Hello fellow Jackalope fans! It is a stormy day in the Permian Basin, and the Jacks are in Allen, Texas gearing up for a huge game three tonight against the Allen Americans. The series is currently tied at one game a piece, with both games one and two being played at the Ector County Coliseum. The Jacks fell to Allen in game one by a final of 4-3, and the Jacks won game two by a final of 3-2 in OT. I will break down both of these games, look into tonight's big game, and look ahead to the rest of the series.
First, lets begin with game one. This game was a bit strange, and definitely an eye opener for the Jacks as Allen showed their true colors by gooning things up every chance they got. The saddest part about this is that referee Kevin Graber let the Americans get away with all of this goonery, without calling many of the obvious penalties that should have been called. There were countless potentially dangerous slashes that were delivered behind the play and after the whistle had been blown by the Americans. I also saw several nasty cross checks that went on behind the play, and sometimes right in front of Mr. Graber. Lastly, there were so many cheap shot punches delivered to Jackalope players when they were either down on the ice, or once again, behind the play. It was getting to be flat out ridiculous, but it was very evident that Graber was going to let the Americans get away with practically anything and everything that they wanted to.
Now lets move on to the actual game that was played between the two teams, shall we? The first period was a very entertaining opening frame that saw a lot of back and forth action between the two teams. I thought the Jacks had the edge in this period, although both teams had their fair share of opportunities. The Jacks would score first at the 2:40 mark on the power play. Sebastien Thinel would get credit for the goal, with the assists awarded to Jeff Pierce and Collin Circelli. The next goal wouldn't occur until the 15:44 mark when Allen would tie the game on a goal from Jarret Lukin, with the assists going to Colton Yellow Horn and Erik Adams. However, the Jacks would take back the lead at the 19:52 mark with a power play goal from Phil Plante. Dominic Leveille and Kory Karlander had the assists on the Plante goal. Joel Martin stopped 9 of the 10 Allen shots that he faced, while Chris Whitley stopped 13 of the 15 Odessa shots that he faced.
The second period was definitely the game changing period. The Odessa Jackalopes looked flat out horrible, and to be totally honest, it was like watching an entirely different team than what we saw in the first period. Allen would tie up the game at the 12:32 mark of the middle frame, on a goal from Nino Musitelli. The assists were given to Erik Adams and Jordie Benn. Then, less than three minutes later at the 15:15 mark of the period, the Americans would take their first lead of the game on a Jarret Lukin goal, with the lone assist awarded to Nino Musitelli. The second period would come to a close with the Americans leading by a 3-2 score. Joel Martin stopped 10 of the 12 Allen shots on goal in the middle frame, while Chris Whitley would stop all four (yes I just said four) Odessa shots. Momentum had definitely swung in the Americans favor.
The third period was dominated by the Jacks, but a shorthanded goal given up, as well as stellar play in net by Whitley proved to be too much for the Jacks. Mike Salekin would make the score 4-2 in favor of Allen with a shorthanded goal at the 7:22 mark of the final frame. Jarret Lukin and Colton Yellow Horn were given the assists on the shorthanded goal. The Jacks would score just a little over thirty seconds later on the very same power play that Allen scored their shorthanded goal on. Mike Ramsay was given credit for the power play goal, with the assists going to Dominic Leveille and Kory Karlander. The score was now 4-3 in favor of Allen, with about twelve minutes left in regulation. Those final minutes saw the Jacks on a mission, as they peppered Whitley with numerous shots on goal, only to be shut down every time. The Jackalopes would have to go on the penalty kill with just about two minutes left in regulation, when Graber decided to call Sebastien Thinel for tripping after letting all of the crap done by Allen go uncalled. Even though the Jacks would be on the penalty kill for the rest of the third period, Paul Gillis was able to pull goaltender Joel Martin in order to get an extra Odessa attacker on the ice. Both teams would now play with five men on the ice a piece. The Jacks had several opportunities in the dying seconds of the game, but were unable to find the back of the net. The final score would be 4-3 in favor of Allen, also giving them the one game series lead in the Southern Conference Finals. Joel Martin stopped 7 of the 8 Allen shots that he faced in the final frame of the game, while Chris Whitley proved to be almost impossible to solve as he stopped 18 of the 19 shots that he faced in the third period. All in all, Joel Martin stopped 26 of the 30 total shots that he faced in the game, while Chris Whitley was stellar in net stopping 35 of the 38 shots on goal that he faced in the game.
Game two would also turn out to be a very close, and very entertaining game. Many Odessa fans were expecting to see Juha Toivonen in net for the Jacks, after Martin's less than impressive play in game one, but apparently Juha was ill and could not play in this game. Therefore, Joel Martin would once again get the start in net for the Jackalopes.
