Big Weekend Coming Up

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It's a gorgeous day here in the Permian Basin, and the Jacks snapped a two game skid by defeating the Allen Americans by a 5-2 final last night at the ECC.  With the win, the Jacks record improves to 25-26-6 (56 Pts.) on the season, and they have jumped the Mississippi Riverkings for fifth place in the Berry Conference standings.  Hopefully last night's win against the team with the best record in the CHL will give the guys an extra boost of confidence when they host the Bloomington Prairie Thunder for the first time ever at the ECC for a pair of games this weekend.  Bloomington is one of the top teams in the Turner Conference, so the Jacks have to bring their "A" game and really limit their stupid turnovers in their own zone.  The good news is that the Jacks have, despite losing a couple in a row recently, been playing pretty good hockey, especially at home, so maybe they will sweep the Prairie Thunder right out of the Permian Basin.  The Jacks definitely need to keep on winning and earning points as both Mississippi and Arizona trail them just by one point for the fifth seed in the Berry, with the Jacks and 'Kings having played the same amount of games, and with the Jacks having two games in hand on the Sundogs.  The boys really need to separate themselves from those two teams as well as Rio Grande Valley, and need to try their best (which will be an extremely difficult task to accomplish) to catch the Mudbugs for the fourth seed in the conference.  If the Jacks can somehow miraculously catch Bossier Shreveport, then that would guarantee the Jacks home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.  Like I said, though, this will be a tall task for the boys, so they need to worry only about themselves and win as many of their remaining games as possible.  It would be nice to see the Jacks heading into the postseason red hot, and who knows, maybe they will be the dark horse to win the Presidents Cup.  We Jackalope fans know they are more than capable of doing this, the guys just have to believe it themselves and play up to their potential.

That said, it has been confirmed that Collin Circelli will be returning to the Jacks soon.  As soon as his team in Sweden finishes up in their playoffs, he should be on his way to the Permian Basin.  Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later, as a player from Europe has to play so many games in order to be eligible for the CHL playoff roster.  From what I've heard, he'll definitely be back in time to qualify, but it would be nice to see him back as soon as possible in order for him to adjust to some of his new teammates as well as help the Jacks finish the regular season on a high note.  Simply put, Collin is a big time goal scorer and has been sorely missed this season.  It will be great to see number sixteen back at the Jack Shack, and I don't think I'm the only one that feels that way.  Now lets move on to Juha Toivonen.  About a week ago General Manager Joe Clark was on the Jacks Power Hour radio show, and he confirmed that it would be extremely difficult and highly unlikely to get Juha back to the Jacks in time for him to qualify for the playoff roster.  He said that they were definitely interested in bringing him back, and he was definitely interested in coming back, but apparently it takes a while to settle immigration issues over in Finland, so it's almost guaranteed that we won't see Juha back in a Jackalopes sweater.  Clark did say their is a very small chance that it could happen, but not to count on it, so who knows?  Crazier things have happened, so I'm still holding on to that little beam of hope that Juha will somehow make his way to the Permian Basin for the playoffs.

Finally, I would like to mention the Jacks impending move to the NAHL next season.  Rumors have been circulating for months now about a possible move, and these rumors have been confirmed as the Jackalopes ownership group has confirmed that the team will be playing junior hockey next season.  While the move is not official yet, as the owners have to deal with the CHL in order to leave the league, it unfortunately looks like pro hockey has officially died in the Permian Basin after fourteen years.  The simple truth of this apparent move is that the Jacks have been bleeding money since the Nyborgs and Gasser took over five years ago, and it seems as if they just can't handle their losses any more.  According to the Odessa American, they have lost over three million dollars since purchasing the team (an average of $600,000 a year), so I fully understand why they are jumping ship as costs are much more manageable in the NAHL.  Of course, this is sad news as we will have to watch players that have been in Odessa for years move on to new cities, leagues, and even countries to continue their careers elsewhere.  I would like to say thank you to those guys, as well as every single player that has wore a Jackalopes sweater, for all of the great memories that you have created for us Jackalope fans to remember for the rest of our lives.  It won't be the same without you guys, and you all will be sorely missed, but I wish you all the best wherever you decide to go from here.

Now, I have personally heard several season ticket holders (some of my family members included) that have flat out stated that they will not renew their tickets if the Jacks move down to the NAHL.  While I'll support the Jackalopes as long as we have a hockey team, apparently many people feel differently, and I truly do hope that our attendance doesn't suffer even further with this move.  We may have small crowds much of the time, but we do have a solid and passionate core of die hards, so I'm really hoping we don't lose our core with this move.  If these fans won't come back to support the team next season, why would the casual fan?  I say junior hockey is better than no hockey (and I really applaud our owners for at least keeping the Jackalopes in some form alive) but some folks just don't feel the same way I do.  Having said that, I will have a separate post once the move is made official, to share even more of my thoughts and opinions about the move to the NAHL.  Now that I've shared the latest Jackalope news with everybody, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  Hopefully I'll blog again Sunday or sometime next week, depending on how busy I get with school, so be sure to check The Enforcer frequently for any updates pertaining to your Odessa Jackalopes.


 Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets send the Prairie Thunder back home with a couple of losses this weekend!