Not An Easter Bunny

It's hard to pinpoint where certain legends started and how they spawned into what they are today, but there are stories told of creatures that exist in our world that elude the human eye while leaving behind just enough evidence of their existences. You may have heard of a few of these creatures in your travels as names like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Abominable Snowman are the more common legends known in North America, but there's one specific legend that may not be as widespread as those above. Reportedly living in the midwestern US, the legendary jackalope, seen to the left, is a creature that has had many tales told about it due to its ferocity and danger to people and animals that it encounters!

Before we go any further, I can honestly say there has never been a bunny, hare, or jackrabbit with antelope antlers living in North America as far as fossilized records go. Beyond that, any story involving any member of the family Leporidae that has them acting aggressively and attacking hunters or other animals seems highly exaggerated. Considering both of those facts, we can dismiss any notion that there are bloodthirsty packs of jackalopes in the wilderness waiting for the next hunter who wanders into its territory.

What we can't dismiss, though, is that there was one Texas-based hockey team who proudly represented the bloodthirsty, aggressive nature of the jackalope when they took to the ice as the Odessa Jackalopes were one of the more popular teams in the Central Hockey League for a number of years!

The Odessa Jackalopes began their professional hockey lives in the Western Professional Hockey League in 1997 that was based in Texas and Louisiana. The Jackalopes didn't have a fairy tale start to their hockey story as they ended the 1997-98 season in last place in the WPHL's West Division and second-last in the entire twelve-team circuit. There were some growing pains in that inaugural season, but the fan support was strong for the new team with the weird name in the WPHL.

Rapid expansion happened in the following season as the league grew from 12 to 17 teams, and that saw Odessa gain some ground on other teams with the divisional realignments. The Jackalopes would make the playoffs in their second season as they finished in fourth-place in the WPHL's West Division, but they'd lose their best-of-three playoff series to the San Angelo Outlaws in the opening round to end their season. In an interesting twist, defenceman Jacque Rodrigue served as an assistant coach in the 1998-99 season under head coach Joe Clark, and he ended up being the third-leading scorer and the highest-scoring defenceman on the team with 11 goals and 40 assists! I'd say that's a pretty good season statistically for an assistant coach in his first season on the bench!

The 1999-2000 season saw Odessa regress slightly in the points total, but they still finished in fourth-place in the WPHL Western Division. That allowed them to advance to the playoffs, but they'd fail to win a game in their opening round series against the Lubbock Cotton Kings who took two-straight games off the Jackalopes to advance. John Bossio and Paul Vincent comined for a solid one-two punch for the Jacaklopes in this season, but it was pretty clear that the team needed to find some depth scoring if they were going to break out of their streak of first-round exits.

After Joe Clark was replaced by Don McKee midway through the '99-00 season, there was a sense that the Jackalopes were turning a corner. McKee's connections in the hockey world led to a number of good players moving to Odessa to play hockey, and the reloaded Jackalopes set out to conquer the WPHL. When the 71-game season ended, the Jackalopes had added ten wins and 21 points to their totals for a franchise-best 89 points and, more importantly, first place in the West Division as Odessa boasted seven players with more than twenty goals! Their first-round matchup was against the third-place El Paso Buzzards, and the Jackalopes emerged victorious for the first time in a playoff series as these two teams went the full seven games to find a winner. For the second season in a row, though, they'd run into Lubbock, and Lubbock did what they did one season earlier - they swept the Jackalopes out of the playoffs in four-straight games. Despite the exit, hopes were high in Odessa for the following season!

While all of this was happening in the WPHL, the Central Hockey League (CHL) was undergoing changes as well. Ray Miron, who had helped to found the CHL in 1992 under the idea of central ownership for both the league and teams, was looking to retire from hockey after a long career, and that meant the CHL and its teams went up for sale thanks to that central ownership idea. The league was eventually sold to the Global Entertainment Corporation, and they would eventually strike a deal with the WPHL to merge as the two leagues had been competing for market share and teams for years. With the WPHL being incorporated into the CHL, ten teams, including the Odessa Jackalopes, would play in the new CHL starting in 2001-02 in the sixteen-team circuit!

