bees this past weekend, one game in a shootout, and the other game in regulation.  Their record now sits at an embarrassing 2-6-1 as they are currently tied for seventh place in the Berry Conference with five total points.  Normally I would give a recap of this past weekends games, but I really don't feel like reliving a couple of losses, so if you are interested in getting a recap of the games, please visit the Odessa Jackalopes website.  What I will address in this post, however, is what I personally think is wrong with this team that is stacked with talent, and perhaps what can be done to fix it.  Now, I'm definitely not claiming to be any kind of hockey expert (because I'm far from it) but I will give a fans perspective of what I feel is wrong with the team.  I'm also not questioning Coach Gillis in any way, so please don't take what I'm posting as an insult towards Gillis.  I would never question the decisions made by a former NHLer that also has championship experience as a minor league hockey head coach.  With that said, lets go ahead and dive right into the mess of a team the Jackalopes are so far.

  Lets start by talking about goaltending.  I don't think anybody would deny that Martin got off to a very shaky start when returning to the Jacks from Bridgeport.  He has, however, rebounded nicely, and he is definitely not the problem with the Jacks right now.  The Jacks also signed Michel Robinson to a five game contract, and I do believe that he will be signed to a full contract as I have been impressed with his play (so far) in between the pipes for the Jacks.  I think he will be a solid backup for Martin, and I also think he will keep Martin on his toes, so to speak, by making sure that Martin doesn't get too comfortable know that he is the Jacks number one goalie.  As I already said, though, I don't think goaltending is the Jacks problem right now, and I'm more than confident that Joel and Michel will be able to hold their own in net for the Jacks throughout the season.

  Now that we have discussed goaltending, lets move on to the Jacks offense.  The Jackalopes first line of Thinel/Robinson/Leveille has been great so far, but the second and third lines need to start scoring more, especially considering the talent that is on these lines.  As I have said before in previous posts, our third line should be more productive than many teams first lines based on talent alone, but that definitely has not been the case so far this season.  Guys like Jeff Pierce, Mike Ramsay, and Kenny Corupe need to live up to their potential, and start finding ways to get the puck in the back of the net.  The reason I am singling out these three guys is because I know what they can do, and they (at least so far) have not played like they are capable of playing.  This brings me to another point when it comes to the offense.  The Jacks are lacking a gritty forward this season (with Bootland being an exception) and I honestly believe the Jacks need another tough, gritty forward or two to get this offense rolling.  You never know how vital guys like Swiniarski and Bourbeau are to your team until you lose them, and it is very obvious that this team needs to toughen up and toughen up fast.  If the Jacks do end up getting Bourbeau back from Bridgeport some time this season, I truly believe that that would help our team our tremendously.  But, apparently Bourbs has really been impressing the coaching staff of the Sound Tigers, and we wish him all the best in the AHL.

  Now that we have addressed the Jacks offense, lets finally move to what I feel has been the Jacks main problem this season... the defense.  To be totally blunt, the Jackalope defense has been very bad so far in this young season.  What appeared to be one of the top defenses in the offseason on paper turned out to be a major problem so far for the Jacks.  Now I know the Jacks are missing their best defenseman and captain in Dave Van Drunen, but the team is still too talented to be playing how they have been so far.  However, it will be a huge relief once Van Drunen is able to return to the team as he is our best defenseman, leader, and is also very tough on the opposition.  He is greatly missed, and we wish him a speedy recovery.  Now lets move on to the rest of our defense.  Before I go any further, I was very tempted to name every single defenseman and give my opinion on how I feel they have performed so far this season.  In fact, I just had to delete a lot of what I already typed, but after really thinking about it, I decided a true fan would not single out every defenseman on the team and basically bash them on a blog.  While I may be disappointed with how many of them have performed this season, I have ultimately decided not to single out specific players.  What I will say is that our defense has been slow, has let the opposing team skate right by them on odd man rushes and even breakaways, and has been the Jacks main problem this season.  That's as far as I will go on that subject, and finally I will address the Jacks special teams.  The Jacks have went from having the leagues top power play unit and one of the top penalty kill units last season, to having the third worst power play and second worst penalty unit so far this season.  It is just perplexing how poorly our special teams have performed this season, and hopefully they will begin to turn things around in the very near future.

  Now that I have vented and let everybody know how I feel about the Jackalopes as of now, I will close in saying that I will support this team when they are winning as well as when they are losing.  I consider myself a die-hard fan, and I don't know what I would do without Odessa Jackalopes hockey.  I would also like to add that I still have faith in the team, coaches, GM, etc.  This team will start moving in the right direction eventually (hopefully very soon), and that is something that I am very confident about.  I am going to go ahead and wrap things up here, and hopefully I will blog again some time this upcoming weekend with news that the Jacks have got back to their winning ways.


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets get a winning streak started this weekend when we take on the Brahmas and Americans!

Hello? Is Anybody There?

Hello fellow Jackalope fans.  It is a windy day here in the Permian Basin, and I know many Jackalope fans (including myself) are scratching their heads after the Jacks opened up the season with a record of 1-3-0.  All four games have been road games, and the Jacks are definitely missing a few key players from their roster, but with the talent and depth that this team has, there is no way in hell that they should have lost three out of four regular season games to start the season.  This team is way too good to struggle like they have so far in the young 2010-2011 CHL season.  I know there are quite a few new players on the team that need some time to adjust, and many fans have pointed out that in time this team will work things out, but I really don't buy that excuse.  Let me tell you why I don't buy that assumption.  I don't buy it because there are several other teams in this league that have far more new players on their teams, yet most of them seem to be doing just fine.  Now don't get me wrong, I have all the faith in the world that this team will get their act together and I believe they will eventually start piling up the wins, but I am just stunned at how sloppy and slow the team has looked thus far. With that said, I think we all know that Gillis will light the fire under the guys asses, and hopefully we will see the Jacks take their frustration out on the Bucks on Thursday and Saturday at the ECC.  I know (according to Pointstreak anyway) that Gruenke, Leveille, and Leisenring will all be eligible to play for both games at the ECC as their time on the 10 day IR will have expired by then.  However, whether or not any of them will actually be healthy enough to play is anybodies guess.  I'm hoping that all three guys will be ready to go, as all three guys are key players on this team, and we really need them right now.

  Moving on, lets go ahead and review the games that the Jacks have played so far.  I will give just a brief review of the Jacks first three games, and then I will give a more detailed review for yesterdays game between the Jacks and Gems.  The Jacks season opener was not a pretty one as they fell to the Missouri Mavericks by a final of 5-3.  The goal scorers for the Jacks were Brady Leisenring (1) and Kenny Corupe (2), with Jackalope assists being awarded to Sebastien Thinel (1), Jeff Pierce (1), Darryl Bootland (2), Alex Dunn (1), and Todd Robinson (1).  Marc-Antoine Gelinas would pick up the loss for the Jacks, as he stopped 20 of the 25 shots that he faced in between the pipes.  The Jacks were also 0-4 on the power play, but a perfect 2-2 on the penalty kill.

  Now lets move to the Jacks second game against the Quad City Mallards.  It seemed as if the real Jacks were back as the boys beat the Mallards by a final of 4-1.  The Jacks goal scorers in this game were Mike Ramsay (1), Jeff Pierce (1), and Sebastien Thinel (2).  Jackalope assists went to Sebastien Thinel (1), Phil Plante (1), Todd Robinson (1), Jeff Pierce (1), and P.O. Beaulieu (2).  Gelinas would pick up the win for the Jacks, as he stopped 23 of the 24 shots that he face on net.  Little did we know that this would be Gelinas last game in a Jackalope sweater as he was waived by the Jacks due to rumored off ice issues.  Thankfully, Joel Martin would return to the Jacks as he had been released from the AHL's Sound Tigers.  The Jacks went 1-5 on the power play, and were once again perfect on the penalty kill killing off all eight of the Mallards man advantages.  The Jacks would be 1-1-0 heading to their third game of the regular season, and it looked as if the Jacks would have momentum on their side after the solid game that they had against the Mallards.

  Unfortunately, that would not be the case.  The Jacks would fall to the Bloomington Prairie Thunder by a final of 5-4, even though the score was much more lopsided for the majority of the game.  The Jacks would be trailing by a score of 5-2 midway through the third period, before they finally decided to show up and try to mount a comeback.  They would climb to within one goal of the Thunder with about six minutes left in regulation, but unfortunately the comeback effort would be too little too late.  Instead of showing up to play for a full sixty minutes, the Jacks decided to show up to play for about fifteen minutes, and as all hockey fans know that will never get the job done.  The goal scorers for the Jacks in this contest were Mike Lesperance (1), Michael Schutte (1), Darryl Bootland (1), and Sebastien Thinel (1).  Jackalope assists were earned by Phil Plante (1), Mike Ramsay (1), Todd Robinson (2), Sebastien Thinel (1), Alex Dunn (1), and P.O. Beaulieu (1).  Unfortunately Joel Martin didn't quite look like last years CHL Most Outstanding Goalie as he took the loss stopping 33 of the 38 Bloomington shots.

Finally, lets talk about last night's game between the Jacks and Gems.  Gillis would be behind the bench for the first time this regular season after serving his three game suspension, and based on what was said during his pregame interview with Brien Rea, Coach Gillis was not a very happy person when it came to how his team had been playing.  After yesterdays game, I'm willing to bet that he wasn't any happier.  The Jacks would find themselves in a 3-0 hole before they would finally show some signs of life in the second period.  The Jacks would finally get on the scoreboard with four and a half minutes left in the second period off of a power play goal by Sebastien Thinel, with the assists going to Todd Robinson and Morgan MacLean.  The Jacks had cut the deficit to two goals, but the Gems would answer back with just one minute left in the middle frame when Dayton would score a power play goal to regain the three goal lead heading into the second intermission.  But, the Jacks would decide to show up to play in the third period once again, and they would trim the deficit to two goals yet again when Kenny Bernard would light the lamp less than five minutes into the third period, with the lone assist being awarded to Morgan MacLean.  The Jacks would pull to within one goal just three and a half minutes later when Darryl Bootland would find the back of the net, with the assists going to Todd Robinson and Phil Plante.  The Jacks seemed to have plenty of time to tie the game with a little over twelve minutes left in the final frame, and it appeared as if the Jacks were going to once again try and make a third period comeback, but it just wasn't meant to be.  Joel Martin would be pulled in favor of the extra attacker with less than two minutes to play, but the Gems would tally the dreaded empty netter to seal the fate of the Jacks.  The final score would be 5-3 in favor of the Gems, and Joel Martin would pick up the loss stopping 26 of the 30 shots that he faced in net.  The Jacks went 2-7 on the power play, but their penalty kill (which had been great for the first three games) really struggled killing only one of the Gems four power play opportunities.

