Hart to Hart

Finally, here is my offseason recap with Bucks majority owner Glenn Hart, which ran in today's Times.

I have some leftover quotes about specific players and some other things that I will post later.

Meanwhile, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees announced three more signings yesterday in defensemen Stephen Burns, Cody Cole...and Chad Swartzentruber. I swear, Brian Sandalow is getting some great names to work with this season. Too bad he wants to abbreviate this one. The funniest part of this is that there are two Chad Swartzentrubers on Hockey DB.

Of course, tomorrow is the big day in Laredo as reigning Central Hockey League MVP Jeff Bes will finally be officially announced as a member of the 2008-09 roster. In what some may call a coincidence, the press conference is scheduled for the exact same time that I was supposed to go to municipal court about a speeding ticket...guess that will have to wait until next week.

I didn't really go into much depth about the Bes presser yesterday, but it will be held at Whataburger, just as it was last year, and everyone in attendance can get free bacon and cheese on their burgers with any combo meal purchased. As a vegetarian, I find this offer a little less than exciting. However, getting Bes back is obviously a good thing for the team, the fans and the media, so I'll try to deal with the fast food stench.

Bes will be in his 17th professional season and sixth in Laredo. This will also be his third season as assistant coach. He has been working hard with head coach/general manager Terry Ruskowski this summer recruiting and preparing for the upcoming season, so I don't think there was ever any doubt that he'd be sticking around Laredo this year. The fact that he bought a house here last summer was another good clue.

Having turned 35 this summer, Bes obviously isn't getting any younger, but he has been well protected throughout his career and has often said he believes the warm climate in Laredo has helped his body stay young and in good playing shape. I personally don't think this season will be his last.

Bes holds pretty much every Bucks franchise scoring record after breaking a few more during the 2007-08 season, so he'll be sure to add to those this time around. During the past regular season, his second MVP campaign, he played in every single game and had a team-high (and team record) 46 goals and 60 assists for 106 points. In the team's 11 playoff games, Bes had three goals and nine assists for 12 points.

In some fairly random news, the CHL has unveiled a toolbar that fans can download to be a part of their web browser. I would totally try it, but my work computer has been known to crash for less, so I think I'll wait until I get home...