Game No. 7 - Bucks at IceRays

First Period: Bucks rookie goaltender Ryan Gibb will be getting his start for this weekend tonight, while Dustin Traylen is in net for the IceRays. I really wish I could have gone to this game. Rick Kozak scored his first goal as a Buck 2:22 into the game, and that was following two fights that occurred in the opening minutes. Bucks lead 1-0. ... Justin Quenneville has tied it on his third goal against the Bucks in two nights. ... ... End of the first, Bucks lead 3-1 on three power play goals. Kozak has two, rookie Darryl Smith has one. Bucks are 3-of-4 on the power play so far.

Second Period: Score is tied 3-3 at the second intermission. The IceRays got goals from Chris Richards and Ryan Bennett in the middle period.

Third Period: Bucks lead 4-3 on their fourth power play goal of the game, Smith's second.

Game Over: Bucks win 4-3. Specialty teams sure seem to be huge against the IceRays this season. Here is Bryan Benway's recap, and here is Greg Rajan's postgame take...or at least what will be such eventually. Next up, the undefeated Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, tomorrow night at Dodge Arena. Bees are coming off a 2-1 win over the Odessa Jackalopes tonight in which they were outshot 54-23. They have a fun ride back tonight.

Other Scores: Sundogs 6, Gorillas 3; Eagles 4, RiverKings 2; Thunder 3, Rage 1; Blazers 4, Rush 3; Mudbugs 9, Oilers 3; Brahmas 5, Scorpions 2.

NHL: Blackhawks 5, Stars 2; Canucks 7, Ducks 6 (SO).

Game Day No. 7

Following the Bucks' 6-3 win over the Corpus Christi IceRays last night, the teams will face off again tonight at the American Bank Center in their third of 13 meetings this regular season.

The team should be in Corpus at this point preparing for the game, in which they will see at least one new face.

I am covering the United South-C.C. Winn football game at the SAC tonight, but I will try to update the blog as often as possible.

As always, you can follow the game live on Pointstreak through the league scoreboard. Here are the pre-game notes, and here is Bryan Benway's preview.

Other games tonight pit the struggling defending champion Arizona Sundogs against the no longer winless Amarillo Gorillas, the top-ranked Colorado Eagles against the Mississippi RiverKings, the undefeated Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees against the Odessa Jackalopes, the Rocky Mountain Rage against the Wichita Thunder, the Rapid City Rush against the Oklahoma City Blazers, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs against the Tulsa Oilers and the Texas Brahmas against the New Mexico Scorpions.

Not sure if Matt Summers will be playing for the RiverKings tonight, but he is listed on their pre-game lineup and Kevin Kaminski had some nice things to say about him in the team's press release regarding yesterday's trade.

Meanwhile, the CHL has posted a note and some video clips about the new officiating standards in what I imagine is a response to what the penalty-full games so far this season have prompted fans to say.

Halloween is a slow night in the NHL, with only the Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks playing. Of course, that league's top story today is this. =/

After the Fact

Considering the book I just wrote about that game (on my blog, not for my story), I'm not sure what's left to say. But here is Bryan Benway's take, and here is Greg Rajan's.

The Bucks are now 4-2-0 (eight points) and atop the Southeast Division standings for at least tonight, while the IceRays dropped to 1-3-0 (two points). They face off again tomorrow at the American Bank Center at 7:05 p.m.

Tonight's game was pretty nutty; even the off-ice officials couldn't keep track of all the penalties in the last period. You can see the final gamesheet, which features almost an hour's worth of minutes in the box, here.

As mentioned in my game blog, that was Alex Goupil's third career hat trick, and he certainly earned it. That guy skates so hard every second he is out there.

The Eagles won the battle of the unbeatens in spite of allowing two quick goals late to the Mudbugs, while the Gorillas got their first win of the season against a Brahmas squad I imagine got quite an earful following that game.

I'm still at the arena, just because I was listening to the end of this, but that was not worth it in the slightest, so I think I'm going to head home. Losing 4-1 to that team and having Sid leave the game with a possible injury is certainly not good for the Pens in any way.

Game No. 6 - Bucks vs. IceRays

Starters: Bucks - Sebastien Centomo (G), Rick Kozak (F), Joey Olson (F), Ryan Penney (F), Adam Rivet (D), Vincent Zaore-Vanie (D); IceRays - Adam Powell (F), Bob Rapoza (D), T.J. Reynolds (D), Kris Tebbs (G), Mark Tobin (F), Mike Zbriger (F).

