After nearly two months on the road, the Odessa Jackalopes will finally be at home for the first time this season.
The Jackalopes will play their first weekend home series starting with a 7:15 p.m. game Friday against El Paso at Ector County Coliseum.
Both teams will be back on the ice at 7:15 p.m. Saturday for the second game of this weekend’s series.
The Jackalopes currently sit at 5-7-2 for the season and are in last place in the South Division with 12 points while the Rhinos (10-3-0-1) are in first place with 21 points.
It’s not the first time the Jackalopes will be facing the Rhinos as both sides have already squared off four other times in this month.
Jackalopes head coach Scott Deur and his players are excited to be back home.
“We’re just getting done with a 60-day road trip so we’re glad to be home,” Deur said. “I think our record could be a little bit better. We’ve lost three or four one-goal games, but we have a young squad with a bunch of new faces. I’m starting to get to know these guys and having 60 days on the road makes you a pretty tight group.”
This season has been a little different in that El Paso is in first place in the fact that the Rhinos are in first place, rather than near the bottom of the North American Hockey League South Division standings.
Last year, El Paso finished the season in seventh in the standings.
The Rhinos are in their third season of existence.
“The last couple of years, they’ve been near the bottom,” Deur said. “They have a completely different team. they play hard and they play fast. They like to muck it up a little bit. This week will be the sixth time in eight games that we’ve seen them. We’re pretty familiar with them and what we’re going to see. Whoever competes hard is going to come out with the win.”
Last week, the Jackalopes went 1-1 against the Rhinos, winning the first game in a 2-1 contest before losing 3-0 the following Saturday.
In the other series against El Paso in this month, the Rhinos swept the Jackalopes, winning 5-4 on Oct. 6 and 1-0 the next day.
Odessa began the season on the road at the NAHL Showcase in Blaine, Minn., losing to Maryland (6-3) before defeating Bismarck (2-1) and then losing to Kenai River (3-0) and New Hampshire (4-3).
Now the team can look ahead to being at home for its next two home series and for most of the month of November.
Next week, the Jackalopes will have a bye before returning to Ector County Coliseum to face NAHL newcomers the Colorado Grit on Nov. 10-11.
Odessa’s only road series in the month of November will be at Shreveport on Nov. 17-18.
The Jackalopes will return home to face Shreveport on Nov. 24-25 and the Amarillo Wranglers on Nov. 26.
“It’s huge,” Deur said about being at home this weekend. “We’ve bene on the road for 60 days so you can see the excitement on the guys’ faces when they come into the locker room and doing the workouts here. They’re glad to be at home with their billet families. There’s a lot of joyfulness in the locker room and that’s been good to see.”
Despite some of the struggles in the early months of this season, Deur has enjoyed coaching this team.
“They’re fun,” Deur said. “They make it enjoyable for me to come to work every day with how hard they work and the way they prepare for games. It’s a lot of fun.”
One of the team’s leaders is three-year player defenseman John (“Jack”) Christen who is the team captain this year.
“He mans the back end for us,” Deur said. “He’s a power play guy for us. He knows everything about this team.”
Christen, like the rest of his teammates, is excited to finally play in front of a home crowd this week.
He also said that being on the road so much helps bring the team closer together as a group.
“So far, we’ve been on the road a bunch, but the group we have is pretty close, on and off the ice,” Christen said. “Guys are willing to show up each day. It’s been exciting to see where we’ve been able to come from since the first day until now. I think the opportunity to be at home is going to push the team in a good direction. We’ve had to come back in games and that shows how relentless this group is.”
Deur pointed out how crucial a veteran player Christen has been for the Jackalopes.
“It doesn’t surprise me that he’s our team captain,” Deur said. “He’s been here for long time. … He’s a great voice in the locker room. It’s great having him. We’re family. It’s good having him as our leader.”
Playing El Paso for the third time this month, Christen knows what to expect from the Rhinos.
“They play a fast, strong, physical game,” Christen said. “I think we have a lot of skill on our team where they’re going to run around and look for hits. That’ll open up lanes for us and if we’re able to come out early and get a goal and play our style of hockey, then we should have no problem.”