The first period was a period that saw a determined and hungry Jackalope team. The boys came out physical, gave Allen a bit of a taste of their own medicine, and flat out dominated the play in the opening frame. The Jacks would open up the scoring at the 7:40 mark after an Allen turnover in their own zone. Jean Bourbeau would intercept an Allen pass at the blue line, before sending a wicked wrister top shelf into the Allen American net. Man, was that goal beautiful. The Jacks would have the 1-0 lead after the unassisted goal from Jean Bourbeau midway through the first. The Americans responded, however, just over three minutes later with a power play goal from Justin Bowers, with the assists given to Tyler Wooddisse and Ryan Fairbarn. The game was now tied 1-1 midway through the opening frame, although the Jacks had pretty much dominated the game thus far. The Jacks would take back the one goal lead about five minutes later at the 15:58 mark with a power play goal from Kenny Bernard. Dominic Leveille and Kory Karlander were awarded with the assists. Joel Martin stopped 4 of the 5 Allen shots that he faced, while Chris Whitley stopped 17 of the 19 Odessa shots that he faced in the opening frame. The Jacks would head into the first intermission with the 2-1 lead.
The second period saw a lot of back-and-forth action, but neither team was able to find the back of the net in the middle frame. Allen would out shoot the Jacks by an 8-6 margin, but both goalies made sure that no puck would find the back of the net in this period. The score would remain 2-1 in favor of the Jacks heading into the second intermission.
The third period of the game once again displayed plenty of back-and-forth action. The Americans would score the only goal of the third period at the 2:54 mark, after Joel Martin turned over the puck after trying to play it behind his net. Liam Huculak would simply take the puck away from Martin, and deposit the puck into an empty net to tie the game. The score was 2-2 early in the third period, and it would stay that way until the buzzer sounded at the 20:00 mark. Joel Martin stopped 7 of the 8 American shots that he faced, while Whitley would turn away all 9 Odessa shots. This game was headed to overtime!
Overtime was once again a period that saw plenty of back-and-forth action. Both teams had several opportunities to put an end to the game, but both goalies played extremely well in the extra frame. The Jacks would go on the penalty kill at the 11:10 mark of OT when Alex Dunn was called for roughing. This was a golden opportunity for the Americans, but the Jacks were able to kill of the penalty after Joel Martin made several great saves to redeem himself after his second period turnover that allowed Allen to tie the game. Then, at the 16:43 mark of the OT period, Jeff Pierce would send a wrist shot through a partial screen that would find the back of the net to end the game. The Jacks had won the game by a final of 3-2 in OT, and more importantly tied up the Southern Conference Finals 1-1, with the series now shifting to Allen, Texas. Joel Martin stopped 29 of the 31 Allen shots that he faced, while Whitley was once again amazing stopping 42 of the 45 Odessa shots on goal.
Before I move on to tonight's crucial game between the Jacks and Americans, I would like to complain for a minute about the Jackalope's playoff attendance numbers. On Saturday night, the Jacks only had 3,000 people in attendance in a HUGE game between two very good teams. That is unacceptable. Odessa needs to wake up and start supporting this team. This is arguably the best team in the entire Central Hockey League, yet they have one of the lowest attendance averages in the entire league. Unbelievable. Odessa needs to realize that the Jacks have done some amazing things for this community, and it is for the community to return the favor and start supporting the Jacks. If the Odessa Roughnecks can have huge crowds when they haven't even won a game this year, but the Jacks can only barely average a little over 3,000 per game, then something is seriously wrong. If Odessans do not start supporting this team, then we may not have a team in the not-so-far future. Wake up, Odessa! Support a winning team, and help hockey not only survive, but thrive in West Texas!
Now lets move on to tonight's huge game between the Jacks and Americans at the Allen Event Center. Tonight will be game three in the Southern Conference Finals, with both teams wanting to take the 2-1 series lead. I'm really hoping for a Jackalope win, and if they play like they did in game 2 as well as get more bodies in front of Whitley to set up screens and deflection efforts, then I really like their chances. But, if we see the Jackalope team that showed up (or did not show up) for period two in game one, then it will be a very, very long night for the Jackalopes. I'm expecting to see Juha in net tonight, although I'm not totally sure as the Jacks signed emergency goaltender Jamie Gilbert today. Either Juha is still ill, or the Jacks are just making sure that they have some backup in case Juha gets sick again. To be completely honest with you, I'm not totally sure what is going on, but I hope all is well with both of our more-than-capable goaltenders.
After tonight's game, the Jacks will also play game four and game five (if necessary) in Allen this weekend. I still predict that the Jacks will take this series in six games, and I also think the Jacks will take two of the three games at the Allen Event Center this week. Then, maybe the Jacks can finish off the Americans in game six back at the Ector County Coliseum. I have faith in the boys, and hopefully they will prove that they are indeed the best that the CHL has to offer.
With all of this said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here. Sorry for such a long post, but I had a lot on my mind that I had to share. Hopefully I will be blogging again in the next couple of days with good news.
Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets take the series lead tonight in Allen!
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