Now the Jacks are tied for last place in the Berry Conference with the Mississippi Riverkings, and I think it's safe to say that Jackalope fans are wondering how a team as talented and deep as this team is, is struggling so mightily.  Maybe it's the injuries to several key players?  Maybe the boys still haven't got over the Van Drunen incident? Or maybe the team just needs a little more time to gel to get the team chemistry to where it needs to be?  I'm not sure what it is, but I'm sure Gillis knows exactly what it is, and you better believe that he will work this team hard until the problem is corrected.  What I do know, though, is that our offense has been flat much of the time (although it  finally seems to be clicking a little bit); our defense has been very bad giving up far too many odd man rushes to the opposition; our power play has been horrible; our penalty kill had been great until last night; and finally, Martin has definitely been shaky in between the pipes thus far in the young season.  With that said, it is still a very young season, I know that these problems will be fixed very soon, and in a few weeks (hopefully) the Jacks will be pummeling the opposition while sitting on top of the Berry Conference.  We should be getting the aforementioned key players back from the IR pretty soon, and hopefully in a couple months we will be welcoming back our captain to the ice.

Now that I have updated you all with how the Jacks did during their opening regular season road trip, I will go ahead and wrap things up here.  But before I do, I would like to give ya'll the link to the MacMillan/Van Drunen video, which was finally released a couple of days ago.  The video is very short, yet very disturbing, so viewer discretion is advised.  You all already know how I feel about this "fight", so I won't even comment on it again here.  But, I do encourage you to post your comments on what you thought of the video, or just comment how you feel about the Jacks in general.  Be sure to check The Enforcer throughout the upcoming week for any news pertaining to the Jacks, and please show up loud and proud this Thursday and Saturday to cheer the boys to a couple of victories at the ECC against our rival Laredo Bucks.


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets take out our frustrations on the Laredo deer on Thursday and Saturday!

Justice Served? I Think Not!

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It's been a while since I last posted due to me being swamped with school work, and a lot has happened when it comes to the Jacks over the last few days.  On the eve of opening day in the CHL, we have learned the punishments handed out by the CHL after the MacMillan/Van Drunen incident that took place in the Jacks second exhibition game against the Colorado Eagles.

  Before I give my opinion on the ruling of Duane Lewis, lets first talk about what exactly happened at the BEC this past Saturday night in Loveland, Colorado.  In the third period of the Jacks/Eagles exhibition game between the Jacks and Eagles (which the Jacks were leading by a score of 3-1) seven "fights" broke out in less than a two minute span.  After all of this crap happened, Brad MacMillan of the Colorado Eagles (who had apparently been trying to instigate fights all night) decided to take it upon himself to sucker punch an unsuspecting Dave Van Drunen who crumpled to the ice in a pool of his own blood.  A line brawl ensued immediately after this "incident" with several non-fighter Jackalopes on the ice against the Colorado Eagle goons.  In my mind, there is no denying that this was premeditated due to the circumstances being too "perfect" for the Eagles to carry out these actions.  Needless to say, Eagle player George Bradley was literally on top of a slumped over Kenny Bernard on the ice delivering vicious uppercuts to a defenseless Bernard and even (at one point) drove a nasty elbow right in the middle of Bernard's back.

  Apparently Jackalope owner Rick Gasser had decided he had seen enough and instructed his team to leave the ice and head to the locker room.  Both Gasser and Gillis should be commended for getting their team the hell out of that place considering it was pretty evident what the Eagle's intentions were.  The Jacks forfeited the exhibition game, even though the Jacks still won in my book, and Van Drunen ended up having to stay in Colorado to have surgery on his severely injured face.  Van Drunen, because of MacMillan's vicious, deliberate sucker punch suffered from a broken nose, several facial lacerations, and a broken jaw.  He had to have several plates as well as eighteen screws inserted in his face to "fix the damage," so to speak.  Come to find out Van Drunen (the best defensive defenseman in the entire CHL) will miss at least two months due to the actions of the coward known as Brad MacMillan.  Anyway, fans from both teams have waited for a few days now, wondering what punishments would be dealt by CHL Commissioner Duane Lewis when it came to this incident.  By the way, on a bit of a side note, this incident was so severe that it actually made the national news.  To get back to my point, though, about Duane Lewis' ruling, we finally found out today what punishments were handed out to the Jackalopes and Eagles.

