Jacks Sweep 'Dogs as Gillis Approaches Milestone

Hello fellow Jackalope fans! It is a cool Sunday night in West Texas, and we are coming off of a good week of Odessa Jackalope hockey! The Jacks swept the Arizona Sundogs over the past week, pushing their winning streak to six games with an upcoming game against Rio to finish off the annual rodeo road trip. The Jacks are currently 6-1 on the longest road trip of the season, and the Jacks are looking to make that a 7-1 record come Wednesday night. The Jacks are the first team in the CHL to reach thirty wins, and their record currently sits at 31-6-3. They now lead the second place Allen Americans by six points, with the Americans having one game in hand. With all of this being said, we are going to discuss the past three games that the Jacks had with the 'Dogs, as well as address one milestone that Coach Gillis has already reached and one that will be reached in as early as... Wednesday night!

First of all, lets start with Coach Paul Gillis. Gilly recorded his 100th win as Odessa Jackalope head coach last Wednesday, when the Jacks defeated the Sundogs by a final of 4-2 in Prescott Valley. This is an amazing accomplishment for Coach Gillis, but the next milestone that we are about to talk about is even more amazing. Paul Gillis is now only one game away from reaching 500 wins as a professional hockey head coach. That's right, Gilly has accumulated 499 wins in his career as head coach, and hopefully he will get to 500 wins on Wednesday night when the Jacks take on the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees at the Dodge Arena. The Bees are a very talented team, but I think the Jacks will take this game and give Gillis a bit of a thank you for all of the hard work that he has put in to this team. Hopefully he will reach yet another milestone later on in the year when the Jacks finally bring home the cup to Odessa for the first time in franchise history. That's right, it is time for the Jacks to finally bring home the cup to where it truly belongs... not some sardine can, shoe box, or whatever else you want to call the Nytex Sports Centre, but to the ECC right here in the Permian Basin! Sorry for going on a mini rant, now back to Gilly... Once again, congratulations to Odessa Jackalopes head coach Paul Gillis on all of his accomplishments not only as head coach of the Jacks, but for all of his accomplishments throughout his career elsewhere too.

Now lets go ahead and break down Wednesday's game against Arizona at Tims Toyota Center. As I already stated, the Jacks won by a final of 4-2, but in my opinion, the Sundogs are a very underrated hockey team. They put up a pretty good fight, but fortunately the Jacks were able to hold on for the big "W". The Jacks and Sundogs both went 1-5 on the power play, as the Jacks outshot Arizona by ten shots for the game (31-21). The Jacks also had a shorthanded tally, which gives them ten shorties on the season. Now lets go ahead and give credit to our point scorers, as well as break down the play in net for the Jacks. Congrats to Patrick Mbaraga, Kory Karlander, Jeff Pierce, and Jean Bourbeau who all had one goal a piece in this particular contest. Also, a big congrats to Dave Van Drunen, Dominic Leveille, Collin Circelli, and Alex Dunn who all had one assist a piece on the evening. Lastly, congrats to Joel Martin for picking up yet another win in between the pipes for the Jacks. Martin stopped 19 of 21 Sundog shots, and improves to 16-3-2 on the season.

Now lets move on to Friday night's game against these same Sundogs at Tims Toyota Center. The Jacks won this game by a final of 3-1, with Juha Toivonen looking extremely good in net for the Jacks. It seems like the Juha from last season's playoffs is back once again, and that is definitely a very good thing. The Jacks really struggled on the power play in this game, with the league's leading power play going 0-8 on the night. I have noticed that the Jacks pp has been cooling off considerably over the last few weeks, and while this is not an issue yet, it is still a problem that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. The Jacks did kill off 7 of Arizona's 8 man advantages, however, and still have the league's best penalty kill, killing off over 88% of the opposition's man advantages. Now lets get to who scored for the Jacks. Congrats to Sebastien Thinel who had two goals (one being on a penalty shot) as well as one assist on the evening; congrats to Jeff Pierce who had one goal and one assist on the night; and finally, congrats to Collin Circelli who picked up two assists in the game. Finally, congratulations to Juha Toivonen who stopped 29 of the 30 shots that he faced in net against Arizona. He played one heck of a game, and his record now sits at 15-3-1 on the season.

Now lets dissect Saturday night's game against... you guessed it, these same Arizona Sundogs. This game was actually kind of ruined by all of the "interference" by referee Ryan Hersey, but the Jacks still managed to get the win, which is all that really matters when all is said and done. The Jacks power play did okay in this game, going 2-8 on the night. To be completely honest with you, the league's best power play probably could have added one or two more pp goals, but I guess I can deal with getting two on the evening. Anyway, the Jack's league leading penalty kill stayed red hot, killing off all ten (yes, I just said ten) Arizona man (sometimes two man) advantages. The Jacks pulled off the win by a final of 5-4, completing the sweep of the Sundogs in Prescott Valley. Congratulations to Kenny Bernard who had one goal and one assist on the night; congrats to Sebastien Thinel who picked up a goal and an assist as well; congrats to Kory Karlander who had one goal and one assist with the goal being a shorty; congrats to Collin Circelli who had one goal and one assist on the evening; congrats to Alex Dunn who picked up two assists in the game; and finally, congrats to Mike Lesperance who had one goal, as well as Mike Ramsay who had one assist on the night. Finally, congratulations to Joel Martin for picking up his sixteenth win of the season. He stopped 36 of Arizona's 40 shots on net for the night.