First Period: Well, that was fast. IceRays lead 1-0 just 22 seconds into the game on the team's second shot. Zbriger scored it, and Mark Tobin had the assist, also known as the first shot. ... Bucks have committed the game's first penalty, with Olson being called for high sticking 3:37 in. ... Darryl Smith has tied it up at 5:41 with his fourth goal of the season, first since the season opener. He scored exactly as Olson was coming out of the box. Jeff Bes on the assist. ... Somehow the scoreboard says the IceRays have taken three shots, and the Bucks have taken one. I'd say 6-2. But who knows. ... Things are getting feisty already, with Mike Gooch doing the majority of the shoving on the Bucks' end. ... Looks like the Igor Agarunov, Jason Dixon, Alex Goupil line is back together, but the other two are getting mixed up, even if unintentionally. ... The Bucks are on the penalty kill again, as Steve Weidlich has committed the team's second high-sticking minor of the game. ... Greg Rajan just pointed out that the Eagles lead the Mudbugs 2-0, having scored twice in the first 2:30 of the game. Yikes. ... IceRays lead 2-1, on a goal that will go to Justin Quenneville but was deflected off of a Bucks player in front of the net. The score came on an assist from John McNabb with just two seconds left in the IceRays' power play. ... Scoreboard says the IceRays have only taken five shots, but that is atrociously untrue. At this rate, Centomo might not get credit for at least 100 saves this season. ... Bucks have a power play of their own now, as Chris Shaffer was called for hooking. ... And they are now 4-for-41 on advantages this season. ... Bucks still trail 2-1, but lead 3-1 in the penalty column as Rivet has been called for hooking. ... And now Zaore-Vanie is in the box for charging. Centomo would never say it, but he can't appreciate the pressure put on him by the Bucks constantly being on the penalty kill. ... Rapoza has been called for interference after barreling through Bes just to Tebbs' left. It'll be a 4-on-4 for five seconds, then a Bucks' power play for the rest of the period, barring a goal or another penalty. ... Goupil has tied it up on a one-timer from just inside the blue line. Devin Featherstone will get the first assist (also the first of his career), while Weidlich had the second (first of his season). Back to even strength for the final 46.1 seconds of the period. ... End of the first, game is tied 2-2. Supposedly, the Bucks have outshot the IceRays 11-9. ... Just because I know Brian Sandalow is wondering, I will share that the IceRays' sweaters are indeed very busy. They kind of remind me of European teams' sweaters, just with logos and patches and stuff instead of advertisements. Okay, maybe some of them are advertisements; I'm not so great in the eyesight department. They aren't unpleasant to look at, though. ... Not sure if anyone cares, but Steven Stamkos (the first overall pick in this year's NHL draft) has finally gotten the first-goal monkey off his back, and provided some cuteness in the process. Sorry, I'm a sucker for goal celebrations. Stamkos also took care of the second and has three points as the Lightning lead the Sabres 5-1 at their second intermission.

Second Period: I'm starting to think Coach Ruskowski put the three new guys out together at the start of the game just to expose them to the crowd, because they haven't all been out together for a full shift since. ... Bucks lead 3-2 on a shorthanded goal. They'll be needing those if they keep committing penalties at this rate. Goupil had the goal on a nice feed from Jason Dixon. Goupil's injury, if you want to call it that, doesn't seem to be affecting his play very much. Oh, and Zaore-Vanie was (and still will be) in the box for hooking. ... The Bucks took care of that one, then Bobby Russell got called holding just four seconds later. Goupil nearly had another shorthanded goal during the last penalty kill but couldn't get past Tebbs after faking out his defenders. Tebbs just loves to leave the net, by the way. He was out past the blue line at one point in the first period, at even strength. ... And another penalty has been killed. I know the PK hasn't been 100 percent this season, or even in this game, but it certainly isn't looking bad. Goupil came close to another shortie on that one, too. ... The past few minutes have been pretty rife with madness, much moreso than the one before the third period will be, I'm sure. IceRays killed a penalty (Matt Smyth-hooking) very nicely, with the Bucks getting everywhere but in the net, including a Bes shot that hit the left post. But now the Bucks are going on a two-man advantage after a delayed call against Bennett for tripping and Nicolas Bachand for elbowing... Goupil has a hat trick, after scoring on a deflection from a shot by Dixon during the 5-0n-3. Adam Rivet gets the second assist. Amusing that the majority of the hats to hit the ice have been parts of people's Halloween costumes. I'm guessing Goupil's sweater will be one of the top sellers at the jersey auction tonight. Bucks lead 4-2 and will keep one power play for 1:26. ... An interference call against Bes has made it 4-on-4 for 34 seconds, then an IceRays' power play for 1:26. Weird. ... Score is 4-2 now, as a slap shot by T.J. Reynolds from just outside the blue line was deflected by Quenneville past Centomo. ... Russell has been called for hooking, his second penalty of the game. I'm starting to think ti's the guys who played in other leagues last year who are having the trouble adjusting to penalty calls. ... No matter, because Smith broke away from the pack around the Bucks' net and had no trouble scoring on a one-on-one with Tebbs. The unassisted goal was Smith's second of the night, fifth of the season. Bucks now have four special teams goals tonight, with two apiece on the power play and penalty kill. That should make Ruskowski fairly happy. ... The IceRays are going back on the power play, thanks to a stick holding penalty against Kozak, but first there seems to be a bit of a problem with the glass that needs to be addressed. No shattering or anything, just a plate lose or something of the like. There is 2:13 left in the period, time for a chicken dance. ... Heading into the second intermission with the same score. Good thing we have a high school football deadline tonight, because this game looks like it will go pretty late for a weekday. ... They are having a contest between periods in which participants run across the ice barefoot or in socks to fetch their shoes. As I sit in the press conference wearing two pairs of socks under my shoes and still feeling cold in the toes, I am in pain for these people. Brrr.

Third Period: The Bucks have scored 12 seconds into the final period, and we are not too sure who had the goal because of all the "madness" taking place. For now, the goal is going to Bes, with the assist going to Smith. They were both on the ice at the time, so that's fine by me. Bucks lead 6-3. ... McNabb has been called for hooking, giving the Bucks their sixth power play of the game. ... Just after McNabb came out, Reynolds got called for roughing, putting the Bucks on power play No. 7. .... Bucks will now get a 5-on-3 for 45 seconds, as Rapoza has been called for hooking. Regular power play for another 1:15 after that. ... Bucks couldn't capitalize on those advantages and are now back in the box themselves, with Olson being called for interference. And now Corpus Christi head coach Sylvain Cloutier has called the game's first time out. ... Now Weidlich has been sent to the box for high sticking double minor, which means the IceRays have a 5-on-3 for 1:47, then keep the power play for 2:13 after that. ... Seems all the Bucks' 5-on-3 practice has helped, as they killed that one, but let's see what they do with four men on the ice. ... Penalties on McNabb (holding) and (slashing) have given the Bucks another 5-on-3, at least for 48 seconds. ... Apparently the IceRays are trying to even up the penalty counts, as they have committed their 11th (Reynolds-cross checking), inching ever closer to the Bucks at 12. ... Make that 12 on the IceRays and 13 on the Bucks, as McNabb (cross checking) and Penney (diving) each just went to the box with 2:33 to play in the game. ... IceRays will be on the power play for the rest of the contest as Gooch got called for interference with 1:3o to play. ... Make that a 5-on-3 for the rest of the game, as Russell was called for interference with 17.5 seconds to go.