  Odessa coach Paul Gillis was suspended for three games due to the forfeiture of the game as well as supposed public comments made.  I was very shocked to see Gillis suspended at all, considering I felt he should have been commended for protecting his players from the violent acts of the Colorado Eagles during a meaningless game.  I guess I was wrong.  The Jacks were also fined an undisclosed amount of money. 

 Now lets move on to what the Eagles received, shall we?  Many unbiased fans, as well as Jackalope fans and Jackalope owner Rick Gasser were hoping that MacMillan would be banned from the CHL for good.  Boy were we wrong.  MacMillan received a 22 game suspension, and while that may seem like a hefty penalty to some, I would argue that it's not fair that MacMillan will be able to come back and play very shortly after Van Drunen is physically able to.  The coward should have been banned from the CHL, plain and simple.  Now lets move on to the other Eagle punishments.  They were also fined an undisclosed amount of money, but the aforementioned George Bradley received a five game suspension.  I won't complain too much about that suspension, because I was actually a little surprised to see that the CHL actually had the balls to do anything to Bradley.  However, Mario Joly (a former Jackalope and now a Colorado Eagle) was the first (and only) player from either bench to leave the bench during this altercation.  According to the CHL rule book, Mario Joly should have been automatically suspended for a minimum six games.  But, when Duane Lewis revealed his ruling this afternoon, it turns out that Joly only received a four game suspension.  Are you kidding me?  If this isn't blatantly bending the rules, then I don't know what is.

 Finally, Eagles assistant coach (who was the acting head coach during the exhibition games) only received a three game suspension, which was the same that Gillis received.  I couldn't disagree with this more.  Not only that, but while Gillis has to serve his three game suspension during the first three regular season games, Greg Pankewicz will serve his three game suspension when the Eagle come to the ECC to play the Jacks in our barn.  What is the CHL doing here?  It seems to me that the CHL is once again trying to protect a member of their "crown jewel" from being verbally assaulted by the great Jackalope fans.  Oh well, maybe this bullshit ruling by Duane Lewis (as well as the cheap shot by MacMillan) will be the much needed spark to finally aid the Jacks in bringing the President's Cup to the Permian Basin.

  Was justice served?  I think not.  Feel free to comment on what you think about this incident as comments are always welcomed and encouraged.  With all of this said, the Jacks take on the Missouri Mavericks tomorrow night in Independence, Missouri where I'm predicting a 6-2 Jackalopes win.  I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here, but check The Enforcer in the coming days to see how the Jacks did this weekend, as well as anything else pertaining to the Jacks as well as Van Drunen's condition.


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and shame on you Duane Lewis!

Bootland Assigned as Training Camp Looms



Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It's a beautiful night here in the Permian Basin, and we have quite a bit of Jackalope related news to get caught up on.  First, remember in my last post when I mentioned that there might be another big addition that the Jacks would make?  Well, it was announced today on the Jack's website that Darryl Bootland has been sent to the Odessa Jackalopes from the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers.  This is a HUGE addition for the Jacks, as not only does Bootland have a bunch of AHL experience, but he has quite a bit of NHL experience as well.  Bootland is a 6'2" 200 pound right winger, that is (from what I have seen) a heck of an enforcer that can score too.  All around, he seems to be a great player that is sure to become an instant leader on the team, and an instant fan favorite of the fans.  He is a veteran, which brings the Jacks to the maximum number of six veterans allowed not counting goalies, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if he gets called up to the Sound Tigers throughout the CHL season.  That's how good this guy is.  If you would like to read the full article from the Jackalopes website about the big addition of Darryl Bootland, click on this link: http://www.jackalopes.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=485:09story12&catid=69:newstory&Itemid=119. 



Training camp around the corner!



 Moving on, Jackalopes training camp starts in (can you believe it) four days, which is on Monday, at Music City Mall.  The Jacks will then head to Colorado for a couple of exhibition games against the Colorado Eagles on October 7th and 9th which will feature two of the CHL's powerhouses going head to head, and then the regular season begins on October 15th when the Jacks travel to Independence, Missouri to take on Scott Hillman and his Mavericks.  Hockey is almost here, folks, so you better get ready to watch a Jackalopes team that could very well be the best that Odessa has ever seen.  So, please, whether you're from Odessa, Midland or any of the surrounding cities and towns, please prepare to get some tickets to come on out to the ECC to watch one hell of a team bulldoze through the CHL in 2010-2011! 

