The Jacks are back in town!

Paul Gillis' Odessa team in for their third visit to NYTEX this season

The Odessa Jackalopes are back in town for their third meeting with the Texas Brahmas this season. The Jacks are coming off a win last night in which they were responsible for the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees' first loss of the season. Tonight's game is the last of a three-game road trip in which the Jacks have defeated the Laredo Bucks 5-2 and the Killer Bees 5-4.

The Texas Brahmas beat the Jacks in their pre-season match 3-2 in overtime. The bulls also provided the Jacks their first regular season loss with a score of 7-3.

The Jackalopes have the lead in the Southwest Division with 13 points and a 6-2-1 record. They are 6-1-0 on the road with their only road loss being the aforementioned 7-3 trouncing by the Brahmas.

Watch for solid performances by forwards Sebastien Thinel and Dominic Leveille who lead the Jacks in scoring with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Netminder Alexandre Vincent is fourth in the league with a 2.21 GAA and a .929 save percentage. I anticipate he'll get the start tonight although he played last night. Juha Toivonen has been thoroughly solved by the Brahmas in the past two meetings.

The 4-2-1 Brahmas are coming off a 4-2 road loss against the Oklahoma City Blazers last night. They are 2-0-0 at home so far this season and expect to take advantage of a travel-weary Jacks team. The Brahmas have the advantage of being third in the league with a 26.53 powerplay percentage. The bulls went three for seven on powerplay opportunities in the last meeting. The bulls are the second least penalized team in the league and while they still need some improvement on the penalty killing, they've done well against the Jacks.

Expect a strong performance from the Brahmas tonight in front of the home crowd at NYTEX. Expect a win!

The game starts at 7:05pm. If you have a good reason for not being there, catch it on Nifty-TV.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith