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!
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