Week 17 Update

Well I said I would post if I saw or heard anything related to the antics by the Colorado Eagles after Saturday’s game, so here it is:

So first of all, Matt Cressman, assistant coach for the Jacks, mentioned last night on the Jacks Power Hour, that he did know some fines were levied out related to the actions, but was not specific about who or how much.  And then a few minutes ago, I looked on the transactions page, and noticed that Colorado’s Fraser Filipic had been put on a 1 game suspension by the league.

With the fines and at least one suspension, I am satisfied with the leagues handling of the situation so far.  However, I still believe that if referee Tudor Floru had done his job better, and stopped the Eagles childish antics earlier, that no suspensions would be necessary, because Filipic would probably not have flipped out.  But will Bonney admit when one of his referees handles a situation poorly?  It will be a cold day in hell before that happens.

February 8 2010 (Week #17)

Welcome Jacks fans, and what a weird weekend of hockey its been.  What a night and day difference between the Jacks team on Friday and Saturday night.  It was great to see lots of people in the stands again on Friday and Saturday night.  So lets get to highlights and accolades for this weekend!

Friday nights game really looked like it was going to be like the first meeting this year between these two teams.  Both goalies, Joel Martin and Colorado’s Mike Mole made sure the 1st period remained scoreless, as both made some really great saves.  The Jacks were able to score first 6 minutes into the 2nd period on a powerplay goal.  However Colorado came back and scored 4 straight goals, including a shorthanded goal and a powerplay goal in the 3rd period.  The Jacks did seem a little shell shocked after the shorthanded goal at the end of the 2nd period, but they did come back to score a goal with a little over 5 minutes left in the 3rd period.  With the Jacks down 4-2, and 2 minutes left in the game, Gillis gambled and pulled Martin when the Jacks were awarded a powerplay.  However, Colorado capitalized on a turn-over and scored their 5th goal on the empty net.  The Jacks would score their 3rd goal on that powerplay however, with the final score being 5-3.

So when the Eagles scored the first two goals of Saturday nights game against Juha Toivenen, I will admit, my heart sunk a little, but I knew the Jacks could come back from the little deficit.  And come back they did.  When the Jacks were awarded a powerplay at the 12:52 mark of the 1st period, all it took was 13 seconds to score the Jacks first goal of the game.  After the face-off, the Jacks were awarded another powerplay on an Eagle slash.  It took 24 seconds this time for the Jacks to get the puck past Colorado’s Andrew Penner, who was starting his first game since coming back from the AHL’s Springfield Falcons.  The Jacks were awarded another powerplay, on another Eagle slash.  This time it would take 84 seconds to score the 3rd Jacks powerplay goal, and give the Jacks the lead in the game, which they would not relinquish for the rest of the night.  It quickly became apparent after the goal however, that something special had just been witnessed by those in attendance:  a Jackalopes player had just earned a natural hat trick, 3 consecutive goals with no one else scoring between, in the span of 4 minutes and 10 seconds.  The Jack Shack was really rocking.  With the Eagles stunned now, the Jacks would score their first even strength goal, just 23 seconds later.  The Jacks would score the 5th goal of the game 1 minute and 41 seconds into the second period, which led to the chasing of Penner from the net, and the return of Mole.  The Eagles would score a powerplay goal at the 14:25 mark of the 2nd period.  The Jacks would then score another three straight goals, including a shorthanded goal, bringing the score to 8-3 Jacks.  The Eagles would score their final goal of the night at the 13:11 mark of the 3rd period.  The Jacks would score their 9th goal of the night on the powerplay at the 16:48 mark of the 3rd period.  I will discuss the way the game ended below.  This was the Jacks first win over the Eagles since Feb. 29, 2008, with this seasons record for the Jacks sitting at 1-1-1.  This was also the 3rd game this season, where Jacks scored 9 goals, with the other two coming against Amarillo, 9-4 on Oct. 23, 2009 and 9-2 on Dec. 13, 2009.

So as always, lets start with the team highlights.  The Jacks powerplay came through in the clutch this weekend, especially on Saturday night, but did have some let downs as well.  On Friday night, the powerplay was 2 for 7, but did allow 2 shorthanded goals.  On Saturday night, the powerplay was 4 for 7.  The Jacks powerplay remains #1 in the league, with 77 goals on 289 chances (26.64%).  The Jacks penalty kill was really good again this weekend.  On Friday night, the penalty kill allowed 1 goal on 5 chances.  On Saturday night, the penalty kill allowed 2 goals on 6 chances, and even had a shorthanded goal.  The Jacks penalty kill is currently #2 in the league, 36 powerplay goals on 279 chances (87.10%).

Now onto the individual accolades.  The first player to be recognized needs no introduction to readers of this blog, as over the last few weeks, he has really stepped up his offensive output.  Mike Ramsay was a real threat this weekend, scoring 5 goals and an assist.  Ramsay’s miraculous 4 minute natural hat trick in the 1st period of Saturday’s game was truly a sight to behold.  Ramsay has scored 12 goals and 3 assists in the last 8 games, and is now 1st on the Jacks with 26 goals, and 3rd for total points with 54 (26 goals and 28 assists).  Congrats to Collin Circelli who had 2 goals and an assist in Saturday nights game.  Circelli has racked up 8 goals and 8 assists over the last 12 games.  Congrats to Jean Bourbeau who had 2 goals and 2 fights in Saturday nights game.  Congrats to Sebastien Thinel, who had a goal in Fridays game, and 5 assists in Saturdays game.  Thinel is on a six game point streak, and has recorded 5 goals and 16 assists over the last 9 games.  Congrats to Phil Plante who had a goal and 2 assists over the weekend.  Plante is currently on a 4 game point streak, earning 2 goals and 4 assists during the span.  Congrats to Kenny Bernard, who had a goal and assist over the weekend.  Congrats to Kory Karlander who had 4 assists over the weekend.  Congrats to Dominic Leveille and James Sanford, who each had 2 assists over the weekend.  Leveille is currently on a 5 game point streak, recording 2 goals and 5 assists during the span.  Congrats to Dave Van Drunen, Mike Lesperance, Brian Swiniarski, Joel Martin, and Juha Toivenen who each had an assist over the weekend.  That’s right boys and girls, our goalies have recorded another assist each, with Toivenen having 6 assists so far, and Martin recording 4 of his own this season.