Game Over: Bucks win 6-3. I'm guessing Goupil will be the No. 1 star...

Three Stars: No. 1 Goupil, No. 2 Smith, No. 3 Bes (or Quenneville, depending on who you ask).

Notes: Whoever buys Penney's jersey tonight will get one with an misspelled name. ... That was Goupil's third career hat trick, first in the CHL (and thus first with the Bucks).

Other Scores: Gorillas 2, Brahmas 1 (F-OT); Eagles 3, Mudbugs 2 (F).

NHL: Lightning 5, Sabres 2 (F); Rangers 3, Thrashers 2 (F); Flyers 3, Islanders 2 (F-OT); Senators 2, Panthers 1 (F); Canadiens 2, Wild 1 (F); Predators 3, Oilers 1 (F); Hurricanes 1, Blues 0 (F); Blue Jackets 4, Avalanche 2 (F); Flames 3, Bruins 2 (F); Coyotes 4, Penguins 1 (F); Canucks 4, Kings 0 (F); Sharks 4, Red Wings 2 (F).

Spoke Too Soon

Apparently today's earlier announcements were just a warmup for another this afternoon, as the Bucks have traded second-year forward Matt Summers to the Mississippi RiverKings to prove some rumors and make up for the fact that Dustin Traylen did not sign with them after the trade during the offseason.

I really wish I had known Matt was leaving so I could have said goodbye, but I guess I'll just have to try to say hi when he's in town with the RiverKings now.

Adding insult to injury, Rick Kozak is wearing No. 19 tonight.

Obviously Coach Ruskowski knows what he's doing, but I can't help but feel bad for Matt being brought back here only to be traded a few games into the season.

It's pretty remarkable how many times the Bucks come up on here...and also interesting that the Ryan Penney signing is listed as occurring on Monday.

Game Day No. 6

Well, Ryan Penney is officially official, thanks to the placement of Jaye Judd on the injured reserve today, so I guess we'll be seeing three new guys on the ice tonight. I have to say, a 3-2-0 beginning to a season is much busier (transaction-wise) than I was prepared for having last season's 10-0-0 start as my only prior experience.

The Bucks will take on the Corpus Christi IceRays (1-2-0) at home tonight in the teams' second meeting of the regular season. Only 11 more to go after that, including a clash in Corpus tomorrow.

There is plenty to read about tonight's game: my preview from today's Times, Bryan Benway's preview, Greg Rajan's preview for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and the pre-game notes.

As I mentioned yesterday, tonight's other CHL matchups pit the Colorado Eagles (6-0-0) against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (4-0-0) and the Texas Brahmas (3-1-0) against the Amarillo Gorillas (5-0-0).

I forgot to mention this on Tuesday, but the league announced the winner of it's first "Performance of the Week" honors, and Bryan Benway had a bit of a problem with that. Can't say I disagree with him; I thought Chris Richards would have that one.

This week, Alex Goupil is nominated, as are the Odessa Jackalopes for scoring four goals in less than three minutes during their win over the New Mexico Scorpions on Oct. 24, Rapid City Rush forward (and CHL Player of the Week) Chris Lipsett’s for his hat trick (the franchise’s first) on the same date, Texas Brahmas forward Scott Sheppard for his five points in a win over the Jackalopes on Oct. 25 and Colorado Eagles netminder Morgan Cey for his 41 saves against the Oklahoma City Blazers on Oct. 26. You can vote for your choice here or view the current results here. Odessa is kicking butt so far.

Last night in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New Jersey Devils 6-5 in a shootout, the Dallas Stars defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-2, and the Anaheim Ducks topped the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 in overtime.

Tonight is a busy one, with the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Buffalo Sabres, the New York Islanders at the Philadelphia Flyers, the Atlanta Thrashers at the New York Rangers, the Ottawa Senators at the Florida Panthers, the Edmonton Oilers at the Nashville Predators, the Montreal Canadiens at the Wild, the Carolina Hurricanes at the St. Louis Blues, the Boston Bruins at the Calgary Flames, the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Colorado Avalanche, the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Phoenix Coyotes, the Red Wings at the San Jose Sharks, and the Vancouver Canucks at the Los Angeles Kings.

If the Pens don't beat the 3-4-0 Coyotes, I'll be a little ticked at Michel Therrien about this, but I'm trying to be optimistic...

Meanwhile, Brian Sandalow has a little rant against the Associated Press today, which as someone in the same job position I can appreciate. He also reveals that Daryl Moore did not make the trip to Odessa with the rest of the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, so we'll see if he ends up playing against the Bucks on Saturday night or not.

Oh, and I almost forgot, but the CHL has signed a deal with Extreme Sports Card, Inc. that will let fans create their own trading cards. You can experiment with that here. Pretty cool. I might have to get some made with my little brother on them just for giggles.

What's Going On

Obviously the big story for the Bucks is their second straight three-in-three, with tomorrow's game against the Corpus Christi IceRays setting the stage for the rest of the weekend.

Tomorrow will be the team's first "Thirsty Thursday," which means beers (at least the regular-sized domestic ones) will be $2 from 6 p.m. until who knows when.

It will also be the first jersey auction night, with the guys wearing Halloween sweaters to be sold after the game.

