Central Hockey League: Jackalopes hit the road with plenty of work to do

When the shot left Mike Ramsay’s stick Saturday night, the entire left side of the Texas Brahmas net was open and it appeared the Odessa Jackalopes were about to tie the Southern Conference semifinal series.

Then came music to the ears of Brahmas goaltender Brett Jaeger and his teammates as Ramsay’s shot rang hard off the left post — one inch too far to the left —and then traveled all the way out of the offensive zone.

“The net was open and (Jaeger) was already down on the ice at the other post,” Ramsay said. “I just hit it too good, I guess, and I caught the post.

“That close and we’re tied, but you can’t worry about that now. We have to get ready for Game 3.”

After finishing with the best record in the Central Hockey League’s regular season, the Jackalopes trail the Brahmas 2-0 as the best-of-7 series continues at 7:05 tonight at the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills.

As good as the Jackalopes were at home this season, with a league- best 26-4-2 mark, they were equally as strong on the road at 22-7-3.

Odessa was the only team in the CHL to win 20 games both at home and away. Head coach Paul Gillis said his team is going to have to draw on that success, and a recent memory, to have success against the Brahmas the rest of the series.

“We have confidence when we go on the road,” Gillis said. “We know how to win on the road and there’s not a team that we are afraid to play in their own building.

“This is the same situation as last year with Laredo, unfortunately, in that we lost the first two games and have to come back in the series. But we have a veteran team and a lot of the players that went through last year, so they know it can be done.”

The first thing the Jackalopes are going to have to do is dent the playoff armor Jaeger has been wearing so far. He has stopped 75 of the 79 shots he’s faced in the semifinal series, with several highlight-reel variety stops.

Jaeger has a 1.82 goals against average in four games this postseason and a .939 save percentage. But the Jackalopes have defeated him in his own building — this year and during last year’s playoffs.

“We’re confident that we have a team that can win this series,” Jackalopes forward Sebastien Thinel said. “Their goaltender has been playing well, but we need to do a better job of finishing our chances and get some more people in front of him, because we should have won both games and we let them hang around too long.

“We know it’s tough to win in their building, but they play a different style at home, a little more open and that’s going to help us, too, because we like to move and create opportunities. We don’t the fact that we lost the first two games, but we feel that we can win in their building and we just have to get the job done.” 

>> BOURBEAU’S BACK

Jean Bourbeau has returned from a three-game promotion to the American Hockey League and is expected to be in the lineup for the Jackalopes tonight in North Richland Hills.

Bourbeau played three games from March 26-28 with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, with whom the Jackalopes have an affiliation.

The forward was credited with one assist and had an even plus-minus rating.