So what exactly did our goalies do between the pipes then?  While Martin did earn the loss on Friday night, he did make some really good saves, stopping 35 of the 39 Eagles shots he faced.  Martin is now 18-4-2 on the year, and has a 2.40 GAA and .923 save %.  Toivenen earned the win on Saturday night, stopping 33 of the 37 Eagles shots on goal.  Toivenen is now 18-3-2 on the year, and has a 2.88 GAA and .906 save %.  Toivenen stays unbeaten with a record of 11-0-1 in the last 12 games.

Now I did want to briefly mention something about our attendance over the last two weekends.  Going into last weekend, the Jacks were ranked #13 in the league for total and average attendance.  Last Friday, January 29th, the recorded attendance was 3856, and on the following Saturday, an attendance of 4112.  This past Friday, the attendance for the Boy Scout night was 3773, and for Saturday nights game it was a record 4313.  With these numbers, the Jacks have moved up to the #10 spot for total attendance, and #11 for average attendance!  So I would like to thank the organization for what they’ve done to try and help with this.  I just hope those people that normally do not come to the games had fun, whether it was a win or loss, and will try to come back for future games.  I know members of the group I was with Saturday night had fun, and I hope they start organizing their next group game soon!

So now for the activities that happened near the end of the 3rd period.  I hope the league thoroughly reviews both Fridays and Saturdays game tapes to see what a worthless job of officiating Tudor Floru performed, which eventually led to the activities at the end of the Saturday nights game.  However, I will say that the way the Eagles players conducted themselves at the end of the game, reflected poorly on the organization.  Did the Jacks resort to goonery and fighting at the end of the 5-3 loss on Friday night?  No, and in fact there was no fights whatsoever that night.  Why?  However, the Eagles are outplayed in just about every aspect of the game on Saturday night, and it would seem the true colors of the Eagles showed up that night.  I hope in reviewing the game tapes from Saturday night, that the league will hand out suspensions to Fraser Filipic, Brett Thurston, and Ryan Tobler for their activities.  Does Garrett Gruenke deserve a suspension?  Maybe, depending on whether he came in as the 3rd man in the shoving match – turned fight between Filipic and Swiniarski.  Does Swiniarski deserve a suspension for his participation?  No, because first Filipic was goading him to drop gloves with him, and then the fight, which he finally agreed too because Tudor was allowing the Eagles to goon up the end of the game with his lack of authority.  But that’s only my opinion, and it amounts to squat in this league.  But if no suspensions are forth coming for at least Filipic and Thurston, then it just reflects poorly on how the league allows its officials to lose control of games, and the integrity of the game is lost.  If anything comes about from this, then I will post an update.

I noticed earlier that Ramsay got the #2 Star of the Night in the league for Saturday.  Who beat him?  The Cows Brett Jaeger who made 38 saves on 40 shots against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.  Really??  A natural hat trick in a 4 minute span ranks #2 in the league behind something that happens pretty regularly with the goalies in this league?  Without doing any extensive research on it, I believe there has been only one other natural hat trick in the league this season, and it certainly didn’t come in a 4 minute span.  But maybe someone out there can correct me if I am wrong about this.

The Jacks have some important games coming up this weekend, as they head to South Dakota to take on the Northern Conference leading Rapid City Rush in back-to-back games.  The Rush are currently on a 5 game win streak, with a win over Missouri, one over Wichita, and 3 one point wins over Arizona.  The Jacks however still have the 7 game road win streak they are riding into next weekend.  Rapid City is currently tied with Allen for #2 in the league, who each have a record of 31-10-3 (65 points) and both have 3 games in hand.  This will be another test of the Jackalopes, as it once again has the potential to be a Finals match up this season, with the way both teams are playing.  After next weekend, the Jacks will meet the Rush two more times during the regular season, but down here at the Jack Shack.  The first comes on Tuesday March 9th, and the 2nd games is the final game of the regular season for both teams on Saturday March 20th.  Despite the current 4 point difference between the Rush and Eagles, there are still plenty of games to played, and this final game could still be an important one in determining who has home ice advantage in the North!  While the way Colorado chose to end the game on Saturday night left a sour taste in my mouth, I will admit there was some good hockey played by both teams this weekend.  I’m really looking forward to the games next weekend, just as long as the Rush do not take the same path as the Eagles, if the Jacks do prove to be too much for them.

Jackalopes News

I think I’m going to be only putting up Odessa American and team/league releases now, because the Midland Reporter Telegram couldn’t be bothered to send someone to either game this weekend.  I hope the organization drops using the MRT as sponsors for next year, because the paper has done everything it can not to truly support the team and its fans.  You have the #1 team in the league facing one of the top teams in the Northern Conference, and all you can do is Staff Reports…  that’s a freaking shame right there.  And for those of you that subscribe to the paper, please let them know you are disgusted with their lack of real Jackalopes news.  If its a home game, and they get their facts from PointStreak, that’s a travesty.

• 02/04/2010 — Odessa stays on top of Yellowbook CHL Coaches Poll
• 02/05/2010 — Familiarity a good thing for Jackalopes teammates
• 02/06/2010 — Jackalopes take first loss in regulation in nearly a month
• 02/07/2010 — Ramsay’s outburst sparks Jackalopes past Eagles
• 02/07/2010 — Answers to the Joel Martin CHL Chat Room questions

So until next time, I say GO JACKS GO!!  and GO TEAM USA!!

February 3 2010 (Week #16.5)

Well hello again Jacks fans!  I’m sorry for posting this so late, but I’ve been busy for the last 24 hours.  I’m sitting in an Irving Holiday Inn, watching T.V., and trying to get the stats for last night together. So lets get to some highlights.

So first of all, while I might not say it enough, what a great game last night!  Its always a good bet this season, that when the Jacks and Ice Rays get together, its going to be a good game.  I for one, really did not know what to expect from last nights game.  The biggest difference between previous meetings between these two teams, and last night, was starting between the Ice Rays pipes:  Kevin Beech.  Last years Most Outstanding Goaltender, Beech has been an enigma for the Jacks to beat.  As a Riverking, Beech was 3-0 against the Jacks over the last two seasons, including the meeting earlier this year on January 8th.  Yeah the Jacks were able to get pucks past Beech in those games, but the Win was ever elusive.  Until last night that is… 

So lets start with the Jacks special teams.  The Jacks powerplay was 3 for 5 last night, with Jeff Pierce scoring the first powerplay goal, and Mike Ramsay the other two.  The Jacks powerplay is still tops in the league, scoring 71 goals on 275 chances, for a 25.82 powerplay %.  The Jacks penalty kill was not too shabby either, stopping all 8 Ice Rays penalties.  The Jacks penalty kill is still currently #2, slightly behind Rapid City, allowing 33 goals on 268 chances.

