It's Hunting Time!

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It is a chilly December day here in the Permian Basin, and the Jacks are gearing up for the Laredo Bucks, as they visit the ECC (aka the Jack Shack) for the fifth meeting between the two teams so far this season.  The season series thus far is tied at 2-2, so the Jacks will be looking to get the upper hand on the Bucks tonight, and more importantly the Jacks will look to earn two points to move out of the cellar of the Berry Conference.  As I have said before, the Berry Conference is packed so tightly in the standings that if the Jacks win in regulation tonight (depending on how the other Berry Conference teams fare tonight) they could move from last place in the conference standings all the way to being tied for fifth place in the conference.  While fifth place is still not where the Jacks want to be in the standings, it would be a lot better than being in last place in the conference standings, so hopefully the boys will come out on fire tonight and get to hunting!  If the Jacks play as well as they did the last time they hosted the Bucks at the ECC earlier this month (a 4-1 Jackalope victory), then I really like the Jacks chances of taking the two points.

That said, inconsistency has been the Jacks number one enemy so far this season, so hopefully the Jacks will start playing some consistent, good hockey starting tonight.  They are coming off a huge 3-2 OT victory over the Colorado Eagles at the BEC (the first victory for the Jacks ever at the BEC), so hopefully they will come into tonight's game with confidence and a bit of a spark, so to speak.  Speaking of the Jacks and Colorado Eagles, this past weekends series between the two teams saw a split for the Jacks, with the Jacks being hammered 8-3 in Friday's game, while playing a much better game on Saturday, stealing two points after the two teams went into OT.  Todd Robinson scored the game winning power play goal with just six seconds left in OT.  Apparently Colorado head coach Chris Stewart wasn't very happy that the Jacks received a whole seventeen second power play in OT, as he received an abuse of officials game misconduct at the end of the game.  I guess he forgot that his team enjoyed two lengthy five on threes in regulation, as well as a thirty-four second power play to start OT.  Mr. Stewart, everything doesn't go your way all the time, and it's about time you learn that.  That being said, it was like a tale of two teams when it came to the Jacks this past weekend.  Hopefully the Jacks that showed up on Saturday show up tonight against Laredo.

  Moving on, according to Pointstreak Ryan Hersey will be tonight's referee, so I'm fully expecting several penalties to be called on both teams.  If that turns out to be true, then the Jacks special teams are going to have to be very good tonight, and our goaltender (Martin I'm assuming) has to be on top of his game as well.  Our defense will also have to play some good hockey tonight, and since Michael Schutte has been activated from the IR, there should be no excuses for our defense playing poorly tonight.  The D will be fully healthy, and with all of the talent on the defense, they better play up to their potential tonight.  As far as our offense goes, I'm not too worried.  Despite currently sitting in the cellar of the Berry Conference, the Jacks have scored the fourth most goals in the Berry Conference, and the fourth most in the entire CHL for that matter.  Our offense seems to be "clicking", and Gillis and Cressman seem to have found line combos that really work for the team, so as I just stated I'm not worried about our offense at all.

  Before I wrap things up here, I would like to say thank you to the Odessa Jackalopes players, Slap Jack, as well as all of the Jackalopes staff that were out and about in the community the other day, spreading the holiday cheer to many people right here in the Permian Basin.  They continue to show that they care for our community, and as I have said many times before, it's about time for the community to return the favor by showing up at the ECC to support the boys.  Our attendance has been pretty bad so far this season (partially due to having so many home games on weekdays), and folks from Odessa, Midland, as well as the rest of the small towns of the Permian Basin need to show that they care for this team as much as this team cares for the community.  With that said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  Be sure to check The Enforcer in the coming days for any updates pertaining to the Odessa Jackalopes.  If I'm not able to blog again before Christmas, I would like to say Merry Christmas to all of my readers, as well as wish everybody a happy new year!


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and it's hunting time tonight at the Jack Shack!

Jacks Hoping to Soar in Colorado

Hello fellow Jackalope fans.  It's a beautiful day here in the Permian Basin as the Jacks gear up to take on the Colorado Eagles for a pair of weekend games up in Loveland Colorado.  This will be the Jacks first visit back to the BEC since the Van Drunen/MacMillan incident, and I'm hoping that they go in to Colorado looking for revenge against the Eagles in the form of a scoreboard beat down.  Obviously, the Jacks were more than likely embarrassed by the outcome of the late November game between the two teams at the ECC that resulted in the Jacks losing by a final of 5-2.  I'm sure they are ready to prove to the rest of the league, but more importantly to themselves that they are a much better team than their current record indicates, and a couple of wins against the Turner Conference leading Eagles would undoubtedly give the team some much needed confidence to help propel them to play some more good, consistent hockey in order to start really climbing in the Berry Conference standings.

  While I would be content with a weekend split with the Eagles (as everybody knows how difficult it is to win at the BEC), I have faith and know that the Jacks are more than capable of stealing two wins in Loveland.  Personally, I would like to see Michel Robinson get both starts against Colorado, and if he plays like he did a couple of nights ago against Arizona, then I really like the Jacks chances of skating away with four huge points.  Obviously I have no clue if Robinson will get both starts in net for the Jacks this weekend (although I do assume he will at least get the start tomorrow), but personally I would prefer to see him get both starts in net to see what he is capable of against a great team in a hostile environment, while at the same time sending a message to Joel Martin that if he doesn't pick up his game soon, then Robinson may start seeing more and more consecutive starts.  That's just my two cents on the goalie situation, and I know Gillis likes the play-till-you-lose rotation, so that is what I am actually expecting to see when the Jacks take on the Eagles.