All in all, the Jacks have had a very good rodeo road trip thus far. Hopefully the Jacks will make it that much better by giving Gillis his 500th win as a head coach on Wednesday night, when the Jacks conclude their longest road trip of the season against the Bees. I don't know about the rest of ya'll, but I am ready to see some more hockey at the ECC this weekend, even if it is against the... you guessed it once again, Arizona Sundogs. Hey, things should get interesting on Sunday afternoon, though, when the Jacks play one of their biggest and most hated rivals, the Laredo Bucks. With all of this being said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up and watch a little television before I hit the hay. Hope to see everybody at the Jack Shack this weekend, and hopefully we will have a packed house to support the boys!

Elsewhere around the CHL:

• The Eagles pounded the Apes this afternoon by a final of 6-2 at the Amarillo Civic Center. Hey, the 'Rillas won't be too unhappy as they beat that same team just the night before. I have said it before, and I will say it again: Nobody should take this Gorilla team lightly. They have defeated the Jacks twice in regulation (the only team in the league that can claim this) and have also defeated one of the North's best in the Colorado Eagles.


• In the only other game in the league today, the Oilers win a shootout thriller over the Killer Bees by a final of 2-1. Sounded like a good game, and hopefully the Jacks will be able to swat the Bees come Wednesday night at the Dodge Arena.


• Finally, in a non-hockey related story, the two teams that I had picked to make it to the Super Bowl made it as the Colts defeated the Jets, while the Vikings lost in a heartbreaker in overtime to the New Orleans Saints. There's always next year, then a year after that, then a year after that, Brett! Just kidding! I really do feel pretty badly for the guy, and I think the officiating had a lot to do with the outcome of the game. With that being said, my pick to win it all is going to have to be the Colts. I predict a good game, with the final being 28-20 in favor of the Colts.

Until next time Jack fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and I can't wait for hockey to return to the ECC this weekend... even if it is against the Sundogs!

Success in South Texas

Hello fellow CHL and especially Jackalope fans! It has been quite a while since my last blog, but I am back to give you my personal take on the Jacks games this past weekend in Rio and Corpus. I was fortunate enough to be able to make both games, and I must say that I had an incredible time. I did have a couple of minor issues (which we will get to in just a few minutes) but overall we had a blast. We will get to all of the details in a few minutes, and we will also break down both games as well as discuss the Jacks upcoming schedule.

Now lets go ahead and move on to the Jackalope's current record, and their upcoming schedule, shall we? The Jacks current record sits at an unbelievable 28-6-2, for a total of 59 points. The Jacks lead the Allen Americans by seven points for the Southern Conference lead, with the Texas Brahmas holding the number three spot with a total of 43 points. I think that it is fairly safe (though not set in stone) to say that either the Jacks or Americans will win the Southern Conference this season. Some may argue that the Brahmas still have a decent chance of making a run for the number one seed in the South, but in order for that to happen the Jacks and Americans would both have to absolutely collapse, and the Brahmas would have to play phenomenal hockey for the remainder of the season. I personally think that it is a two team race in the South, but stranger things have happened, and the season is far from over. Now lets go ahead and quickly discuss the Jackalope's upcoming schedule. As fellow Jackalope blogger jacksfan1975 pointed out, the folks that made the schedules this season are absolutely idiots. The Jacks play the Arizona Sundogs in five of their upcoming six games. They will play Arizona in their three upcoming games in Arizona, head back to the Rio Grande Valley to end the rodeo road trip, and then play Arizona for two consecutive games at the ECC. Why must you put us through this, Mr. or Mrs. CHL schedule maker?!?!? Not only do the fans get bored quickly, but I'm sure the players get tired of playing the same team over and over as well.

Now lets go ahead and dissect this past weekend's games in South Texas against the Corpus Christi IceRays and the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. We will start with Friday's contest between the Jacks and Rays. I really enjoyed the game in Corpus as the Jacks were able to literally win the game in the dying seconds of regulation. Before I give my detailed opinion on the fans in Corpus as well as the peroformance of the ref of that game, Kevin Graber, I will go ahead and break down who scored for the Jacks, as well as Martin's play in net. Congratulations to Dominic Leveille who picked up a goal and an assist in the game; congrats to Circelli who also had one goal and one assist; congrats to Jeff Pierce who picked up one goal in the game; a big congrats to Jean Bourbeau who picked up the shorthanded goal that sealed the fate of the Rays with five seconds left in regulation; and finally congrats to Mbaraga, Thinel, Sanford, and Swiniarski who all finished the night with one assist apiece. Joel Martin was very good in net, stopping 36 of 39 Corpus shots. This guy is the real deal, and he had another very good game between the pipes for the Jacks. The final of the game was 4-3 in the Jack's favor.