Now for the individual accolades.  So first of all, congrats to Mike Ramsay who had those 2 goals.  Ramsay has 7 goals over the last five games, and 21 goals on the season.  Congrats to Dominic Leveille who had 1 goal and 2 assists in the game.  Leveille still leads the team with 57 points (16 goals and 41 assists).  Congrats to Jeff Pierce and Brian Swiniarski, who each had a goal in last nights game.  Pierce has had a goal in the last three games, and is tied with Collin Circelli for total goals on the team, which is 22 goals so far.  Congrats to Sebastien Thinel who had 3 assists in last nights game.  Thinel has had a point in the last four games, and is currently leading the team in assists with 45.  Congrats to Kenny Bernard who had 2 assists last night.  Congrats to Collin Circelli and Phil Plante, who each had an assist in last nights game.

Juha Toivenen was really good in net last night, stopping 33 of the 35 Ice Rays shots on goal.  Toivenen improves his record to 17-3-2 for the season, with a 2.83 GAA and .907 save %, and moves back into the top 10 goalies in the league at the 9 spot.  At the other end of the ice, Kevin Beech stopped 23 of the 28 Jack shots on goal.

So now the Jacks focus on what should be a great weekend of hockey.  The Jacks face the Colorado Eagles in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday.  Friday’s game is sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America, as they celebrate their 100th anniversary.  So I am looking forward to lots of Jacks fans coming to both of these games, and watching the Jacks, top team in the league and the Southern Conference, take on one of the Northern Conferences top teams.

So lets GO JACKS GO!!!

Jackalopes News

• 02/03/2010 – Power play prowess pushes Jacks ahead of Ice Rays
• 02/03/2010 — Odessa Unanimous #1 on Yellowbook CHL Coaches Poll

February 1 2010 (Week #16)

Welcome back Jacks fans!  And boy was it an exciting weekend of hockey at the Jack Shack!  Yeah the Jacks lost in a shootout on Saturday night in front of our largest crowd of the season, but in the end it was all good.  What coach, team, or fan would not want to walk away from a 3 in 3 with 5 out of 6 points?!  The Jacks are now 34-6-4 for the season (72 points), with 20 games left in the regular season!  Jacks lead the Southern Conference by 13 points over Allen (28-10-3=59 points), who do have 3 games in hand.  So lets get to the highlights from this weekend!

It was great to see lots of people at the games on Friday and Saturday night.  I just hope that the weekend crowds continue to grow as we near the playoffs, and that this wasn’t some one-off thing with a bunch of free tickets being given out.  It was also great to see Donnie Margettie honored and being placed on the Jacks Wall of Fame on Friday night.

Now lets start with the special teams play.  The Jacks powerplay was really good this weekend, going 6 of 18 (33%), but they did give up a short-handed goal on Saturday.  On Friday night, the Jacks converted 1 of 4 powerplay chances.  On Saturday night, the Jacks converted 3 of 6 chances, but did surrender the short-handed goal on one of the missed opportunities.  The Jacks converted 2 of 8 chances on Sunday afternoon.  The Jacks powerplay is still tops in the league, getting 68 goals on 270 chances for a 25.19 powerplay %.

The Jacks penalty killers did okay over the weekend, allowing 6 goals on 20 chances (30%).  The penalty kill allowed only 1 goal on 5 Arizona powerplays on Friday night.  On Saturday night, the penalty kill allowed 3 goals on 8 Arizona powerplay chances.  On Sunday afternoon, the Jacks allowed 2 Laredo powerplay goals on 7 chances.  The Jacks penalty kill dropped to 2nd overall in the league behind Rapid City, and have allowed 33 goals on 260 opponent chances.

Now lets get to the individual accolades for this weekend.  Congrats to Mike Ramsay, Collin Circelli, and Jeff Pierce, who each had 2 goals and an assist over the weekend.  Ramsay now has 19 goals and 27 assists for 46 points for the season.  Circelli has 22 goals and 21 assists for 43 points on the season.  Pierce has 21 goals and 18 assists for 39 points on the season.  Congrats to Sebastien Thinel, who had 1 goal and 6 assists over the weekend, and scored at least one point in each game.  Thinel has 11 goals and 42 assists for 53 points on the season.  Congrats to Dave Van Drunen, Dominic Leveille, and Phil Plante who each had a goal and an assist over the weekend.  Van Drunen has 2 goals and 11 assists for 13 points on the season, and scored the overtime winner on Friday night, with assists from Ramsay and Kenny Bernard.  Leveille leads the team in scoring, with 15 goals and 40 assists for 55 points on the season.  Plante has 8 goals and 20 assists for 28 points on the season.  Congrats to Brian Swiniarski who had a penalty shot goal in Saturday nights game.  Swiniarski has 8 goals and 6 assists for 14 points on the season.  Congrats to Alex Dunn and James Sanford who each had 2 assists over the weekend.  Dunn has 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points on the season, and is 2nd among the leagues scoring defensemen.  Since coming to the Jacks as a backup defenseman, Sanford has tallied 4 assists.  Congrats to Kenny Bernard and Garrett Gruenke who each had an assist over the weekend.  Bernard has 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points on the season.  Gruenke has 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points on the season.

Now onto the Jacks stellar goaltending tandem!  Joel Martin was 2-0-0 over the weekend, picking up wins on Friday and Sunday.  Martin stopped 35 of 36 Arizona shots on goal on Friday night.  On Sunday afternoon, Martin stopped 45 of 48 Laredo shots on goal.  Martin is now 18-3-2 on the season, with a 2.33 GAA and .924 save %.  Juha Toivenen earned the shootout loss on Saturday, and stopped 33 of 38 Arizona shots on goal.  Toivenen is now 16-3-2 on the season, with a 2.87 GAA and .905 save %.  While Toivenen did see his win streak stopped at 9 games, he is currently unbeaten in regulation going back to December 13th!