Odessa would begin play in the Southwest Division against El Paso, Lubbock, and the New Mexico Scorpions. Like they did one year earlier, Odessa used balanced scoring under McKee's watch to finish in first place in the divison and first-overall in the league! However, the El Paso Buzzards were waiting for them in the opening round of the playoffs, and they'd upset the Jackalopes in five games in the best-of-five series. For their best season of hockey in their short history, it might have been one of the most disappointing ends to the season.

Odessa would finish in first place in the Southwest Division in 2002-03, but they'd be the seventh-best team of the eight teams that qualified for the playoffs based on point totals. However, they'd enter the playoffs without head coach Don McKee who had undergone successful quintuple bypass surgery in February only to be felled by a ruptured intestine a week later. Despite their best efforts to overcome McKee's loss on the bench, the Jackalopes would fall to the Laredo Bucks in four games in their best-of-five series. It wasn't the best ending to a season with McKee's medical situations, but good news would follow as McKee made a full recovery and announced he would return to the bench for the 2003-04 season! Would this news finally lead to Odessa breaking their first-round exit streak in the upcoming campaign?

The short answer to the question above is no, but that comes with an asterisk because the Odessa Jackalopes struggled to score goals all season long in 2003-04. Gone were the days of having seven players with 20+ goals as the '03-04 Jackalopes had just eight players hit double-digits in goals. That struggle saw them fall to just third-place in the Southwest Division with 55 points - 22 points back of second-place Amarillo and 17 points back of the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees for the final playoff spot. As stated, they didn't have to worry about a first-round exit because the season ended with the final regular-season game.

2004-05 saw the Jackalopes struggle again, finishing last in the Southwest Division, but only missing the playoffs by six points. Again, goals were tough to come by in Odessa as just six players hit double-digits in goals for the team in this season, and only four players had 15-or-more goals. Just like the 1999-2000 season, it seemed the Jackalopes needed to find some secondary scoring quickly if they wanted to make a run in the CHL Playoffs.

2005-06 saw a resurgeance for the Jackalopes as 24 year-old Sebastien Thinel hit the 40-goal mark while Dominic Leveille, Matt Cressman, and John Kozoriz scored 26, 28, and 26 goals, respectively. The entirely-Canadian roster composed mostly of recent university graduates from both sides of the border went on a tear to win the three-team Southwest Division, improving by ten wins and 14 points in the standings. As the second-seeded team in the Southern Conference, they'd face their division rivals in the Amarillo Gorillas in the best-of-seven opening round series, and they'd see success as the Jackalopes eliminated the Gorillas in six games! They'd advance to meet the top-seeded Laredo Bucks in the semifinal, and, just as Laredo did in 2003, the Bucks would need just five games to send the Jackalopes home. The bounce-back season was a reason to remain positive, though, and the Jackalopes looked to build on that success!

With the Southwest Divison expanding to five teams, the Jackalopes found themselves in a battle for playoff spots all season, but the same problem that plagued them two seasons earlier - a lack of scoring - reared its ugly head. Just two players hit the 20-goal mark, and the team just couldn't find enough goals to overcome their shortcomings. The Jackalopes would miss the playoffs by five points in what has to be one of the weirdest playoff formats ever as six teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs, but the highest-seeded team who lost in the first round advanced to the second round as a wild card team. Needless to say, Odessa didn't have to worry about that wild card option, and head coach Don McKee was relieved of his duties at the end of the season.

2007-08 saw the divisions abandoned for two larger conferences with five teams making the playoffs from each conference. Odessa, under the instruction of new coach Paul Gillis, found themselves comfortably in fourth-place in the Southern Conference which meant a date with the fifth-place Austin Ice Bats in the play-in, best-of-three quarterfinal series. They'd need all three games, but the Jackalopes would advance past the Ice Bats for a date with the Laredo Bucks for the third in their history. And, for the third time in their history, the Bucks would make short work of Odessa in the semifinal as they used a four-game sweep to send the Jackalopes back to Odessa. Despite Laredo having their number once again, goaltender Alexandre Vincent was named to the CHL All-Rookie Team at the end of the season!