  Hopefully we will see the Jackalopes explosive offense this weekend as well as some good defense, although it was announced a few days ago that Michael Schutte has once again been placed on the 10 day IR, meaning the Jacks will once again be without one of their top defensemen for at least the weekend series against Colorado.  With that said, the Jacks now have Justin Sawyer on their blue line, so I would be willing to bet that the Eagles will be more reluctant to resort to any goon tactics this weekend, although I would not be surprised if I am proven wrong.  If they do go that route, though, (as they have been known to do when trailing in a game) then the Jacks should be prepared with three enforcers in Garrett Gruenke, Darryl Bootland, and the aforementioned Justin Sawyer.  I'm sure all three of those guys will be more than ready if the Eagles decide to get dirty and intimidate our skill players, although I'm personally hoping for some good, clean, hard fought hockey games between two very talented teams.  I must give credit to the Eagles for not gooning things up against the Jacks at the ECC last month, but of course they won that game easily, meaning they really had nothing to be frustrated about.

Finally, now that I have hyped up (or at least tried to) the weekend series against the Jacks and Eagles, I will end this post by addressing where the Jacks currently are in the Berry Conference standings.  The Jacks current record sits at 9-12-1, and they are currently tied for 6th place in the Berry Conference with the Arizona Sundogs and Tulsa Oilers, with all three teams having nineteen points a piece.  The standing are so tight in the conference, that the Jacks are just one loss away from being back in last place in the conference standings, yet only one two points back of being tied for fourth place in the conference.  To further display how tight the standings are in the Berry Conference, the Jacks are also just four measly points away from being tied for third place in the conference, so if the Jacks can start playing some consistent hockey at the level that we all know they are capable of playing at, then I would predict that by the end of December the Jacks will be (at least) in fourth place in the conference, but I actually would not be surprised to seem them in third place in the conference.  It sure will not be easy for the Jacks since the standings are so tight and there really are no weak teams in the league, but I have faith that this team is now quickly heading in the right direction.

Don't get me wrong as I believe there is still quite a bit of work to be done in order for this team to be considered one of the elite in the league, but if the last ten games are any indication of how the Jacks are coming along, then they should start to rapidly climb in the standings not only in the Berry Conference, but in the entire CHL as well.  As a fellow Jackalope poster over on the CHL Forums pointed out, the Jacks are 7-3 in their last ten games, so hopefully this is a sign that the Jacks are indeed on the right track.

  With all of this said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  Be sure to check The Enforcer frequently in the coming days, as I will hopefully be blogging with the good news that the Jacks were successful against the Eagles.  I can't guarantee that I will blog this weekend at all as I've been swamped with some of my final school work for the semester, but I fully intent to blog some time next week. 


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets get some revenge against those Colorado Eagles!

Breaking News! (Updated)

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  We have some breaking transaction news from the Odessa Jackalopes as it was announced earlier today that the Jacks have traded defensemen Pierre-Olivier Beaulieu and David Brown to the Bloomington Prairie Thunder in exchange for defenseman and enforcer Justin Sawyer.  This was a bit of a surprising move to me, not necessarily that a trade was made by the Jacks, but more on who was traded by the Jacks.  I could have thought of a couple other Jackalope players that I would have waived/traded before either of these guys, but that's just me, and I know Gillis knows what he is doing so I definitely won't second guess his decision.  With that said, I would like to wish both Beaulieu and Brown all the best up in Bloomington, and would also like to say welcome to Justin Sawyer.

As far as who the Jacks received in exchange for Beaulieu and Brown, I must say that the Jacks definitely needed to add some toughness to the team, and that is exactly what Sawyer will bring to the ice.  I know he played with the Oklahoma City Blazers a couple of seasons ago, and I do remember the name, but since the Jacks never played the Blazers that often, I don't really remember him.  However, from what I have seen on Youtube, I was pretty impressed with his fighting skills, so hopefully he will be that much needed spark that the Jacks have been without for pretty much the entire season.  The Jacks will now have three enforcers on the team, so there should be no more excuses that toughness is what this team is lacking.  Sawyer also seems (based partially on his stats as well as what I have read on certain team boards) to be a pretty good defenseman, so that is also good news for the Jacks.  Ultimately I think a trade was probably needed to shake up this team a bit, and I think this is exactly what this trade will do.

Also, before I wrap things up here, it was also announced earlier on Pointstreak that defenseman Michael Schutte has been activated from the IR, which is even more great news for the Jacks.  I think a defensive pairing of Dave Van Drunen/Michael Schutte would be one of the best in the entire CHL, and now that the team will have a  healthy defense, I'm expecting the Jacks to start consistently playing some good hockey.  I have faith that they will (hopefully starting this weekend) when they take on the Bucks and Bugs respectively.  With all of this said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  Be sure to check The Enforcer in the coming days, as I hope to blog soon with good news that the Jacks are back to their winning ways.

*It was also just announced on the CHL website that Sebastien Thinel has been named the CHL Player of the Month.  Very well deserved as Sebby has been red hot pretty much since the season started, so I would like to say congratulations to Thinel for being named the CHL Player of the Month for the month of November 2010.  It's no secret that Sebby is my favorite player, and I truly believe that he is the heart and soul of this team and franchise.  For the month of November Sebby averaged almost two points per game as he had 25 points (10G/15A) in thirteen games with a +/- rating of +10 in the month. Once again, congrats to Sebby, and keep up the great work!


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and welcome to Odessa Justin Sawyer!