Now for a little ranting.  I found this quote regarding Thinels goal from yesterday’s game article by Lee Scheide quite funny after watching the Jacks over the weekend.  “I don’t know how that got in there,” Jackalopes forward Jean Bourbeau said. “He’s scored a lot of them that way. Guess it proves that if you throw the puck on net, good things can happen.”  It really did seem like the Jacks were pushing to get the perfect shot when they were in the opponents zone.  If you get a look, pull the trigger and throw the puck at the goal.  Maybe it goes in, maybe it doesn’t.  But if it doesn’t, and the goaltender doesn’t catch it or pounce on it, then that usually leaves a juicy rebound for someone to poke in.  And this goes with the breakaway opportunities too.  If you are the one carrying it into the zone, don’t just look to pass.  Several times I have noticed where a good fake would throw the goalie out of position, for a shot at an “empty” net.  Now obviously this is what I am noticing from the stands, and its going to be different on the ice with the adrenaline and all, but still, pull the trigger and put the puck on net.  The Jacks were out shot in all three games, because the opponents know that the more shots on goal, the better opportunities to score.

The Jacks have some really important games coming up over the next two weeks, including two games each against the two top teams in the Northern Conference.  But first there is a visit from the Corpus Christi Ice Rays, who have won their last two games with their new goalie, former Mississippi goalie Kevin Beech.  The Jacks are 5-0-0 so far against the Ice Rays.  The Jacks last faced Beech as a Riverking in the only meeting of the two teams this season, back on January 8th, with Jacks losing 3-2.

Next weekend the Jacks have back-to-back games against the Colorado Eagles.  Normally the Eagles would be in a position similar to this years Jacks, sitting on top of the Northern Conference heading into February, and looking to clinch the conference quickly.  However this season, they are running neck and neck with sophomore sensations, the Rapid City Rush, who the Jacks will see the next weekend, Feb 12th-13th.  The Jacks walked away with a point in the earlier meeting against the Eagles, which went to  a 5 round shootout, with the Eagles winning 2-1.  The Jacks defense does have to worry about the CHL’s top scoring duo in Kevin Ulanski (21-46=67) and Riley Nelson (20-39=59).  Colorado was 1-0-1 over the weekend, topping Tulsa 4-3 in overtime on Friday, and falling 4-3 in overtime to Bossier-Shreveport on Saturday.  Colorado and Rapid City are dangerous opponents for the Jacks, since every point is precious right now in the Northern Conference standings.

I expect our average attendance on Tuesday night, being a school night and all, but I want this coming weekend to be just like this last one.  So get the word out to your family, friends, and coworkers about this coming weekend.  Tell them about the great games they missed this weekend, and what they can look forward too against Colorado.  I will be a part of group of 20 on Saturday night, and I’m still trying to get some coworkers to the game on Friday night!  So get the word out there Jacks fans.

GO JACKS GO!!!

Jackalopes News

• 01/30/2010 — Van Drunen plays hero for Jacks (OA)
• 01/31/2010 — Jacks eight game streak halted (OA)
• 01/31/2010 — Arizona stops Jacks winning streak in shootout
• 02/01/2010 — Jacks bounce back by beating Bucks (OA)
• 02/01/2010 — Martin, Thinel lead Jacks past Bucks, 4-3

January 28 2010 (Week #15.5)

Oh my word, welcome Jacks fans!  Man was last nights game another nail-biter!  It took at least an hour for me to calm down, just so I could go to bed.  We have lots to talk about today, so lets get to the highlights of the game.

So first of all, congratulations to coach Paul Gillis on his 500th career coaching win!  Gillis has increased his Jacks record to 103-50-16 over two and half seasons so far.  The Jacks finish the annual rodeo road-trip with a 7-1-0 record.  In addition, this puts the Jacks on 7 game total and road streaks!  The Jacks powerplay was good last night, going 2 for 5, but they did allow a shorthanded goal midway through the 3rd, putting the Killer Bees up 4-2.  The Jacks powerplay is still tops in the league, with a 24.60%, scoring 52 goals on 252 chances.  The Jacks penalty kill is still on fire, allowing only 1 goal on 5 chances last night.  The Jacks penalty kill has still not allowed more than 2 goals all season long.  The Jacks penalty kill is still tops in the league, allowing only 27 goals on 240 chances, for a 88.75 kill %!

Now for the individual accolades.  First of all congrats to Mike Ramsay who earned a hat trick (3 goals) last night, including getting the game tieing goal with 1:34 left in regulation, and the game winner just 1:08 into the overtime period!  Ramsay is the 3rd Jackalope player (Swiniarski, Circelli) to get the game tieing goal, and the game winner in extra time, and the first to do it in the overtime period.  Ramsay is also only the 3rd Jack to get a hat trick this season, the other two being Jeff Pierce on Oct. 23 vs Amarillo, and Kenny Bernard on Dec. 13 vs Amarillo.  Congrats to Collin Circelli who had 2 goals last night, and is now on a four game point streak.  Congrats to Alex Dunn who had 2 assists last night.  Congrats to Jeff Pierce, Phil Plante, Kenny Bernard, and Dave Van Drunen who each had an assist last night.  With their performances last night, Ramsay, Bernard, and Circelli, also joined the 40+ point club, joining Dominic Leveille and Sebastien Thinel.  Alex Dunn (36), Kory Karlander (35), and Jeff Pierce (34) are not far behind.  The Jacks are the only team with 5 players with 40 or more points!  Now that’s what I call depth!

Now on to the goalie accolades.  I can only say Juha Toivenen had a good game last night, stopping 21 of 25 Killer Bee shots on goal.  He made some great stops, but still, and this goes for the defense too, we can’t keep allowing good teams to get 3 or more goals against us!  Toivenen improves to 16-3-1 for the season, with a 2.77 GAA and .907 save %.  And of course Toivenen is on a 9 game win streak now, going back to the Sunday Dec. 13th 9-2 whooping of the Amarillo Gorillas!

So with all of that out of the way, lets focus on this weekend shall we!  Of course the Jacks will face the Arizona Sundogs (again) on Friday and Saturday night.  The Sundogs have been off since Saturday nights loss, and may be looking for some road-revenge.  Friday and Saturday’s games should be really good, as the Jacks return home for the first time in 3 weeks!  In addition, with all of the special things going on, there should be a good crowd on hand (3000+), so the Jack Shack should be rocking with some great energy!