Brian Sandalow has some news out of the Valley, as rookie Daryl Moore didn't skate with the Bees in practice this morning. Moore, one of the team's Western Michigan alumni, has two goals and an assist so far this season, and I'm not sure the Bucks would be too sad to see him sit out Saturday night's game.

Bryan Benway blogged about the Bucks' cuts yesterday and added a note about Ryan James Hand exacting some shaving cream revenge on Erick Lizon at practice, which was admittedly an amusing sight. Especially when Lizon chased down his attacker and smeared a decent amount of the shaving cream on him.

In Corpus, Greg Rajan has a new "Meet the IceRays" video, featuring defenseman Bob(by) Rapoza, who apparently hails from Fall River, Massachusetts, which I visited a few times while in college. Neat.

Adam Dunivan has written plenty about the 6-0 Colorado Eagles since I last linked him, as have Kollen Long about the 2-3 Wichita Thunder, Alex Mansfield about the 2-2 New Mexico Scorpions and Robert Keith about the 3-1 Texas Brahmas.

The CHL scoreboard is dark again tonight, but in addition to the Bucks-IceRays game tomorrow, the Brahmas and Amarillo Gorillas and Colorado Eagles and Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs will be playing. That Colorado-Bossier game should be a good one.

In the NHL tonight, there are only three games, with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the New Jersey Devils, the Minnesota Wild at the Dallas Stars and the Detroit Red Wings at the Anaheim Ducks.

UPDATE: As rumored (well, kind of), the Amarillo Gorillas have claimed goaltender Mike Gorman off waivers. Sandalow has more on why the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees let the veteran go and his expectations for the Gorillas-Killer Bees showdowns later this season.

Two New Bucks

After waiving rookie forwards Ryan Fuller and Joey Moggach, the Bucks have announced two additions to their roster, signing winger Rick Kozak and center Joey Olson.

To keep things simple with jerseys and all that jazz, Kozak and Olson are taking over the numbers left behind by Moggach and Fuller, with Kozak wearing No. 22 and Olson in No. 9.

Kozak probably rings a bell with most of you, as the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Manitoba native played with the Mississippi RiverKings last season (and also played part of the 2006-07 campaign with the franchise, then based in Memphis) and racked up a few penalty minutes during one of his visits to Laredo.

The guy is surprisingly polite for someone who plays the way he does and seems to be fitting in with the team pretty well already. Coach Ruskowski was glad to be able to get him from the Elite Ice Hockey League, where he had been playing with the Hull Stingrays and apparently not enjoying himself too much.

Olson is about as opposite of Kozak as you can get; he's listed as 5-foot-7 but is definitely not that tall and hasn't even reached 20 penalty minutes in season since juniors. He did, however, score 15 goals and hand out 15 assists while playing with the Johnston Chiefs of the East Coast Hockey League last season.

He's from Peoria, Illinois, meaning Matt Summers is no longer the only U.S.-born player on the squad. Apparently equipment manager Matt Brayfield, who is also from Peoria (though a few years younger than Olson), helped Coach Ruskowski find the speedy center.

Both players will be in the lineup for this weekend's three-in-three, featuring a home game against the Corpus Christi IceRays tonight, a game against the IceRays in Corpus tomorrow and a matchup with the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees at Dodge Arena on Saturday, giving them a great chance to make an impression on Coach Ruskowski.

Feels Like Monday

Not having practice to go to yesterday made today seem like the first day of the week, which it was as far as getting on the ice for the guys.

Coach Ruskowski has been really emphasizing the importance of staying in motion and making sure the team gets the puck from the defense to the forwards smoothly, so the team worked on that a lot today.

Everyone was out on the ice until nearly noon except Alex Goupil who seems to have a bit of a lower body ailment. He was skating for the first half of practice, though, so I wouldn't expect it to sideline him this weekend.

The Bucks announced Ryan Fuller's departure a little over an hour ago, then sent out a new press release, announcing they have also waived rookie forward Joey Moggach.

Moggach was in practice this morning, but I guess things just weren't working out. In four games with the Bucks, he had one assist, which came during Sunday's win over the Rapid City Rush.

I talked to Ruskowski about Fuller when I saw him after practice this morning, and he had nothing but great things to say about the kid. At this point, he's just looking for guys who fit into his systems as well as possible, and Fuller was a winger trying to convert to a center iceman and not adjusting as quickly as Ruskowski had hoped.

Obviously waiving two guys makes room for two more on the roster, but nothing is going to be official until tomorrow, so check back here then for an interesting personnel announcement...

In other waiver news, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees got rid of goaltender Mike Gorman, who had yet to start a game in the regular season, this morning and brought in defenseman Nathan Ansell...who coincidentally played under head coach Chris Brooks at Western Michigan University. Guess Ansell and the Bees' rookie netminders have made pretty good impressions on Brooks.

Meanwhile, it seems Bryan Benway was blogging furiously this weekend; he has a look at the nights before games, the Bucks' 5-2 loss to the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on Friday and the Bucks' 3-2 overtime win against the Rush on Sunday.

Oh, and here is my notebook that ran in today's Times.

In today's only CHL game, which began at 11 a.m. this morning, the Odessa Jackalopes (4-1-0, eight points) beat the Amarillo Gorillas (0-5-0, 0 points) 7-1.

Greg Rajan has a look at how little the start to the season can mean in the long run, which could be seen as encouraging to the Gorillas...until you read the rest of the entry.

Last night in the NHL, the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2, the Ottawa Senators beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2, the New York Rangers topped the New York Islanders 4-2, the Minnesota Wild defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2, the Boston Bruins needed overtime to beat the Edmonton Oilers 1-0, and the Detroit Red Wings won a shootout to grab a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Tonight, the Nashville Predators are in Washington, D.C., to take on the Capitals, the Philadelphia Flyers are at the Atlanta Thrashers, the Carolina Hurricanes are at the Montreal Canadiens, the Tampa Bay Lightning are at the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Colorado Avalanche are at the Calgary Flames, the Bruins are at the Vancouver Canucks and the Pittsburgh Penguins will begin their West Coast tour with a game against the San Jose Sharks.

SCORES: Flyers 7, Thrashers 0; Capitals 4, Predators 3 (SO); Lightning 3, Maple Leafs 2; Canadiens 3, Hurricanes 2 (SO); Flames 3, Avalanche 0; Bruins 1, Canucks 0; Sharks 2, Penguins 1.

We Interrupt This Day Off...

The Bucks were taking a much-needed day off today, but it seems that the team was up to something after all...






As I mentioned yesterday, Fuller did not play in the latter two games this weekend after suffering some sort of injury on Friday, and it can be assumed that waiving him makes room for Ryan Penney to finally be added to the roster. By the way, he'll wear No. 4 if and when things become official.

Meanwhile, the league has announced Player and Goaltender of the Week honors for last week.

Rapid City Rush forward Chris Lipsett has been named Player of the Week. Lipsett had seven points in the Rush's three games last week, including a goal and an assist against the Bucks yesterday. He is third in the league in scoring with 11 points so far this season.

Oklahoma City Blazers netminder Andy Franck has been named Goaltender of the Week. Franck saved 90 of the 95 shots in four games last week for a .947 save percentage and 1.32 goals-against average. For the season, he is second in the league in GAA, behind Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs goalie Ken Carroll (who is currently on the IR). Franck leads the league with 135 saves and is third in save percentage behind Carroll and Bucks No. 1 Sebastien Centomo.

In spite of the impressive statistics, my favorite thing about Franck is his hometown. Very neat.

Because this is the Bucks' day off, it's also kind of supposed to be mine, so that's going to be all for now. However, I will have a notebook in tomorrow's paper, and I'll post more about the game yesterday after tomorrow's practice.

UPDATE: Here are CHL Director of Communications Bob Hoffman's "Shots from the Point" for today, which include his take on the 3-0-0 Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. Brian Sandalow has more on those Bees here. I'll be going to the game in the Valley on Saturday and must admit I am excited to see the revamped Rio team take on the full Bucks squad for the first time (that I get to see) this season. Oh, and here is my game story from yesterday's win.

Game No. 5 - Bucks vs. Rush

Starters: Bucks - Sebastien Centomo (G), Jason Dixon (F), Mike Gooch (D), Alex Goupil (F), Joey Moggach (F), Vincent Zaore-Vanie (D); Rush - Miguel Beaudry (G), Chris Di Ubaldo (F), R.G. Flath (F), Luke Fritshaw (D), Derek LeBlanc (F), John Neal (D). Seems Coach Ruskowski is mixing up the lines a bit...wonder if that means Igor Agarunov is going on D or something else is up...

First Period: Okay, there has been a major shakeup with the lines. Jeff Bes is now on the ice with Matt Summers and Serge Dube (a line combination, apparently, which scored a goal last night). The other line is now Agarunov, Bobby Russell and Darryl Smith. Very interesting. ... Adding to the bizareness of all of this, Dube is the center on that line, and he just scored the game's first goal at 4:25 in the period. Bes had the assist, on quite a beautiful centering pass from behind Beaudry's left shoulder. Summers gets the second assist. Bucks lead 1-0. ... It seems Moggach and Erick Lizon are still splitting shifts, but now on a different line. ... First penalty of the game has been called at 6:42, slashing on Garrett Prosofsky. Bucks get the puck in their own zone; we'll see if they can do anything with it. ... The Bucks are now 5-for-33 on power plays this season, with Darryl Smith hitting the crossbar on their closest scoring chance. Russell committed a slashing penalty immediately following Smith's try, then was cheap shotted from behind by Gio Flamminio. Both are headed to the box, with Flamminio being called for cross checking. Coach Ruskowski seems to have a problem with some part of that call. ... Just a few seconds into that, Lizon was called for slashing. The refs were keeping it 5-on-5 with the earlier two penalties, but it is now a power play for the Rush. ... Players always seem to come out of the "sin bin" at just the right time. Lizon was able to stop a breakaway chance for Rapid City coming out of the box on that one. ... We are in a bit of a delay with 8:15 to play in the period due to a minor ice issue to the left of the Bucks' bench. ... Back in action, and Moggach has been called for hooking, giving the Rush their third power play of the period. ... Rapid City has tied it up with a power play goal, as Les Reaney drew Centomo out of the net then sent the puck past him as he sprawled back out in front. Chris Lipsett and Mark DeSantis had the assists. ... Neal has been called for tripping, giving the Bucks a power play chance of their own. ... Rich Hansen got a great chance for the Rush on a breakaway, but Gooch did a great job of getting on him without committing a penalty and Centomo was able to deflect the puck. ... The Agarunov, Russell, Smith line had the puck in the crease with Beaudry nowhere to be found, but his teammates did a great job of keeping it out front of the line. ... Rush have taken a 2-1 lead with 2:14 to play, as Lipsett scored one on assists from Hansen and Reaney. No one was stopping them out front, Centomo guessed low glove, and Lipsett went high. Simple as that. ... The Bucks seem to just love testing their penalty kill this season. Summers has been called for board checking to give Rapid City its fourth power play. ... Rush lead 2-1 at the first intermission and will be on the power play for 12 seconds to start the second period. ... Scoreboard says Rapid City leads on shots 12-10, but I would bet a pretty penny that the Rush have taken at least 15.