Now we will go ahead and change directions and talk about Kevin Graber as well as the IceRay fans. We will start with Kevin Graber. The guy missed obvious penalties that should have been called on both teams. Many Corpus fans are claiming that he decided the outcome of the game, and basically handed the Jacks the win. Since I was actually at the ABC, I must say that I have to completely disagree with these fans. Both teams had almost an equal number of PP chances, with the Jacks having only one more than the Rays. If Garbutt would have been more disciplined and if he had not taunted the ref by sarcastically tapping his stick on the ice, then both teams would have had the exact same number of PP opportunities. If certain Corpus fans want to make excuses for their team and blame the loss on the ref, then I guess the Jacks could complain about Graber making an absolute phantom call on Bernard for holding with two minutes left in the game. The ref was basically handing the game to the Rays on a silver platter, but the Jacks were able to score shorthanded with five seconds left in regulation to seal the deal for the Jacks. The Rays have nobody but themselves to blame for that loss, as they had the final two minutes of regulation with the man advantage, and should have at least (in the very least) forced the game in to OT to earn a well deserved point. Oh well, as a Jackalope fan I must say that I was extremely pleased with the outcome.

Now lets talk about a couple of the Corpus fans. We sat in the rowdy section at the ABC, and I must say that they make our Section Q boys look like angels. Folks from this section continuously pelted our players that were in the penalty box with chunks of ice, with the off ice officials staring right at them. They did not get in to any trouble for this, and finally we yelled at the officials towards the end of the game. The officials then offered a meaningless finger pointing to the individuals, who then decided to talk crap to us for "snitching" on them. There should absolutely be no physical contact made between the players and fans during the games, and these morons should have been kicked out for their behavior. Another issue with some of the fans was that objects were continuously being thrown on to the ice during the game including bubble gum, coins, as well as a beverage of some type. They would announce for the audience to stop throwing objects on the ice, but these useless threats had no impact. If it would have been Jackalope fans at the ECC doing this, you better believe that the Jacks would have received a two minute minor. Finally, I would like to talk about some adult situations that were occuring during the game in the section directly to the right of us. There was a group of older men with very young women that were engaging in what we will call improper behavior. These men were continuously playing with these women's asses with little kids literally feet away from them. At one point in time, one of these older men put a piece of ice down one of the young "ladie's" pants, to which she then exposed her bare ass while he played with it for a brief moment. There is a time and place for this type of behavior, and these people should have been kicked out of the arena indefinitely for indecent exposure. However, I did not see one security officer during the game, so I guess the fans in Corpus can practically get away with whatever they want. Finally, I would like to address the boarding call made on Tessier as well as the spearing call made on Karlander. Even though many Corpus fans are claiming that the boarding major was bogus, the incident happened directly in front of me, and I must say that it was brutal, cheap, and very dirty. This thug should be suspended for this crap. I did not see Karlander spear anybody, so I can't comment on this. I will say, however, that the Jacks did not seem to be unpleased with the call, so maybe it was legit. Sorry for taking so long with this game, but I had a lot to get off of my chest.

Lets shift gears once again and move on to Saturday's contest between the Killer Bees and the Jacks at the Dodge Arena. I am going to try and keep the rundown of this game short and sweet as it was a hard fought, clean, entertaining hockey game between two very good teams. The Jacks won the game by a final of 4-3 in a very full Dodge Arena. The fans were very passionate, yet very respectful and courteous as well. We had absolutely no problem with the fans in the valley, and even had a nice conversation with a couple of their fans during one of the intermissions. Now lets go ahead and break down who scored for the Jacks, as well as Juha's play in net. Congratulations to Dominic Leveille who had one goal and one assist in the game; congrats to Jean Bourbeau and Mike Lesperance who both finished the night with two assists apiece; congrats to Phil Plante, Kory Karlander, and Alex Dunn who all had one goal apiece on the evening; and finally, congrats to Mike Ramsay and Brian Swiniarski who both had one assist apiece on the game. Juha Toivonen played very well in net for the Jacks, stopping 32 of 35 Rio shots. He made some incredible saves during the game, but I bet he would really like to have another shot at that third goal that he allowed. It was a bit of a fluke goal, but he was still very solid between the pipes, and it is looking like the old Juha is back once again.

With all of this being said, I am going to go ahead and wrap things up and enjoy the rest of MLK day. Hopefully I will be blogging again some time in the next week with more good news as the Jacks play the Sundogs in Arizona for three games in a row.

Elsewhere around the CHL:

• Rapid City's Battachio has been named the Oakley CHL Goaltender of the Week. He went 2-0-0 during the week, with a 94.2 save percentage as well as a 2.00 goals against average. Congrats on a very good week.


• Texas' Godoy has been named the Oakley CHL Player of the Week. In two games Godoy had three goals and three assists for a total of six points. He was also a +3 for the week, so congrats to him as well.


• Finally, the Allen Americans defeated the Arizona Sundogs by a final of 4-2 in the lone game on MLK day. This now puts the Americans seven points behind the Jacks in the Southern Conference standings with one game in hand.

Until next time Jack fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets get ready to see a whole lot of Arizona in the next week and a half!