Speaking of the Jackalopes' training camp, the Jacks have announced their training camp roster which can be viewed here:  http://www.jackalopes.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=484:09story11&catid=69:newstory&Itemid=119.  Five more players have been invited to camp, none of which I really know much about, and to be totally blunt I doubt if we see any of them make the team this season.  But, you never know, if one of those five guys comes in to camp, works their ass off, and shows that he is capable of contributing to the team, then Gillis could very well give them a shot.  I guess we will find out soon enough who makes the Jacks regular season roster, but with all of the talent and depth that has been signed, I can assure you that camp will be very, very competitive to say the least.  The Jacks currently have 25 players coming to camp, with the addition of Bootland, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe nineteen players are allowed to be on the team's regular season roster, with one of those players being a healthy scratch.  So, that means six players will have to be cut, and like I already said, I expect camp to be very competitive, and I sure wouldn't want to be in Gillis' or Cressman's shoes when they have to make the tough decisions on who to cut from the team.  Also, it was mentioned on the Jack's website that more players could be added to the training camp roster at a later date, so keep checking The Enforcer for more updates when it comes to Jackalope related news in the coming days. 

Finally, I plan on giving my proposed forward lines and defensive pairings within the next week or so, as well as CHL standings predictions, so keep your eyes peeled for that.  With all of this said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here and get some much needed shuteye.  Be sure to check out the blog every day as you never know when Jackalope related news will be announced, and you better believe that you'll get my brutally honest opinion every time news pertaining to the Jackalopes is revealed.

In other Jackalope related news

• A big congrats to Jackalope netminder Joel Martin for getting invited to attend the Islander's training camp.  The guy definitely deserves the exposure at the higher levels as he is one helluva goalie, and there is a reason why he was named the CHL's Most Outstanding Goalie last season.  I wish him all the luck in the world, but the selfish side of me really hopes that he will be in between the pipes for the Jacks come October 15 in Independence.
• Also, a big congrats to Jean Bourbeau who is apparently really impressing the big dogs up in Bridgeport.  He has a contract with the Sound Tigers for the second season in a row, and there seems to be a real possibility that he could be staying up in the AHL for quite a while.  Again, we wish Bourbs all the luck in the world up in Bridgeport, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see him back in a Jackalope sweater some time this season.  You can read the full article about Bourbeau impressing the folks up in Bridgeport at this website:  http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/hockey/article/Bourbeau-may-have-what-it-takes-for-role-with-678554.php
• Finally, the Jackalopes concessions "taste test" for season ticket holders will be held tomorrow evening at the ECC where season ticket holders will be able to pick up their season tickets, as well as mingle with members of the 2010-2011 team.  I'm probably not going to be able to make it tomorrow, as school has really been kicking my butt here lately, so I will have to pick up my tickets some time next week, which sucks.  Fans interested in becoming season ticket holders are also invited to attend the event, which starts at 6:00 PM, so if you want to become a season ticket holder for one of the best teams in the entire Central Hockey League, then head out to the Jack Shack tomorrow evening for the annual "Taste Test Event."

Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and I'm counting down the days until October 15th!

Corupe and Schutte Join Jacks

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It is a pleasant, sunny day here in the Permian Basin, and the Jacks have announced that forward Kenny Corupe and defenseman Michael Schutte have signed to play with the Jacks for the 2010-2011 CHL season.

 Both signings seem like very solid signings, and I can't wait to see the final training camp roster, which should be fully revealed within the next week.  So far, I have liked just about every signing announced, and I would be willing to bet that there are at least one or two more significant signings that should be announced very soon.  Don't hold me accountable for that educated guess, though, as those are just rumors that I have heard that can't be taken seriously until officially announced.  With all of this being said, lets go ahead and discuss the signings of Corupe and Schutte.



Photo Property of campcorupe.com



  We will start with Corupe first.  Some of you may remember Kenny Corupe from the 2001-2002 Odessa Jackalopes Governors Cup Championship team.  He averaged a little over a point per game then, and finished the regular season with 18 goals and 32 assists for 50 points total.  I personally don't remember too much about Corupe, as I was just a casual fan during that season, but according to some folks who remember him well, he is a great, speedy forward that is a veteran as well.  He has played his entire career (except for his lone season in the CHL with the Jacks) in either the AHL, ECHL, or overseas, which are all technically higher leagues than the CHL.  He has had great success everywhere he has been, and I think he will fit in nicely with this loaded Odessa Jackalopes team.  Since he is a veteran, that now brings the Jacks total veterans signed for the upcoming season to 5 total out of 6 possible, but another veteran signing could be announced very soon, so be sure to check out The Enforcer for any updates in the coming days.

 Now lets go ahead and talk a little about Michael Schutte.  Schutte is a defenseman that will bring a little size to the blueline since he is 6'2" and about 200 pounds, and he can score a little too.  He has spent the majority of his career in the AHL, has played a little in the ECHL as well as in Germany, and seems to be an all-around very solid defenseman.  Even though he will not technically count as a vet, he is definitely a veteran player as he has plenty of experience in several different leagues, and hopefully he will be one of the key pieces to help bring the Presidents Cup to Odessa for the first time in franchise history.

  Now that I have talked about both Corupe and Schutte, and given a little bit of a history about each of them, I would like to say welcome to the Odessa Jackalopes to both guys.  With all of this said, I am going to go ahead and wrap things us here, but be sure to check The Enforcer frequently as there may be updates pertaining to the Jacks throughout the next week or so.

Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and it's now just a little over two weeks until the 2010-2011 CHL season begins!

Mbaraga and Leserpance Re-Sign

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It is a cool, cloudy day here in the Permian Basin, and it's starting to look more and more like hockey weather!  Speaking of hockey weather, the Jackalopes training camp starts in just a little over a week,  the Jacks will play their exhibition games against Colorado in a little over two weeks, and finally the regular season will begin in just about three weeks.  I don't know about any of you, but I am ready for some hockey. 

 The main reason I am blogging today, though, is because it was announced yesterday that both Mike Lesperance and Patrick Mbaraga have re-signed with the Jacks for the upcoming season.  I'm still not exactly sure how to take this news, and probably won't know how to take the news until more signings are announced.  But, I will go ahead and give my opinion on both of these players, comparing the positives with the negatives of both players.

  Lets start with Lesperance. The positives of re-signing Lespo is that he is still very young, has plenty of potential to grow into a good player, and has tremendous chemistry with Jeff Pierce.  The only real negative that I see is that his points total actually went down in his second season with the Jacks instead of going up.  He also averaged only a point every other game, but like I just pointed out, he has great chemistry with Pierce.

  Now lets move on to Patrick Mbaraga.  I must admit that I was a little shocked to see Mbaraga return to the Jacks.  The guy is a decent physical defensive defenseman, and had a decent +/- rating last season, but he also took some very stupid penalties during crucial times last season, that often came back to bite the Jacks in the ass when all was said and done.  With that said, Mbaraga is a very physical player with some size, which is something that the Jacks lacked overall last season, so if he could cut down on taking stupid penalties, then he could really develop into a very good defensemen for the Jacks.

  Time will tell if either of these guys make the regular season roster, but from what I have been hearing, it will be pretty difficult for either of them to make the regular season squad.  The training camp is sure to be very competitive, and may the best men win a spot on the Jackalopes regular season roster.  That said, I would like to say welcome back to both Mbaraga and Lesperance, and I truly do hope that you guys prove me wrong and show that you are more than capable of getting things done for the Jacks.

  Now that I have covered the re-signings from yesterday for the Jacks, I am going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  If any other signings are announced soon (which should happen since camp is about to start in about a week) then I will definitely keep all of you updated on The Enforcer, so be sure to check the blog frequently.

In other Jackalope news:





5 Jacks Attend AHL Camp


• The Jacks have also announced that five of their players will attend the Bridgeport Sound Tiger's training camp, which is great for these players to get some exposure up in the AHL.  Congratulations to Joel Martin, Marc-Antoine Gelinas, Brady Leisenring, Pierre-Olivier Beaulieu, and Jean Bourbeau.  Remember that Bourbs has a two-way contract with the Jacks and Bridgeport, so I'm still not totally sure if he will start the regular season with the Jacks or Sound Tigers.  The selfish side of me is hoping that he plays with the Jacks, but the caring side of me hopes that he gets to play at the next level.  Either way, I wish Bourbeau all the success and luck in the world.
• The Jacks have also remained involved with the community, which is something that the Jacks have become very good at over the last couple of seasons.  They have proven that they truly do care about the community, and not to sound repetitive or anything, but I think it's time for the folks of the area to return the favor by showing up to support the Jacks in the quickly approaching regular season. 

Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and it's just a few more weeks until the regular season starts!

Jacks Stay Busy in the Community

Hello fellow Jackalope fans.  It is a warm night here in the Permian Basin, and some news pertaining to the Jacks has become available since the last time that I posted.  I know I haven't blogged in a while, and I apologize for that, but I have been extremely busy with school for about the last month now.  Anyway, I have some extra time right now, so I thought I would get everybody caught up with what has been happening in the world of the mighty Jackalopes.

  The last time I blogged, I was congratulating GM Joe Clark for his contract extension which was very well deserved.  Since that had been announced, we have found out a couple of player signings, we have seen the Jacks stay involved in the community, and we have found out the new veteran rule for the upcoming CHL season. 

 Lets first start with the player signings, shall we?  The Jacks announced a couple of weeks ago that they had re-signed defenseman Alex Dunn and forward Troy Ofukany for the 2010-2011 CHL season.  I was thrilled to find out that the All-Star Dunn would be returning to the Jacks for the simple fact that he is a tough, offensive defenseman that isn't afraid to get down and dirty with anybody.  He plays with his heart, and his intensity is definitely welcomed back by this fan.  I must admit that I was a tiny bit surprised to see Ofukany return, but after thinking about it over the last couple of weeks, I see that Ofukany is a very physical grinder type player which is something that the Jacks were somewhat lacking last season.  Once the Jacks started playing the very physical Allen Americans in the Southern Conference Finals last season, it became very evident that while the Jacks were technically the team with the better talent, it was also very clear that the Americans were going to try to literally beat the Jackalopes in order to advance to the CHL Finals.  Unfortunately, as we all know, that is pretty much exactly what the Americans did.  If the Jacks are able to add a little more toughness to the team this season, combined with the incredible talent that has been announced so far, then I'm really liking the Jack's chances of bringing that elusive Presidents Cup to the Permian Basin in 2011.  With that said, I would like to say welcome back to both Dunn and Ofukany! 