And Sunday afternoon’s tilt against the Laredo Bucks should be just as good!  Laredo will be playing their 3rd game in 3 nights, with the first two games in Laredo.  The Bucks will be facing some tough opponents, as they face the Texas Cows on Friday night, and then the Corpus Christi Ice Rays on Saturday.  Texas of course, is currently 3rd in the Southern Conference with 45 points, and Laredo is 4th with 43 points.  I’m kinda rooting for the Bucks in this one, but I hope its a knock-down, dragged-out fight for points.  And then there is  Corpus Christi, who it seems is like kryptonite to the Bucks.  Corpus Christi currently leads that season series, and has won the last 5 straight against the Bucks!  So this will hopefully be another hard fought game between the two, with the Bucks losing this one, before a long trip up to the Jack Shack.

So I can’t wait to see everyone out at the Jack Shack this weekend!  Remember its Hockey Weekend Across America, so try and invite family, friends, and co-workers to the games, and lets all cheer on the #1 Jacks!
GO JACKS GO!!

Jackalopes News

• 01/26/2010 — Jacks to Honor Margettie on Friday
• 01/28/2010 — Ramsay rallies Jackalopes to victory
• 01/28/2010 — Ramsay’s hat trick leads Jacks comeback
• 01/29/2010 — **NEW** Ramsay’s heroics help Jacks get home safely

January 25 2010 (Week #15)

Hello Jacks fans, and welcome to another edition of “What’s My Penalty??” 

Seriously, just one more game before the Jacks are back on home ice for 6 straight games!  Too bad, after the Colorado game, they are back on the road for two straight weeks (5 games).  So lets gets to some highlights and accolades for the games this weekend!

So first of all congrats to the Jacks, as they have now won 6 of 7 games during the annual rodeo road-trip.  The Jacks have a chance to go 7-1-0 on this road trip.  If my memory serves and the calculations are correct, that would be the best record and winning percentage for the annual road trip in franchise history!  The Jacks are currently sitting in 1st place in the Southern Conference, and the league, sporting a 31-6-3 record through 40 games.  Want some perspective?  Around the same time last season, and through 41 games, the Jacks were 28-10-3.

The Jacks powerplay is still doing good, going 2 for 16 (0 for 8, 2 for 8 ) for the weekend.  The Jacks powerplay is still tops in the league, with a 24.29% and 60 goals on 247 chances.  I’m hoping though that the Jacks get out of the powerplay funk, especially before the playoffs.  After going 17 straight games with one or more goals, the Jacks powerplay has only managed to get 4 consecutive games with one or more powerplay goals.  The Jacks penalty kill however, is still on fire though, and allowed only 1 goal on 18 chances (1 of 8, 0 of 10)!  The Jacks penalty kill remains at the top of the league with a 88.94%, only allowing 26 goals on 235 chances.

Now for the individual accolades.  Congratulations to Sebastien Thinel, who had 3 goals and 2 assists for the weekend.  Thinel’s penalty shot goal on Friday night, ended his 14 game goal drought that goes back to Dec. 13th!  Congrats to Collin Circelli who had 1 goal and 3 assists over the weekend.  Congrats to Jeff Pierce, Kenny Bernard, and Kory Karlander who each had 1 goal and 1 assist over the weekend.  Karlanders earned his goal shorthanded on Saturday night.  Congrats to Mike Lesperance who had a goal on Saturday night.  Congrats to Alex Dunn who had 2 assists over the weekend.  Congrats to Mike Ramsay who had an assist on Saturday night.

Now onto our excellent goal-tending tandem!  Juha Toivenen stopped 29 of 30 Arizona shots on goal on Friday night!  Juha improves to 15-3-1 for the season, a 2.71 GAA, and .910 save %.  Juha is also on an 8 game win streak, going back to the win against Amarillo on Dec. 13th!  Joel Martin stopped 36 of 40 Arizona shots on goal on Saturday night.  Martin improves to 16-3-2 for the season, a 2.36 GAA, a .920 save %, and has won his last 3 games.  Martin did drop down to #2 for goalie leaders, behind Laredo’s J.P. Levasseur.  Levasseur got called up to the Springfield Falcons in mid-December, after they had to send their goalie up to Edmonton Oilers.  Levasseur is currently 4-10-0, has a 3.20 GAA and .900 save % up in the AHL.  Hopefully Martin will get back to his old form, and the defense will step up to help block more shots, before the playoffs begin.

So as I mentioned before, the Jacks have one more game in the rodeo road trip, against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.  This will be the 2nd time during this stretch that the two teams will meet.  The Jacks are 3-0 since that win against the Killer Bees, while the Bees have gone 1-1-1 over the same stretch.

The Jacks do return home on Friday, to host our good friends, the Arizona Sundogs for a pair of games.  This will be games 7 and 8 of the season series, with the final one coming at Arizona on Feb. 17th.  The Jacks are perfect in the series so far, winning all 6 prior meetings, with 3 games being decided by 1 goal.  On Sunday, the Jacks host the struggling Laredo Bucks in an afternoon tilt.  The Bucks are 3-2-0 over their last 5 games, winning against Rapid City on Saturday, and splitting a pair of games with Colorado on Wednesday and Friday.  So the Jacks still have their work cut out for them this week, with 4 games in 5 days.

So looking for ward to seeing everyone out at the Jack Shack this weekend!  Remember, Friday and Saturday’s game are sponsored by the Ronald McDonald House Charities, and the Jacks will be wearing special jerseys both nights.  So invited your family, friends, and co-workers out to these games, and support this good cause.

GO JACKS GO!

