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!