Second Period: Just 11 seconds after coming out of the box, Summers is back in, this time for hooking. Another power play for Rapid City. ... Dube was called for board checking 15 seconds into Summers' penalty stay. Rush have a 5-on-3 for 1:45. ... The Bucks survived the 5-on-3 and then got a power play of their own on a slashing call against Prosofsky, but did nothing with it. Still 2-1 with 13:46 to go in the period. ... Bes has been called for slashing to give Rapid City its seventh power play. The PA announcer must be pretty sick of saying, "The Laredo Bucks are now on a Sanchez Financial Services Money Concepts penalty kill." ... The Rush returned the favor, with Prosofsky taking his third penalty of the night to even things up, then give Laredo a 51-second power play chance. ... And now Moggach has been called for hooking. Everyone, especially Coach Ruskowski is getting pretty testy with Steve Cruickshank right about now. ... And we officially have our first LEC "Refs, you suck" chant of the 2008-09 season. Coach is yelling at Adam Rivet on the bench. That's not something I'm used to seeing or a good sign for what the team is going to hear from him if they lose this game. ... DeSantis was called for hooking with just seconds left on Moggach's penalty, and the Bucks are now on their fifth power play. ... Ummm, wow. Things are getting quite heated here, as Laredo missed a wide-open scoring opportunity, then everyone started shoving each other around the net. Weidlich and a Rush player fell into the net in their scuffle, then Centomo left his net and started something with the Rapid City bench, which the referees noticed just in the nick of time. The crowd loves this stuff, of course, but things aren't looking so great. .... And apparently the refs' consultation with team captains is the perfect time for a chicken dance, oy. ... Somehow, no penalties were assessed in the aftermath of that situation, but a delayed call was made against the Bucks on Devin Featherstone for hooking about a minute later. ... Russell stole the puck to give Laredo a great scoring chance, but nothing doing. They did, however, get a penalty against Hansen out of it, so it is 4-on-4 for 1:01, then a Bucks' power play for 59 seconds. The period is over, and the Rush still lead 2-1. They outshot Laredo 12-9 in the period, but it should be noted that they took nine shots before the Bucks had their first. ... This is totally irrelevant, but Rapid City has a female trainer, which is not something I believe I've seen before in this league. I could be wrong, though.

Third Period: It took all of 30 seconds for Bes and Flammminio to get into a shoving match out front of the Rush net following another close chance for Laredo. Both were given roughing penalties. ... Di Ubaldo was called for board checking to give the Bucks a power play, but they stayed scoreless on the man advantage in this game and saw Goupil get roughed up quite a bit on the play. ... Laredo has finally capitalized on one of its chances, with Agarunov scoring on a rebound that Beaudry basically placed on his stick and welcomed him to send into the net. The game is tied 2-2 with 13:16 to play. ... Featherstone got called for tripping to give the Rush another power play, but a Hansen hooking call six seconds later made it a 4-0n-4 for the next 1:54. ... Russell just got called for holding, yeesh. I overheard Bryan Benway say, "The Bucks seem to be having more trouble adjusting to the new style of officiating than some of the team's they've played," and I can't help but agree...though no one seems to be having a terribly easy time. ... We have another 4-on-4 with another scuffle in front of the net turning into two roughing penalties, one on Russell and one on Luke Fritshaw. There was actually a 5+-minute gap between those calls and the previous penalty, so that's pretty decent by this game's standard. ... Now Rivet and Flamminio are having it out, or at least shoving each other around. It is very interesting how feisty this Rapid City team is, and how it has been able to get under the most mild-mannered Bucks' players' skin today. ... The shot tallies now read in favor of Laredo, but I have a hard time believing that. ... DeSantis got the best chance of the last few minutes but smacked the puck straight into Centomo's pads. We are headed into overtime.

Overtime: This is the Bucks' first overtime of the season...not so for the Rush, who had already played in three before this afternoon. ... Coach put Dixon, Goupil, Jaye Judd and Rivet on the ice to start the OT, and they took care of business, with Dixon scoring the game-winner just 25 seconds into the 5-minute period.

Game Over: Bucks 3, Rush 2, OT. Bucks improve to 3-1-0 (six points) and move into a tie with the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees and Texas Brahmas for first place in the division. The Rush, who fell to 1-0-4 (six points), may very well go on to be the losingest team in the league but still have plenty of points. Now I get to write my story while watching the players skate around with little kids. Definitely a much better thing to have happen after a win.

Notes: Ryan Fuller was scratched from the lineup today for the second game in a row but is pretty much fine, just got roughed up a bit in the loss to the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on Friday night. He's skating around with everyone else, no casts or bandages to be seen. ... Since the "new guy" is out there, too, I guess it can't hurt for me to say that he is Ryan Penney, a soon-to-be 21-year-old forward from Newfoundland. He cannot play with the team until some immigration stuff gets worked out, but I'll have more on that as soon as it does. ... Apparently "Sea Bass" is the chosen nickname for Centomo in Laredo, as even Coach Ruskowski referred to his No. 1 goalie as such during our postgame interview. He calls Penney "J.C." ... Russell skating around with his two-year-old son (also on skates) is possibly the most adorable thing I have ever seen. ... Okay, he might have just beaten that by skating around with his infant in his arms. ... Time to write.

Other Scores: Eagles 2, Blazers 1 (F-SO).

Game Day No. 5

Laredo is the fourth stop on a 14-game, nine-city road trip for the Rapid City Rush (1-0-3), whom the Bucks (2-2-0) will face off against in approximately 40 minutes.

Rapid City has kept every game it's played in close, losing three in shootouts and beating the Corpus Christi IceRays 8-2 on Friday. Actually, I guess that wasn't very close.