 Now lets move on to the Jackalope's involvement in the community recently.  About a week ago, members of the Jackalopes team as well as front office helped raise money for the battle against Muscular Dystrophy when they participated in the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.  The Jacks aided in raising about $30,000 locally, which is something that they should be extremely proud of.   A few weeks ago, the Jacks also held a hockey 101 event, which gave fans the chance to learn even more about the team, as well as visit with Jackalope staff members and player Sebastien Thinel.  Coach Paul Gillis also held a Q&A session where he answered questions about hockey in general as well as the Jackalopes themselves.  There were many more exciting activities that happened during this event, and I'm sure it was a huge success.  Now that the Jacks have stayed so active in the public eye, hopefully more people will show up to the ECC to catch a few more Jackalope games this season to return the favor, so to speak, as well as watch some damn good hockey played by a damn good team. 

 Finally, I would like to go over the new veteran rule, which was announced recently.  The new veteran rule allows for all CHL teams to have up to six veterans on their roster, with one of those six being a "franchise player," which means that that player had to play with that team the season before in order to be eligible to be signed by that particular team.  Goalies also do not count toward the vet limit, which means that technically speaking, a team can have up to eight veterans on their team, if a team decided to sign two veteran goalies as well.  Many people have claimed that the new limit is a bit excessive, and I do see where they are coming from, but I really don't see too much harm in the new vet rule.  I would have preferred if five vets would have been the new limit, but I really don't see six as being too excessive.  Surprising to a lot of people, the salary cap also went down slightly, which shocked many people who thought it would surely go up if the vet limit went up.  But when examined more closely, it becomes more evident how this slight decrease in the salary cap can work.  Only half of the aforementioned "franchise" vet's salary counts toward the cap, which obviously helps teams with potential salary cap issues.

Also, on a bit of a side note I would like to say that I just recently found my statistical information for this blog, and I was pleasantly surprised.  I have found that I have had several hundred pageviews from folks from throughout the United States, several pageviews from people in Sweden, several pageviews from people from both Germany and Russia, and even a few pageviews from people from countries like Finland, Canada, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and even China.  Like I already said, I was pleasantly surprised to see some information about my viewers and how often my blog is checked out, and I would love it if more of you posted your thoughts after I blog.  Thanks for the support, and I promise to keep giving it my all to keep all of you up to date with Jackalope related news, as well as give my two cents when it comes to this news.

With all of this said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap thing up here and get some sleep.  If there is any Jackalope related news announced in the coming days, I will update you here, so keep up with The Enforcer to get my take on all things pertaining to the Jackalopes.

Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and it's only a little over a month away until the puck is dropped to open up the 2010-2011 CHL season!

Clark Receives Well Deserved Extension

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It was an unexpected stormy evening today here in the Permian Basin, and the Jackalopes have announced that GM Joe Clark has received a contract extension through the 2012-2013 season.  This is a no brainer in my eyes, as Clark is a huge asset to the organization and community, and you can see the passion in his eyes as he is at most, if not all of the Jack's home games.

  Anyway, there really hasn't been too much Jackalope related news in the last couple of weeks, but I thought I would update everybody with this announcement.  Hopefully there will be player signing announcements in the upcoming week, so check back here in the coming days for potential breaking news.  Here is the link to the announcement of Clark receiving his contract extension:  http://jackalopes.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=473:08story10&catid=69:newstory&Itemid=119

Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and congrats to Joe Clark on his contract extension!

Jacks 2010-2011 Schedule Released!

Hello fellow Jackalope fans! It is a warm, breezy day here in the Permian Basin, and the Central Hockey League released it's 2010-2011 schedule today. You can read the article from the CHL at: http://centralhockeyleague.com/pressroom/news/index.html?article_id=4757

I was pretty happy with the Jacks schedule overall, although there are a few things that kind of make you scratch your head. The Jacks will see plenty of Allen, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, and especially Rio Grande Valley. The Jacks will play the Killer Bees more than any other team this season, with ten games played between the Southern Conference foes. The Jacks will play Colorado more than they play Laredo, which is a little bit strange, but it will be great to see more games between the Jacks and Eagles. The Jacks also play Rapid City five times this season, with three of those games taking place at the Ector County Coliseum. Both Rapid City and Colorado are two Northern Conference powerhouses, so those games will be big tests for the Jacks.

Something that I found a bit strange with the Jacks schedule is that they will not play Mississippi at all this season, even though they are in the same conference. Also, the Jacks only play the Mudbugs three times this season, and once again these two teams are in the same conference. I would have liked to see the Jacks play the 'Bugs more, but I won't complain too much. The Jacks will also open up the season on the road way up North. They open the season against Missouri, then play three former IHL teams in a row. Those teams are Quad City, Bloomington, and Dayton respectively. It will be great to see the Jacks show the IHL teams how the big boys play in the CHL! The only former IHL team that the Jacks will see at the ECC is the Bloomington Prairie Thunder for a pair of games in the middle of March.