Jackalopes News

• 01/23/2010 — Jacks get another win
• 01/23/2010 — Thinel’s two goals leads Jacks to 30th win of season
• 01/24/2010 — Jackalopes pick up another victory in Arizona

Around the League

• The Allen Americans are now 8 points behind the Jacks.  Allen lost in overtime on Friday, 3-2 to Amarillo.  Allen beat Bossier-Shreveport on Saturday 5-1, to stay on the Jacks tail.
• Speaking of Amarillo, the Gorillas were 2-1-0 this weekend, winning the overtime against Allen, and then a close game over Colorado on Saturday, 5-4.  However, the Eagles came back on Sunday afternoon and beat the Gorillas 6-2.
• And as far as the Eagles go, well they were 2-1-0 for the weekend.  On Friday, they beat Laredo 6-2, and then of course the loss on Saturday, and win on Sunday against Amarillo.  The wins, and Rapid City’s loss to Laredo on Saturday 5-3, means the Northern Conference’s top seed is tied up again.  Colorado is sporting the better record though, 25-9-3=53 points, while Rapid City is 26-10-1=53 points.  Both teams have played 37 games now.
• The Corpus Christi Ice Rays had BBQ on Friday, beating the Texas Cows 6-2.  However Saturdays game was a different story, with Texas winning 1-0, with the game requiring a 5 round shootout to decide.
• And finally, Wichita’s CHL record losing streak came to end Friday night at 22 games, with the Thunder beating the Oilers in Tulsa 4-1.  However the next nights opening of Wichita’s new arena, saw the Oilers beat the Thunder 2-1.  At least they didn’t bring the losing streak into the new building!

January 21 2010 (Week #14.5)

Hello again Jacks fans, and welcome to the week 14 mid-week update!

It was an exciting game last night at Tim’s Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona as the Jacks took on the Arizona Sundogs, in the 1st of 5 games in two weeks.  The Jacks got on the board early, a little over a minute into the game, and scored another goal almost 4 minutes later.  The Jacks did go on to win the game 4-2, which marks Gillis’ 100th win as the Jacks coach, and #497 overall.  The Jacks meet Arizona a total of 9 times this season, and are currently 4-0-0 against them.  The Jacks are now 4-1-0 on the annual rodeo road trip, with 3 games left to be played.  To bring some perspective on this, during last seasons rodeo road trip, which lasted from Dec. 27th to Jan. 21st, the Jacks went 6-3-1.  The Jacks also remained at #1 atop the CHL Coaches Poll, garnering 13 of 15 first place votes — the Eagles and Rush received the other two votes.

The Jacks powerplay scored once on 5 chances last night, which keeps them at the top in the league, with a 25.11 powerplay %, with 58 goals on 231 chances.  The penalty kill remains on fire, allowing only 1 goal on 5 Arizona chances, as well as scoring a short-handed goal.  The Jacks penalty kill is still tops in the league with 88.48%, allowing only 25 goals on 217 attempts.

Now onto the individual accolades for last nights game.  Congrats to Kory Karlander, Jean Bourbeau, Patrick Mbaraga, and Jeff Pierce, who each scored one goal last night.  Mbaraga’s was the first of the game, and his first as a Jackalope.  Karlander’s was the second goal for the Jacks, and was unassisted even though Brien Rea thought Joel Martin and Dominic Leveille should’ve had assists.  Bourbeau’s was the short-handed goal in the 3rd period, and his second in shorty in 3 games — the other being the last seconds game winner in Corpus Christi last Friday night.  Congrats to Dominic Leveille, Dave Van Drunen, and Collin Circelli, who each had an assist in last nights game.

Martin was great in net again last night, stopping 19 of 21 Arizona shots on goal.  Martin has won his last two games between the pipes now, and is 2-2-0 so far in 2010.  Martin remains at the top of the goaltenders, with a 2.28 GAA and 0.922 save %!  At the other end of the ice, in his 2nd game as a Sundog after being traded from Missouri, Doug Groenestege stopped 27 of the 31 Jacks shots on goal.

The Jacks have two more games this weekend against Arizona, both starting at 8:05pm CST, before heading down to McCallen for another game against the Killer Bees, before returning home to host back-to-back games against…  the Arizona Sundogs.  As evident last night, this could turn into a chippy series quickly, especially with the teams seeing so much of each other!  In fact for Arizona, its 5 straight games against the Jacks, as they do not play any during next week.

Jackalopes News

I think I’m going to start posting links to any news articles related to the Jackalopes, in order to increase traffic to them, especially the great editorials being done by Lee Scheide over at the Odessa American.  I will also include links to the Midland Reporter Telegrams crap coverage of the Jacks — and if any of you Midlanders are outraged, let them know about it!

• 01/19/2010 — Odessa Retains Top Spot on Yellowbook CHL Coaches Poll
• 01/20/2010 — Lee Scheide says:  Gillis has pulled the right strings for the Jacks this season
• 01/21/2010 — Gillis Earns Win #100 as Jacks Head Coach, 4-2
• 01/21/2010 — Gillis wins 100th game with Jacks

Around the League

• The Rapid City Rush took over the #1 position in the North with a 3-2 win over Amarillo on Tuesday night.  In action Wednesday night, Colorado lost to Laredo 4-2 and Rapid City beat Amarillo again 6-4.  The Rush now have 53 points (26-9-1), 4 more points than Colorado (23-8-3=49), with Colorado having two games in hand.
• There have been some interesting trades and acquisitions when it comes to the Laredo Bucks over the last few weeks.  Yesterday they announced the return of Brent Cullaton for the next 3 games.  Apparently Cullaton will return to coaching Boulder Jr. Bisons of the Western States Hockey League after the 3 games.  However, this will clear Cullaton to participate in the playoffs, if the Bucks make it there.  puddinman, a member of chlforums.com, had this to say:  “Although . . . this team is starting to sound like some new Robin Williams, John Travolta, Tim Allen movie – I think it would be called “Old Bucks.” Kind of a play on the phrase “Young Bucks.” You know, because these guys are old.”  I think “Grumpy Old Men” is more appropriate.  I’m still waiting for Terry Ruskowski to fire himself as the General Manager, in order to focus on being the coach.
• Missouri is working hard to make some strides in the Northern Conference.  They currently sit in the #5 spot with a 17-16-3 record.  The Mavericks have gone 4-1-2 in 2010 so far, and were .500 for the first time this season after the win on Friday night against Mississippi.  Former Jack and head coach of Missouri, Scott Hillman has his work cut out for him in the second half of the season, and it will be interesting to see if he can lead the Mavs to a playoff berth in their inaugural season.  The Jacks are 1-0-0 against the Mavericks so far this year, with only two more games between the two clubs coming in mid-March.

January 18 2010 (Week #14)

Well hello to all of the Jackalopes fans out there!  Welcome to another edition of “How the CHL Turns.”  Seriously, if someone wanted to turn the CHL into a soap opera, they probably could, complete with its own plot twists and conspiracy angles.  Anyway, enough of that tangent, lets get back to some hockey.

