Down On The Farm: Elmira Jackals Edition
The Elmira Jackals, on the heels of a 7-3-0-0 stretch, face a pair of games this coming long weekend, including a bout with a division rival.
The Elmira Jackals have a light weekend ahead; the team hosts the Reading Royals on Valentine’s Day, then visits the Wheeling Nailers on Monday for an afternoon tilt on President’s Day. The team is then off until next Friday.
(Side note: I’m actually headed down to Elmira for Saturday’s game – also my first ECHL game.)
The Elmira Jackals head into this weekend coming off a three-in-three stretch last weekend. They hosted Cincinatti and Toledo at home, winning both of those games, before falling to Wheeling on Sunday.
In last weekend’s trio of games, there were multiple highlights and player streaks.
Here’s a run-down:
- Forward Taylor Stefishen had two goals and one assist.
- Forwards Thomas Nesbitt (1-1) and Ryan Rashid (0-2) are both on two-game point streaks.
- Forward Mike Seidel had points in two of three games, notching two goals.
- Nesbitt had 27 penalty minutes, including 20 minutes against Cincinatti: a match penalty for an illegal check to the head and a misconduct.
- Defenseman Justin Sawyer had 25 penalty minutes — also including 20 minutes against Cincinatti: two fighting majors, a misconduct.
As it stands right now, the Elmira Jackals are fifth in the Eastern Conference with an overall record of 26-18-0-5 and 57 points in 49 games, plus a minus-2 goal differential (134/136).
Sitting ahead of them: Toledo, Fort Wayne, Florida and Reading.
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The Royals sit atop the conference with a record of 33-13-1-1 and 68 points. They head into this weekend’s game against the Jackals on a hot streak with 12 consecutive wings, so the Jackals will need to step up big time.
The Nailers, their opponent for the President’s Day matinee, are 11th in the conference with a record of 22-23-0-0 and 44 points.
One stat line where the Elmira Jackals lead the ECHL: penalty minutes. The team as a whole has 1,062 penalty minutes — 15 more than the Stockton Thunder.
Compared to the rest of the Eastern Conference… that’s a lot of PIM.
The team with the second-most penalty minutes in the conference: the Evansville IceMen (862).
Meanwhile, the Toledo Walleye are the least-penalized team in the league, with just 451 penalty minutes on the season.
Looking back at individual player stats, here’s the leaders for the Elmira Jackals heading into this weekend:
- Goals: Seidel (15), Matt Tassone (14), Nesbitt & Steven Shamanski (11)
- Assists: Shamanski (17), Stefishen (16), Nesbitt (14)
- Points: Shamanski (28), Seidel/Stefishen (26), Tassone/Nesbitt (25), Rashid (23)
- Penalty minutes: Sawyer (122), Andrew Conboy* (97), Nick Tuzzolino* (84), Tassone (82)
* Note: Tuzzolino is now playing with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators. Conboy was released from his SPC in January.
For goaltenders, six have played at least one game for the Jackals this season.
The Jackals are led by Travis Fullerton (16-5-0-4), who has a .916 save percentage and 2.47 GAA. Sam Marotta, a rookie, has a 9-13-0-1 record with a .913 save percentage and 2.52 GAA.
Tony Capobianco, Chris Rawlings, Nick Niedert and Justin Sand have also appeared in games for the Jackals this season.
Two players were recently added to the Elmira Jackals lineup, including forward Kevin Sundher, received from the Rochester Americans. Sundher had been out of the lineup due to injury and rejoins the Jackals for his first ECHL game since November.
The Jackals also signed defenseman Zack Josepher to a Standard Player Contract earlier this week.
Josepher, a native of Wantagh, NY, has played with the Missouri Mavericks (ECHL) and Pensacola Ice Flyers (SPHL) this season. He’s previously played with Michigan State University and SUNY Oswego.
Will the Elmira Jackals be the team to end the Royals’ hot streak? And how will they fare on Monday in the afternoon tilt against Wheeling? Stay tuned to SabreNoise for more Jackals coverage, coming soon.