2008-09 saw another incredible season from the Jackalopes as Sebastien Thinel racked up 38 goals and 97 points in 64 games while former AHL Grand Rapids Griffins forward Kory Karlander scored 33 goals at the age of 36! With the additional scoring as four players scored 26-or-more goals, Odessa moved up the standings in the Southern Conference as they finished in second-place - seven points better than their playoff archrvials in the Laredo Bucks. Those two teams met in the conference semifinal round, and Odessa finally found a way to prevail as they won the series 4-2 to advance to the conference final for the first time in their CHL history. They'd run into the top-seeded Texas Brahmas in this series, and all seven games were a battle before the Brahmas finally emerged victorious. Odessa's most successful season yet fell just short, but there was a reason to celebrate: Thinel was named CHL MVP as he captured the Joe Burton Award as the league's top scorer!

2009-10 saw Thinel continue to score at a torrid pace, matching his 97 points from one season earlier on the strength of 22 goals and 75 assists. Collin Circelli led the team with 37 goals, Jeff Pierce scored 31 markers, and Mike Ramsay notched 30 goals - the first time that Odessa boasted three 30-goal scorers. Because of this scoring prowess, Odessa was the class of the CHL as they finished atop the league standings with 101 points. That matched them up with the fourth-seeded Texas Brahmas in the conference semifinal, and Odessa kept on scoring as they eliminated Texas ins six games to exorcise another playoff demon. Odessa would face-off against the second-seeded Allen Americans - new to the CHL that season - in the conference final, and, like one year earlier, it would go seven games before the Odessa Jackalopes finally fell. Another so-close-yet-so-far season ends with Odessa one game from the CHL Final, but they'd add some hardware to the trophy case as they were awarded the Bud Poile Governors' Cup as the top CHL team in the regular season while goaltender Joel Martin was named to the All-CHL Team.

Would 2010-11 be the year? Thinel made another case for him being MVP as he recorded a 35-goal, 110-point campaign in 66 games. He was joined by 29-goal scorer Todd Robinson and 34-goal scorer Mike Ramsay atop the scoring charts for the Jackalopes as they showed they were an offensive force to be reckoned with once again. The only problem? Goaltending took a step back as Joel Martin had a lacklustre season with a 3.53 GAA and an .890 save percentage in 21 games while tandem partner Michel Robinson didn't fare much better in his 21 appearances, posting a 3.40 GAA and a .900 save percentage. When all was said and done, no Jackalopes goalie had a GAA under 3.00 nor was there a save percentage above .911 that season. That lack of puck stopping led to Odessa dropping to fifth-place in the Southern Conference as they finished the season with 69 points - 32 points worse than one season earlier. Odessa did show up for the playoffs, though, as they downed Texas in four games in their best-of-five opening series, but they'd fall to Allen for the second-straight season in the second round by a 3-2 count in that best-of-five series. Sebastien Thinel made the team proud by winning his second Joe Burton Award while being named to the 2011 All-CHL Team, but it felt like this was an opportunity missed.

Perhaps the tarnish on this 2011 season was the fact that the owners of the Odessa Jackalopes had made it clear that this season would be their last in the CHL. After watching former CHL teams in the Corpus Christi IceRays and Amarillo Gorillas make the jump to the NAHL, the Jackalopes laid out a plan that saw them acquire the former Owatonna Express franchise from Owatonna, Minnesota, and it was relocated to Odessa where the NAHL team assumed the Jackalopes name. So while the Jackalopes' name lives on, the team that was playing minor-pro hockey did not as franchise was shuttered following their Game Five loss to Allen. Ultimately, a continual shortfall in the playoffs combined with shrinking attendance is what ended the dream in the CHL.

As you may know, the change to Tier II Junior Hockey saw Odessa launch one career in the NHL as Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was discovered by Jets scouts in 2011-12 there. In 53 games, the lanky netminder posted a 2.49 GAA and a .930 save percentage, prompting the Jets to select Hellebuyck in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft at 130th-overall after watching him play more than once for the Jackalopes. One Vezina Trophy later, and it seems like Odessa, Texas is still a place to find hockey gems if one is looking in non-traditional hockey places!

While the jackalope is a fictional creature, there's no doubt that the Odessa Jackalopes had a significant impact in hockey in the three leagues they've existed. Clearly, the CHL portion of the history of the Jackalopes was the most interesting to me as I focused on that part, but there are Jackalopes players who are writing their own stories into the legend of the Jackalopes.

Perhaps we'll hear stories of another can't-miss player emerge from west-central Texas soon just as stories of an antlered rabbit are told around those parts!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!