Jackalopes 9, Scorpions 2

"Like boys amongst men"

Those words from Randy Murphy about sum up this, by far one of the ugliest affairs I've ever been privy to. From what I heard from other reporters, the usually docile Murphy unleashed a Paul Fixter-esque rant after the game, hinting not-so-subtly at the possibility of personel changes. As he so eloquently put it (and I'm paraphrasing, here) "some of these guys think the rink is a f***ing country club." When I left the SASC, Adam Minnick was returning to the booth with strict orders to cut up tonight's goal highlights and get Murphy the game DVD ASAP. Sounds like the Scorps are going to be doing some late-night film study. You can bet that jobs are going to be on the line tomorrow night against Wichita -- that is, if jobs weren't already on the line tonight.

As for the Jacks, they looked better than just about any team I have seen in the CHL, especially this early in the season. Paul Gillis' squad looks like a team that's been playing together for years. They outplayed and outperformed the Scorpions in every facet of the game from the drop of the puck. The new additions to their lineup lived up to their reputations, and the old Jacks (Ramsay, Swiniarksi, Thinel, Leveille, to name a few) looked more confident and more dangerous than I remember them. This is a team that is just brimming with confidence right now, and I'm sure the whole league, especially the Southern Conference, has taken notice. I also think the numbers in this week's poll (at right) might just take a jump after seeing the Jacks firsthand.

Observations:

• Poor Jason Wolfe. He looked great early on, especially on the first PK just :14 into the contest. The shot counter read 8-0 less than three minutes in, and Wolfe certainly kept the Scorpions in the game. Andrew Martin played well for the most part in relief, but I think that 6th goal from Lesperance completely broke his confidence and quelled any chance of a Scorpions comeback. A goaltender of Martin's quality should never get beaten 5-hole when he can see the shot coming from 60 feet out.
• I don't know if it was Kory Karlander or the linesman, but someone was driving Chris Robertson nuts on the faceoff. I've never seen someone tossed from the faceoff circle so many times. From the Murphy's point of view, it must hurt to continually lose the services of one of the league's premier drawmen
• This a pretty quick judgment after only one game, but I think the defensive pairing of Russ Moyer and Phillipe Plante could be one of the league's top defensive tandems by season's end. Absolutely lights out in their own end, and Moyer moves the puck like a quality AHL defenseman
• Juha Toivonen made a couple amazing saves, especially in those early flurries, but the 40-plus shots he faced did little more than pad his stats. Odessa's D was very good about clogging up the passing lanes and forcing the Scorpions to shoot from the outside. When the Scorpions did find space to shoot, Toivonen usually saw the puck all the way. I've only seen the Jacks this once, but I definitely think Toivonen's stats are indicative of the defense in the front of him. I saw plenty of areas where he seemed vulnerable, but his mates did a phenomenal job of helping him out
• The Scorpions' penalty kill looked about as static and flatfooted as it's ever been. The best penalty-killing teams in this league are equally dynamic when shorthanded as they are at full strength, and the Scorpions looked like pylons out there. The Jacks were free to work from the goal line all the way up to the point without any pressure. It made it pretty easy to open up those seams. The video game-style passing plays probably didn't hurt either.
• The same criticisms can pretty well sum up the Scorpions' power play too. Yes, they picked up their two goals of the evening on the PP, but I can think of maybe a handful of times the PP unit actually got set up in the zone and moved the puck around well enough to generate a quality chance. The Odessa PK worked like a 4-man unit should, clogging up the passing lanes and pressuring the Scorps from the inside out. Unfortunately for the Scorpions, they couldn't fall back on their 5-on-5 play like they could the past few seasons

Elsewhere:

• Colorado wins the first President's Cup rematch. Arizona loses Leavitt, Redenbach, Urquhart, Laperierre, McVicar. Colorado gains Reeder, Ulanski, two AHL goaltenders. Same teams as May? I think not
• Greg Rajan clearly knows how Scorps fans feel after the IceRays are brought back down to earth by Rapid City. Must be nice to give up 8 goals in your second game of the season and still have a positive goal differential. On another note, congrats to the Rush on the franchise's first win
• Wichita gets a much-needed boost in a battle of two teams much in need of boosting. Can the Rage seriously STILL be hungover from the all-star game?
• Rio Grande Valley shows Laredo that things might be a little different this year. And I thought the Southwest Division was gonna be tough... see what Joy Lindsay and Brian Sandalow have to say once they can shift focus back to hockey