Those are just a few of my initial observations when it comes to the Jack's 2010-2011 season. Here is a breakdown of who the Jacks will see in the upcoming season, and how many times they will play each other:

• Rio Grande Valley - 10 total (4H 6A)


• Texas - 9 total (4H 5A)


• Arizona - 8 total (4H 4A)


• Allen - 7 total (3H 4A)


• Colorado - 7 total (3H 4A)


• Laredo - 6 total (4H 2A)


• Rapid City - 5 total (3H 2A)


• Tulsa - 4 total (3H 1A)


• Bossier - 3 total (2H 1A)


• Bloomington - 3 total (2H 1A)


• Wichita - 1 total (1H 0A)


• Missouri - 1 total (0H 1A)


• Quad City - 1 total (0H 1A)


• Dayton - 1 total (0H 1A)


• Evansville - NO GAMES


• Ft. Wayne - NO GAMES


• Mississippi - NO GAMES

Now that we have discussed the schedule, lets move on with some player news. The Jacks announced a couple of days ago that All-Star Dominic Leveille will return to the Odessa Jackalopes for the 2010-2011 season. This is another big signing for the Jacks, and the Jacks will definitely be a force to be reckoned with next season. And no, Mr. Benway, the Jacks do not cheat the salary cap as you suggested in your last blog posting. Grow up a little, and get over the Jacks beating the Bucks a couple of seasons ago in the playoffs. Here is the full article from the Jackalope's website pertaining to the signing of Dominic Leveille: http://jackalopes.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=464:07story07&catid=69:newstory&Itemid=119

Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and bring it on CHL!!!

2010-2011 CHL Playoff Format a Joke?

Hello fellow Jackalope fans! It is a beautiful day here in the Permian Basin, and we have found out over the last couple of days what the CHL conference alignment will be, how many games each team will play next season, and also the playoff format for next season.

So, since the title of my post mentions the playoff format, lets start there shall we? This season's format will be a format that sees sixteen out of eighteen teams make the playoffs. In other words, only one team from each conference will not make the post-season. How stupid is that? The whole point of the playoffs is to showcase the best of the best in the CHL and have those teams battle it out to prove who is the best team in the league. Now, with this format, you will have several teams with losing records make the playoffs when they do not deserve to be there. It just does not make any sense. Now, the regular season will be vastly diluted in the sense that all you have to do to make the playoffs is to not be the cellar dweller of your respective conference. This is just unbelievable.

What were the Board of Governors thinking when they approved this format? Many are saying that this is a compromise between the IHL and CHL since the IHL will not have a 70+ game regular season, but why wouldn't they just extend the regular CHL season as opposed to making a mockery of the regular season in order to make a few extra bucks? I think I may know the answer, and I would like to see if you guys agree with me. My theory is that since many season ticket holders have already payed for their tickets or at least signed a contract with a set price for their tickets, the CHL decided that they can't just give away free tickets to the season ticket holders by making the regular season longer. The teams can, however, charge for more playoff games by allowing more teams in the playoffs since season ticket holders don't get their bills for playoff games until the season has ended. In other words, it's all about the almighty dollar. The CHL is willing to make a mockery of their regular season in order to make more money. That's the way I see it anyway. With that said, I guess we will find out how truly ridiculous this setup is once the regular season starts in October.

Lets move on to the announced conference alignment for the 2010-2011 CHL season. This is exactly how I thought the alignment would be, with the Jacks, Allen, Arizona, Bossier, Laredo, Mississippi, Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and Tulsa making up the Southern Conference. Obviously Bossier, Mississippi, and Tulsa have come from the Northern Conference to join the Southern Conference. The Northern Conference will consist of Bloomington, Colorado, Dayton, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Missouri, Quad City, Rapid City, and Wichita. Both conferences will have nine teams each, and according to the CHL website, the conferences will be given names that have to deal with the histories of both the CHL and IHL. Should be interesting. The CHL also stated that new trophies will be introduced for conference champions, regular season champions, and playoff champions. I'm curious to see these "new" trophies, and I really hope the CHL doesn't make a joke of them.

Finally, The Central Hockey League announced that there will be 66 regular season games this season, as opposed to the 64 played last season by the CHL teams. I would have liked to seen 68 or even 70 regular season games, but I won't complain about getting to watch another home game too much. The Jacks also announced that their home opener will be on the 28th of October, two weeks after the season starts. We all knew this would happen, since every other year the oil show occupies the Ector County Coliseum. Interestingly, though, the Jacks home opener will be on a Thursday which will be a little strange. They won't open on that Friday due to the OHS/PHS football game, and I can't say that I blame them. All I know is that I'm ready for some hockey! We still don't know who the Jacks will entertain on the 28th, though, since the schedule still has not been released. I'm expecting the schedule to be released either some time this week, or maybe even next week. When it does happen, I will let all of you know.

I guess I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here. Be sure to check the blog for updates throughout the week, and feel free to comment on my posts.

Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and what were you thinking CHL?