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!