Split With Fresno

Hello fellow Jackalope fans!  It is a cool, cloudy day here in the Permian Basin on Super Bowl Sunday, as the Jacks finished their weekend set of games with the Fresno Monsters with a split.  The Jacks lost in what was a pretty entertaining (though sloppy) game on Friday by a final of 4-3, but managed to win a thriller last night by a final of 1-0 in a six round shootout.  What a game last night, and what a night in general as Mike Gorman was placed on the Jacks Wall of Fame; the Jacks had their largest crowd of the season with 4,400+ cheering the boys to victory; and fans also found out that ticket prices for next season have dropped dramatically.  Overall, it truly was a great night to be a Jackalopes fan. 

With the Jacks win last night, they pulled to within six points of Corpus Christi for that fourth and final playoff spot in the Southern Division, and it truly was a shame that the Jacks skated away with no points after Friday's contest, where they allowed Fresno to score the game winning goal late in regulation.  Even one point would have been nice to have on Friday night, but in all honesty the Jacks have to start finding ways to consistently earn points if they want to catch up to the IceRays with only seventeen games left in the regular season.  It can definitely be done, but the Jacks will need to start winning some games (especially the head-to-heads with Corpus) regularly for the remainder of the regular season.  The good news here is that the Jacks have a favorable schedule for the rest of the way, with games against Wichita Falls, Corpus Christi, and New Mexico, which are all teams that we know the Jacks can beat.  The Jacks will finish the season on the road against Topeka, and the hope of their season could very well come down to how they do against a very good Roadrunner team.

On the other hand, Corpus has a tougher remaining schedule with nine of their last seventeen games against Odessa, Texas, and Amarillo.  By the way, three of the four games against the Jacks will be played at the ECC, which is a good thing considering the Jacks have not lost to the IceRays on home ice so far this season.  Also, Corpus has not had much success against Wichita Falls this season, with a record of 4-5-1 against the Wildcats.  To break down things even further, the Jacks are 9-4-3 against their remaining opponents, while Corpus was 18-15-2 collectively against their remaining opponents.  Where the Jacks are at an obvious disadvantage here is that they find themselves still six points behind Corpus with much of the regular season gone.  The Jacks really would have done themselves a favor had they managed to beat Fresno on Friday to pull within four of Corpus, but the past is the past, and the Jacks only need to look forward now. 

Here are a few things for the Jacks to look forward to:  the Jacks have defeated Corpus every time at the ECC this season, and three of the four remaining games between the two teams will be held at the Jack Shack (there are your six points right there); Corpus still has three games left with powerhouse Amarillo as well as Wichita Falls (who they have had limited success against); and finally, the IceRays have four games against third place Texas, although Corpus has had pretty good success against the Tornado thus far this season.

 All in all, the Jacks still have a decent shot at making the playoffs.  It won't be easy, though.  The boys will need to take care of their business, play strong hockey the rest of the way, and hopefully sneak past the IceRays for that final playoff spot.  All of this said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap things up here.  I hope to blog again soon, so be sure to keep up with The Enforcer.


Until next time Jackalope fans all I have to say is GO JACKS GO!!! and lets take care of the Mustangs this upcoming weekend!