Hello again Jacks fans, and welcome back from an exciting weekend of Jacks hockey! What a way to kick off the 2009-2010 Southern Conference Finals! After watching these two teams battle over the weekend, you can definitely see a real rivalry forming right before your eyes. So lets get to some highlights!
Game 1
From the drop of the first puck, you could tell this game was going to be extra physical. What you couldn’t tell, is how bad Allen was going to goon up their play. On just about every single shift, Allen seemed to be doing something wrong behind the play, or after the whistle had blown. You could tell they relished the thought that there was only one referee on the ice, and if he didn’t see them acting like goons, then they were perfectly right in doing so. I counted at least a dozen slashes that were not called in the game, and I swear Bernard had his head pounded into ice a couple of times during one sequence. No one seemed to be safe on Friday night, not even Thinel, who was punched in the back of the head at least 3 or 4 times after the whistle had blown on one play. it was almost like Bill McDonald had cut the strings from his puppets, and let them do whatever they wanted. The Jacks did increase their physical game for this one, but never crossed the line that would have brought them down to the level of Allen. It was apparent however, that referee Kevin Graber had pretty much lost control after the opening face-off, and maybe in his mind, goon tactics are considered playoff style hockey. I however, do not see it that way.
The Jacks powerplay seemed to return from their post-regular season vacation, as all 3 of the Jacks goals were scored on 3 of the 7 powerplay chances. However, the powerplay did give up one short-handed goal in the 3rd period, which ended up being the game winner. The Jacks penalty kill was also on fire Friday night, shutting down all 5 of Allens chances.
Congrats to Sebastien Thinel, Mike Ramsay, and Phil Plante, who each scored one of the powerplay goals. Congrats to Kory Karlander and Dominic Leveille who each had 2 assists on Friday night. Congrats to Collin Circelli and Jeff Pierce who each had an assist on Friday night.
Joel Martin was decent in net on Friday, stopping 26 of the 30 Allen shots on goal.
Game 2
The Allen team that showed up tonight was not the goons that showed up for game 1. Maybe McDonald put all of his puppets back on their strings, or maybe the league told him to cut out all the bull and just play hockey, I don’t know. Both teams were really physical throughout the game, completing their checks, positioning themselves to make clean hits, and there were very few actions that could be considered goonish in nature. Once again I was impressed with Chris Whitley’s performance in the net for Allen, and he definitely kept them in Saturday nights game. With the way the Jacks came out, the score could have easily been 10-2, with no overtime needed.
The Jacks were 1 for 7 on the powerplay on Saturday night, while the penalty kill went 1 for 8.
Congrats to Kenny Bernard, Jean Bourbeau and Jeff Pierce, who each had a goal on Saturday night, with Pierce’s overtime tally being the biggest of the series so far. Congrats to Dominic Leveille, Dave Van Drunen, Kory Karlander, and Sebastien Thinel who each had an assist in Saturday’s game.
Once again Martin was in net for game 2, and stopped 29 of the 31 Allen shots on goal. Except for Allen’s second goal, which was a poor turnover behind the net by Martin, he really looked good in net.
Series Thoughts
So now the series shifts to Allen for the next three games, which technically means that home-ice advantage has shifted to Allen. However, just like in the Brahmas series, the Jacks can easily take back the advantage, but they really need to win at least 2 of the 3 games, which would give them the advantage coming back to the Jack Shack for a game 6. The Jacks can do it, but they really need to take the Allen fans out of the games, and hope the Allen goons do not take over. And if the crowd can smell Jacks blood, its just going to fuel them. The bright spot of these next three games, should be the fact that Toivenen should be in net for hopefully at least 2 of the 3 games. At least, I hope he will be, since he’s still 10-1 so far in his playoff appearances.
Finally, I am honestly ashamed to be called a West Texan, and if I was an Odessan, I would be really ashamed of the city I lived in. What gives Odessa? Its no longer spring break, and its not Easter holiday, so where were yall? Where was all the support for the Jacks this weekend? It really sickens me to see the crappy support the Jacks are receiving during this playoff run. As jacksfan111 commented on Friday’s Odessa American article, theres only a few people who have any right to feel pride when the Jacks win their first cup. I can’t even see Odessa given the Jacks a much needed championship celebration parade, because the city doesn’t support the Jacks. Hell, with the way your county works, they would probably increase the Jacks rent, and how much the fans have to pay to park. But I guess its okay for yall to look at your crappy support for the Jacks okay. After all, isn’t Whining 101 offered at both Odessa High and Permian, and Whining 102 is available at Odessa College. So whats your excuse this time Odessa??
So game 3 is on Wednesday, game 4 is on Friday, and game 5 is on Saturday, all at the Library in Allen. I’ve got my tickets for game 5, but will be watching game 3 & 4 on CHL-TV.
So is it Wednesday yet???
GO JACKS GO!!!!
Jackalopes News
- 04/09/2010 — Jackalopes dropfirst game to Americans
- 04/10/2010 — Jackalopes tie up Americans with overtime playoff victory
- 04/11/2010 – Thief in the House
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