The players are taking the ice for warmups as I type, and I'm not sure I'm as impressed by the Rush's uniforms as Brian Sandalow was. Not bad, certainly, but Cigarroa football's home black and blues are still my favorite uniforms I've seen since I got down here.

Both teams are coming off two straight night games and will be playing on few hours of rest, but hopefully that won't have any effect on the intensity of the contest.

Greg Rajan has his game story and more from the Bucks' 3-1 win over the IceRays last night, and some "Sunday reading," which includes this class. I'm no Canadiens fan, but that is super cool.

But back to today's game....

Miguel Beaudry will be starting in net for the Rush, while Sebastien Centomo is the man for the Bucks.

Centomo also started last night for Laredo, making his third 31-save performance since joining the Bucks in his third game with the team.

Beaudry had last night off, but saved 16 of 18 shots from Corpus in Rapid City's win on Friday night.

You can read the pre-game notes for this contest here and Bryan Benway's preview here.

CHL Supervisor of Officials Wayne Bonney is making his rounds around the league and will be sitting in on this afternoon's game. He was watching footage of Tuesday's game between the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs and Mississippi RiverKings when I arrived. That contest was actually pretty tame penalty-wise compared to most this season, with only 19 penalties, four of which were for fighting.

Today's other CHL game will be played in Oklahoma City as the Blazers host the Colorado Eagles. They will begin at 5:10 p.m.

Because all 30 NHL teams played yesterday (first time since 2005 they've all played on the same day), there are not any NHL games tonight.

Game No. 4 - Bucks at IceRays

First Period: You can follow tonight's game here. ... As expected, Centomo is in net for the Bucks tonight. Dustin Traylen is getting the start for the IceRays after playing the latter part of last night's loss. ... First fight 1:31 into the game. Vincent Zaore-Vanie vs. Nicolas Bachand. ... Not sure if it's Nifty-TV or just my computer, but watching this game is not working out so well. ... It just passed the 10-minute mark in the period, and according to Poinstreak, the Bucks just took their first shot. The IceRays have only taken four. ... Well, apparently Jeff Bes just scored a goal. Nifty-TV is not fun at all. ... Okay, Bes scored at 14:09 in the period on assists from Serge Dube and Matt Summers. Must have happened during a line change. It's Bes's first goal of the season, and I am officially giving up on Nifty for tonight. ... Bucks up 1-0 at the first intermission. ... The Bucks are 0-for-2 on the power play, while the IceRays are 0-for-4. ... Centomo has saved all 12 shots he's faced, while, purportedly, Traylen has saved only one of two from the Bucks. ... Those of you interested in following the Bees-Rush game can do so here. Brian Sandalow has some pre-game notes and a running blog for the contest.

Second Period: It seems there has been a delay due to some problems with the glass at the American Bank Center. ... The game had started back up, but is now stuck at 16:39 in the period, so there might be some more glass issues going on. According to Poinstreak, neither team has taken a shot yet in the middle period. ... Okay, it's back again. Bucks are up to five total shots in the game, while the IceRays seem to be stuck at 12. ... Considering the fact that Coach Ruskowski wanted the guys to be more disciplined this weekend, he can't be happy with the seven penalties so far. But at least the penalty kill is taking care of business, thanks in part to Centomo, who has stopped all 19 IceRays' shots so far. ... Make that eight penalties, and eight power plays killed, though the last one was cut short by a penalty on the IceRays. ... The IceRays are now 1-for-9 on the power play, as Ryan Bennett got them on the board with exactly a minute to play in the period. John McNabb and Chris Richards had the assists. ... Game is tied 1-1 at the second intermission. The Bucks have been outshot 21-8 so far.

Third Period: Alex Goupil scored 2:11 into the final period to give the Bucks a 2-1. Joey Moggach and Zaore-Vanie got the assists, each player's first point of the season. ... Goupil has added to the Bucks' lead with his second goal of the game, assisted by Jason Dixon.

Game Over: Bucks win 3-1, in spite of being outshot 32-15, to improve to 2-2-0 for the season. Next up, the Rapid City Rush, tomorrow at 4 p.m. Here is Bryan Benway's take on the game, complete with a quite amusing headline. Though Goupil stole the show with the game-winner and another goal, Centomo was clearly the reason the Bucks won this game and was fittingly named its No. 1 star. Greg Rajan was at the game and will assumably have more on it later.

Other CHL Scores: Mudbugs 6, RiverKings 2 (F); Eagles 6, Gorillas 2 (F); Brahmas 7, Jackalopes 3 (F); Killer Bees 4, Rush 3 (F-SO); Blazers 5, Oilers 1 (F); Rage 4, Sundogs 1 (F); Thunder 7, Scorpions 6 (F-OT).

NHL Scores: Flyers 3, Devils 2 (F-OT); Rangers 3, Penguins 2 (F-SO); Bruins 5, Thrashers 4 (F); Hurricanes 4, Islanders 3 (F); Maple Leafs 3, Senators 2 (F); Ducks 6, Canadiens 4 (F); Sharks 3, Lightning 0 (F); Wild 2, Blue Jackets 1 (F); Predators 5, Kings 4 (F); Capitals 6, Stars 5 (F-OT); Blues 4, Panthers 0 (F); Red Wings 6, Blackhawks 5 (F-SO); Avalanche 2, Sabres 1 (F-SO); Flames 4, Coyotes 1 (F); Canucks 6, Oilers 3 (F).

Lots of interesting games in both leagues tonight, with several teams blowing leads to lose in overtime or shootouts. The Thunder were lucky enough to escape with an OT win after dropping a late 6-2 lead to the Scorpions. The Gorillas are now the only team in the league without a point in the standings.

Here is Brian Sandalow's story on the Bees' 4-3 shootout win over the Rush.

