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!