Hello fellow Jackalope fans! It has been about a month since my last post, but I am back and ready to blog about the best team in the Central Hockey League... the Odessa Jackalopes. The reason I have not blogged in so long is partially because I have been very busy as of late, and I have also been having problems with my laptop recently. With all of this said, while I was gone the Jacks have won the Governor's Cup, Joel Martin was named the most outstanding goalie in the CHL, the Jacks finished the season with a franchise record 101 points, and the Jacks have finally gotten revenge against Texas as they eliminated the Brahmas in six games in the conference semi-finals after trailing the series two games to none. The Jacks are now preparing for Game One of the Southern Conference Finals against the Allen Americans which starts tonight at the Ector County Coliseum. Hopefully the ECC will be raucous and rocking tonight as the Jacks entertain the Americans.
Lets start off with the conference semi-finals that saw the Odessa Jackalopes take on the Texas Brahmas. The Jacks finally got some sweet revenge against the Brahmas after last seasons embarrassing game seven loss in the conference finals at the Nytex Sports Centre. The Jacks won the series in six games, but this series certainly was no cake walk for the Jacks. In fact, the Jacks lost the first two games of the series at the ECC, falling in an early hole heading to the Shoebox. Even though things were not looking good at all for the Jacks, we Jackalope fans all remembered what happened last year with Laredo. The Jacks also fell in that series two games to none, with those two losses occurring at the ECC. The Jacks then went on to win the next four in a row. The same thing happened this year, as the Jacks won four in a row against the Brahmas, to end their season on a low note. Talk about deja vu! Here is a little recap of the scores in the series between the Jacks and Texas: The Jacks lost game one by a final of 5-2; the Jacks lost game two by a final of 3-2 in OT; the Jacks won game three by a final of 6-3; the Jacks won game four by a final of 5-1; the Jacks won game five by a final of 2-1; and finally, the Jacks clinched the series by a final of 5-4 in OT in game six that saw the Jacks losing by a 4-2 score heading into the third period of the game. The Jacks battled back to tie the game in the third, and won the game early in OT thanks to Collin Circelli's heroics. I must say that it was great to see the Jacks on the right side of the end-of-series handshake between the Jacks and Brahmas.
Now the Jacks will take on the Allen Americans in the Southern Conference Finals. As I already stated, game one will happen tonight at the ECC, with game two tomorrow at the ECC. The Jacks are starting to play very good hockey again, and I predict a Jackalope series win in six games. The Americans are a very talented, big, physical hockey team, so this series sure will not be easy for the good guys. But, I have faith in them, and I honestly believe that they will take care of Allen.
With all of this said, why don't we take a look at the regular season series between the Jacks and Americans. The teams played each other a total of four times, with the Jacks winning three of the contests. Three games were played in Odessa, with one played in Allen. The first game took place in November at the ECC, with the Jacks falling by a final of 5-4. The second game of the regular season series took place in Allen in December, with the Jacks winning by a final of 3-2 in OT. This would be the first of three games in a row between the two teams. The Jacks would then go on to win the next two against Allen at the ECC by finals of 3-0 and 5-1 respectively. Joel Martin was lights out in the games he played against Allen, including the shutout, so lets hope that this continues in the conference finals.
I guess I will go ahead and wrap things up here. I'm getting ready to head to the ECC for tonight's huge game between the Jacks and Americans. Sorry for not completely breaking down the point leaders and goaltending play in the conference semi-finals, but I'm about to leave for tonight's game. If you do want a complete breakdown of the series, however, you can visit one of my fellow Jackalope fans blog at http://www.jacksfan1975.wordpress.com/ He went into lengthy detail about the Texas/Odessa series, and it is definitely worth the read.
Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets take care of Allen this weekend!
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