The Jacks had a great weekend, going 2-0-0 against two Southern Conference teams that usually play us very hard, and improving their record to 28-6-3 for 59 points total.  Both games were very entertaining, including some last second heroics, and lots of little controversial calls on both sides of the puck.

Fridays game against Corpus Christi is definitely one of those games where you can say the Jacks squeaked by with the victory.  Play on both sides of the puck was a little sluggish at times, especially when in the Corpus Christi zone.  Jason Tessier once again earned his rep as the head goon for the Ice Rays, checking Kenny Bernard hard into the boards at the end of the 1st period, which also earned him a game misconduct.  Kory Karlander was also given 5 minute major for a phantom spearing and also earned the game misconduct.  I say phantom, because the camera guy didn’t catch spearing on CHLTv.  I will say that Jean Bourbeau’s short-handed goal with 5.7 seconds left in the game was one of the sweetest goals I’ve seen!  It was cool because Detroits 3rd goal in Sunday’s game was very similar, coming off the face-off.  Kevin Graber didn’t make new friends with either team, although I’m sure some Corpus Christi fans think otherwise.  The Jacks are 5-0-0 against Corpus Christi this season, with two more games left to play.

Saturdays game against Rio Grande Valley was a different story, with both teams coming out playing hard.  It seemed like it was going to be hard to score on either goalie, but the Jacks did get the only goal in the 1st period.  During the 2nd period, it seemed like both teams had become more comfortable on the ice, with the Jacks getting 3 goals and the Killer Bees getting 2 goals.  The Killer Bees offense and defense stepped up in the 3rd period, but so did the Jacks defense.  It really seemed like a large majority of the 3rd period was spent in the Jacks end of the ice.  I will give credit to the Killer Bees organization for having the cajones to have a “White Flag” night, passing out little white flags to the fans before the game.  The Jacks improve to 4-0-1 against the Killer Bees this season, with the final regular season match up coming next Wednesday night in McAllen.

So enough with the general game highlights, lets get on to the team and individual accolades.

The Jacks powerplay was good on Friday night going 2 for 6.  However Saturday was bad, as the Jacks failed to register a powerplay goal on 4 chances.  The Jacks remain #1 in the league, with a 25.22% powerplay, getting 57 goals on 226 chances,  I really hope the powerplay gets back to its beginning of the season form, before the playoffs start.  The Jacks penalty kill remained pretty much on fire, allowing only one powerplay goal in each game on 5 chances each.  The Jacks penalty kill remains #1 in the league, sporting a 88.68%, allowing only 24 goals on 212 chances.

Now onto the individual accolades.  First of all congrats to Dominic Leveille, who had a goal and an assist in each game for 4 total points (2 goals and 2 assists).  Congrats to Jean Bourbeau who had 1 goal and 2 assists over the weekend.  Congrats to Collin Circelli who had a goal and an assist on Friday night.  Congrats to Jeff Pierce, Phil Plante, Kory Karlander, and Alex Dunn, who each had 1 goal over the weekend.  Congrats to Brian Swiniarski and Mike Lesperance who each 2 assists over the weekend.  Congrats to Sebastien Thinel, Patrick Mbaraga, James Sanford, and Mike Ramsay, who each had an assist over the weekend.

Both goalies did really good this weekend, with both getting wins in their respective games.  Coming off his stellar MVP All-Star appearance, Joel Martin stopped 36 of the 39 Ice Ray shots on goal on Friday night.  Martin stays the #1 goalie in the league with a 2.30 GAA and .922 save %.  As far as the All-Star game, Martin stopped 27 of 28 shots on goal in the 1st period.  In fact 25 shots were stopped before he allowed the South Texas All-Stars their 1st goal of the game.  Juha Toivenen was good between the pipes on Saturday night, stopping 32 of the 35 Killer Bee shots on goal.  Juha is now 7th in the league, sporting a 2.80 GAA and a .907 save %.  Hopefully the defense will start helping out the goalies more, and the goals against average for both will start decreasing again.

The Jacks start what essentially can be referred to as a scheduling snafu on Wednesday.  Seriously, whoever decided this scheduling decision was okay, needs to be fired.  5 of the 6 games over the next two weeks is against Arizona.  While its a good thing that it is against a Southern Conference team, and the wins will help further the distance between the two teams, it can also be a bad thing for both teams.  Like the 3 consecutive Allen games, both teams can become complacent about their play, allowing soft goals, and taking unnecessary penalties.  Now I understand the back-to-back games in Arizona due to travel considerations.  However, the next weekend playing back-to-back at Odessa, doesn’t make sense for the same travel considerations on Arizona’s side.

With Allens loss to Texas on Friday night, and win over Wichita on Saturday night, the Jacks increase their lead in the south back to 9 points.  The #3 to #8 spots are still highly contested in the South, and should remain that way for the rest of the regular season.  In fact, now 8 points separate #3 Texas (43), and #7 Corpus Christi (35), and #8 Arizona is now 6 points behind them.  Still, theres alot of hockey left to play, and as we well know, nothing is really final until its over.

So until next time Jacks fans, GO JACKS GO!

January 11 2010 (Week #13)

Well here we sit again Jacks fans, after another good weekend of hockey.  I can’t say it was great, but it was definitely good.  The Jacks are 1-1-0 so far on this years rodeo road trip, with 6 games left.  One thing before we get to the highlights, and that is welcome to James Sanford and Troy Ofukany!  Sanford is a defenseman that joins us from the Hull Stingrays of the British Elite Ice Hockey League, as well as some ECHL and AHL experience.  Ofukany was acquired in a trade with the Wichita Thunder, for Paul Kelly and J.R. Bria.  Good luck to Bria and Kelly, who can do alot to help the ailing Thunder.  So on to the highlights!

As usual, we start with the team highlights.  The Jacks powerplay went 1 for 2 on Friday night, and 0 for 6 on Saturday night.  The Jacks powerplay stays #1, with a 25.46 powerplay %, with 55 goals on 216 chances.  The Jacks penalty kill blanked the opposition both nights, going 0 for 2 on Friday, and 0 for 6 on Saturday night.  The Jacks penalty kill stays at #1, with an 89.11 penalty kill %, allowing only 22 goals on 202 chances.

