Going into Wednesday’s North American Hockey League draft, the Jackalopes’ main concern was reloading on offense.
After losing nine forwards from the 2022-23 team, it came as no surprise when Odessa drafted five forwards and one defenseman from their six total selections.
Jackalopes head coach Scott Deur was happy with Wednesday’s selections.
“It’s exciting,” Deur said. “We got some really nice pieces. Some that are starting in different leagues and hopefully they come to us, but all in all, I think we filled in some holes that we needed to, especially up front with the offensive power that we were losing from last year’s team. We picked up a defenseman who’s going to be starting the year in the USHL so we’ll see what happens to him but overall, I feel pretty good about the draft.”
With the 13th pick, the Jackalopes used their first round pick on forward Zachary Benayon out of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada who spent last season with the Stouffville Spirit in the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Last season, Benyaon scored 13 goals and had 26 assists for the Spirit.
“Benayon’s a young kid,” Deur said. “He’s got junior experience playing in Ontario, junior hockey league in Canada.”
Odessa used its second-round selection on a defensive player, Riley Rosenthal from Boca Raton, Fla., with the 18th pick. Rosenthal spent last season with the Omaha Lancers in the United States Hockey League.
The Jackalopes went with forward Jacob Strizzi from Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada, who Deur says is good friends with Benayon.
Like Benayon, Strizzi spent last season in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, playing for the North York Rangers.
“Benyaon is friends Jacob Strizzi, so that made the pick easier, especially if you’re leaving Canada to come to the United States to play hockey. Having someone you know here is important. I think both of them are going to make a huge impact and they’re both excited about coming to Odessa to play here. Zachary, I feel like he’s going to be a great player, but at the end of the day, they all have to prove it on the ice when they get here.”
With two picks in the fourth round, the Jackalopes brought in forwards Holden Doell with the seventh pick and Johnny Conlin at 10th.
Doell comes in from Martensville, Saskatchewan, Canada, having played last season with the Battlefords North Stars in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, helping the team to a 48-5-2-1 record in the regular season.
Conlin is the only player the Jackalopes drafted with no previous junior league experience, being drafted out of high school in Shoreview Minn.
The Jackalopes’ fifth-round pick was forward Hayden Demars from Grand Rapids, Minn., who played for the Alexandria Blizzard in the NA3HL last season.
“The biggest holes that we filled, I took five forwards and one defenseman out of my six picks so I feel like those guys can come in and play a role right away even though some of them are younger,” Deur said. “A lot of them will have junior experience. When I was looking at the draft, with the amount of forwards that we lost last year, I felt that it was important to clean that up and get at least that portion handled.”
Playing at the junior hockey league, the transition can be challenging, especially for the players coming in from outside the country.
“The first challenge is the distance,” Deur said. “Coming from where they came from, whether it’s Canada or overseas or even Michigan or Minnesota or something like that, it might be their first time leaving the house so it’s about getting them through that transition stage. And then it’s ok.”
There’s also adjusting to the tough level of play that’s expected each season at the North American Hockey League South Division.
Of the last six Robertson Cup winners, four have come from the Jackalopes’ own division including the Oklahoma Warriors from this past season. Other recent Robertson Cup winners from the South Division include Shreveport (in 2021 and 2018) and Lone Star (2017).
“We play in the South Division, which I consider the best division in the NAHL,” Deur said. “There’s a little time period to figure out the speed and work ethic that you have to have on a nightly basis to compete and the quicker you get through those, the quicker you can have a better season. Those are small challenges that most people probably don’t see or understand but they are, in my eyes, the biggest ones.”
Odessa’s coming off a 30-27-1-2 record from the 2022-23 season, finishing sixth in the South Division standings and just two places from a playoff spot.
As the Jackalopes continue to search for their first playoff appearance since 2018, Deur said some of the things that had to improve were the goals against and power plays.
“We have to limit the goals against,” Deur said. “We have to clean up our d-zone and that’s something I’ve been working on and talking to people about just how they’re teaching it differently than me.”
Last season, the Jackalopes allowed 199 goals scored against them.
“The other big thing is our power play,” Deur said. “We have some really nice power play players that are getting their opportunities but now we have to finish them on the power play. You can see it in any league, that’s the difference right now. We’re around 12 percent and we need to be about 18 percent to 20 percent. If we can bump that up, that can be the difference between making the playoffs and not making the playoffs at the end of the day. Those are the two things I’ve been focusing on this summer in making our team better. I feel that if we can do that, we’ll have a great chance to make playoffs.”
Next up for the Jackalopes will be the team’s main camp from July 20-24 in Chicago.
“Out of that camp, we choose of the top 32 players to come to training camp and from training camp, it leads right to the start of the season with the showcase in Minnesota in the middle of September,” Deur said. “It’s a little down period right now where we get to kick our feet up, but as soon as camp rolls around, we’re back to the grind each day.”