Now on to the individual accolades.  First of all, congrats to Mike Ramsay, who scored 2 goals and 1 assist in Saturdays game.  Congrats to Kenny Bernard who had 1 goal and 3 assists for the weekend.  Congrats to Dominic Leveille who had 1 goal and 1 assist for the weekend.  Congrats to Jeff Pierce who had a goal this weekend.  Congrats to Kory Karlander, Phil Plante, and James Sanford, who each had 1 assist over the weekend.

Our goaltenders were good once again, and did what they could to keep us in each game.  Joel Martin stopped 23 of 26 shots in Fridays loss to Mississippi.  Martin has lost both games so far in 2010, after starting of the season so great, but is still leading the league with a 2.26 GAA.  Hopefully this is just a slump, and he will back to his old self after the All-Star game.  Juha Toivenen stopped 23 of 24 shots in the win against Wichita on Saturday night.  Toivenen is currently on a 6 game win streak, and has moved up in a tie for 8th place with Colorado’s Mike Mole, with a 2.79 GAA.

The Jacks have a pair of games in south Texas this weekend after the All-Star break, with Corpus Christi on Friday, and Rio Grande Valley on Saturday.  With 6 points separating #3 Texas (39) and #7 Corpus Christi (33), each point is becoming more important, as the playoffs are lurking right around the corner.  So look forward to some good games, against two really good conference rivals.

Now I do have one gripe against the Jacks that I have to get off my chest.  Please stop arguing with the refs about all of the calls they are making.  Just about everyone in the CHL, owners, general managers, coaches, players, and fans are aware that the referees have been atrocious this year.  Everyone that is but the CHL brass.  We cannot afford to lose a good player due to a suspension because they were arguing with one of these blind referees.  And I’m sure the fines that come from the misconducts are probably hurting the wallet.  I’m not saying to stop questioning some of the calls, but please stop arguing with the refs.

So until next time Jacks fans, lets GO JACKS GO!

January 4 2010 (Week #12)

Welcome Jacks fans to my first posting in 2010, the Year of the Jackalopes!  Hey Brien Rea or Joe Clark, if you are reading this, you have my permission to use that for any slogans for the second half of the season. 

Well Jacks fans, here we sit again, after another good weekend of Jackalopes hockey!  It was an interesting weekend for sure, with its ups and downs.  The Jacks ended 2009 on a positive note, defeating the Texas Cows and extending their win streak to 8 games.  2010 however started on a bit of a downer, as the Jacks fell to Amarillo on Friday night, in a game which saw some controversial calls against the Jacks, including a late 5-on-3 powerplay in the 3rd period, which the Apes took advantage of with the game-winning goal.  The Jacks however rebounded on Saturday night, soundly defeating Corpus Christi 5-1, which continues a streak of the Jacks not losing back-to-back regulation games this season.

So with all of that being said, lets get on with the team and individual highlights and accolades for this weekend!

So first of all, congrats to the Jacks who topped the Coaches Poll for the 5th straight time this season!  Congrats to the Jacks powerplay, which went 4 for 21, scoring a powerplay goal in each game this weekend.  This is one area which started off good for the Jacks, but went into a bit of a slump over the last month.  Congrats to the Jacks penalty killers, allowing only 2 goals on 25 chances.  The penalty killers really had to show up to the penalty-ridden games on Friday night (1 for 9 — Justin Greene) and Saturday night (1 for 10 — Kevin Graber).

So now for the individual accolades.  First of all, congrats to Dominic Leveille, who had 3 goals over the weekend, 1 in each game.  Leveille also got an All-Star nod on Thursday, the fourth in his CHL career.  Congrats to the captain, Kory Karlander, who had 2 goals and an assist over the weekend.  Congrats to Collin Circelli, who had 2 goals and an assist over the weekend, giving him 16 goals and 15 assists (31 points) so far this season.  Congrats to Jean Bourbeau who had 2 goals over the weekend.  Congrats to Kenny Bernard, who had a goal and 2 assists over the weekend.  Congrats to Mike Ramsey who had a goal and 2 assists over the weekend, a point in each game, which extends his current point streak to 6 games!  Congrats to Jeff Pierce, who had a goal in Saturday’s game.  Congrats to Alex Dunn, who had 5 assists over the weekend, a point in each game, extending his point streak to 6 games!  Dunn was also named as a starter to 2009-10 CHL All-Star game on Tuesday, which is the first time in his career, garnering 29 votes, the most among all defenseman.  Congrats to Dave Van Drunen, who had 4 assists over the weekend.  Congrats to Sebastien Thinel, who had 3 assists over the weekend.  Congrats to Brian Swiniarski, who had 2 assists over the weekend.  Congrats to Paul Kelly, Garrett Gruenke, and Juha Toivenen, who each had an assist over the weekend.  That gives Toivenen a total of 5 assists this season!

Speaking of Juha, lets get to the goaltenders.  Juha Toivenen won both of his games this weekend.  Toivenen stopped 19 of 21 Texas shots on goal Thursday night, and 34 of 35 Corpus Christi shots on goal on Saturday.  This moves Toivenen back into the top 10 goalies in the league, with a 2.90 GAA and .904 save %, and gives him a 5 game win streak.  Joel Martin didn’t fair so well on Friday night, stopping 20 of 24 Amarillo shots on goal in the loss.  This is only Martin’s second regulation loss this season, both of which are against Amarillo, and breaks a streak going back to October 17th!  Martin was named as the starting goalie for the 2009-10 CHL All-Star game on Tuesday garnering 17 votes.

So that’s it for the weekend highlights.  The Jacks go 6-1-0 over the last homestand, and now have to deal with 8 games  during the annual rodeo road trip.  The Jacks will face Arizona 3 times, bookended by stops down in Hidalgo to face Rio Grande Valley twice, and then one game each against Mississippi, Wichita, and Corpus Christi.  This will be another crucial stretch of games, with 6 games coming against conference rivals, and 2 against the resurgent #4 Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.  The Jacks will be back in the Jack Shack on January 29th, for a stretch of 6 games over a week, including a back-to-back against Arizona, a Sunday afternoon tilt with Laredo, a game against Corpus Christi, and ending with 2 against Colorado.  So the Jacks have some crucial games in January, in order to continue their domination of the Southern Conference, and continue their reign as #1 in the CHL.

So until next time, GO JACKS GO!!!