With that, the Bees stay atop the Southeast Division at 3-0-0 (six points), while the Brahmas are technically tied with them at 3-1-0 (six points). The Bucks could jump into that tie with a win over the Rush tomorrow, as they stand at 2-2-0 (four points). The IceRays are 1-2-0 (two points).

Game Day No. 4

The Bucks are in Corpus now to take on the IceRays tonight. Both teams are coming off fairly rough losses, as the Bucks lost 5-2 to the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees and the IceRays fell 8-2 to the Rapid City Rush.

Last night's winners will face off tonight, as well, with the Bees hosting the Rush at 7:35 p.m.

The Bucks' game begins at 7:05 p.m.

You can read Bryan Benway's preview here and see the pre-game notes here.

As usual, you can follow all of the night's CHL action on the Poinstreak scoreboard for the league.

Tonight's other games pit the Colorado Eagles against the Amarillo Gorillas, the Mississippi RiverKings against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, the Odessa Jackalopes against the Texas Brahmas, the Oklahoma City Blazers against the Tulsa Oilers, the Arizona Sundogs against the Rocky Mountain Rage and the Wichita Thunder against the New Mexico Scorpions.

The Rage and defending champion Sundogs are both winless so far this season, but that will obviously change for one of them tonight.

In the NHL, the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers are just getting started, while there are also games between the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders, the Anaheim Ducks and Montreal Canadiens, the Atlanta Thrashers and Boston Bruins, the San Jose Sharks and Tampa Bay Lightning, the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators, the Washington Capitals and Dallas Stars, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild, the Florida Panthers and St. Louis Blues, the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, the Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche, the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks, and the Calgary Flames and Phoenix Coyotes.

That is a lot of games.

Meanwhile, in the Valley, Brian Sandalow has his take on the Bees' win last night and his first "5-Minute Major" video blog of the season...which is, by the way, six minutes long. It features rookie Bees head coach Chris Brooks, who apparently does not like his face to be visible to the viewing public. Or maybe my computer screen is just dark.

Game No. 3 - Bucks at Bees

Due to the fact that I am in the press box at Shirley Field for the night, updates will probably be brief and few. I will try to post for goals, at least, but I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to do so.

As far as other scores, I will only post those of other Southeast teams until I get back to the office. Here goes...

First Period: Interestingly enough, Coach Ruskowski has chosen tonight to give rookie goaltender Ryan Gibb his first regular season start. Wylie Rogers is in net for the Bees. ... Bucks lead 1-0 on a goal by Igor Agarunov, assisted by linemates Alex Goupil and Jason Dixon.

Second Period: The Bees tied it up with a power play score 23 seconds into the middle period. Jesse Bennefield had the goal, on assists from Brian Bicek and Nicolas Dumoulin. ... The Bucks have been outshot 28-13 so far in the game and 8-0 in the period. ... Bees lead 3-1 now. Evan Rankin scored one unassisted, then Dumoulin scored on assists from Trevor Weisgerber and Kurtis Dulle.

Third Period: Bees lead 5-1. Aaron Lee scored on assists from Robin Bouchard and Travis Banga, then Bennefield got past Gibb with a penalty shot. Wonder who set that up. ... Adam Rivet has scored on an assist from Serge Dube to make it 5-2.

Game Over: Bees 5, Bucks 2. I don't think the bus ride to Corpus will be a very jovial one.

UPDATE: You can see the final box for tonight's game here. The first 6:07 of the second period were not kind to the Bucks. You can read Bryan Benway's press release here and Bees media intern Rachel Reida's take here. Brian Sandalow was not able to attend the game due to his own high school football commitments, but he'll probably have something up about it later.

Other Final Scores: Rapid City Rush 8, Corpus Christi IceRays 2; Texas Brahmas 4, Amarillo Gorillas 3; Missippi RiverKings 3, Oklahoma City 2 (SO); Colorado Eagles 7, Arizona Sundogs 5; Wichita Thunder 6, Rocky Mountain Rage 3; Odessa Jackalopes 9, New Mexico Scorpions 2.

Greg Rajan has his take on the IceRays' lackluster followup to their 12-3 opening night win.

I know it is very, very early in the season, but it's worth noting that Rio is now alone atop the Southeast Division standings at 2-0-0. The Bucks are in fourth at 1-2-0, while the Brahmas are second at 2-1-0 and the IceRays are third at 1-1-0.

We'll see who can bounce back from tonight when the Bucks and IceRays face off tomorrow. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m.

NHL Scores: New York Rangers 3, Columbus Blue Jackets 1; Philadelphia Flyers 6, New Jersey Devils 3; Anaheim Ducks 4, Ottawa Senators 3; Detroit Red Wings 5, Atlanta Thrashers 3; Florida Panthers 4, San Jose Sharks 3; Los Angeles Kings 4, St. Louis Blues 0.

Game Day No. 3

The team is on its way to the Valley as I type this, and in a matter of hours, we'll be able to see how the revamped Bees do against the "rebuilding" Bucks in their first of 14 meetings this season.

Here is my preview for this weekend that ran in today's Times. You can read Bryan Benway's take here.

For more in-depth information, you can read Rio broadcaster (Vice President, Communications) Rich Bocchini's game notes.

Brian Sandalow has his take on tonight's game and some other things, as well as a "featurette" about veteran forward Robin Bouchard.

Greg Rajan has an immigration status update for IceRays winger John McNabb and a preview of the weekend in Corpus.

John Holland of the Rapid City Journal has an interesting preview of the Rush's weekend, which features games against the IceRays, Killer Bees and Bucks.

You can follow all of tonight's CHL games here and read Bob Hoffman's "Shots from the Point" for this week here.

In addition to the games between the Bucks and Bees and IceRays and Rush, there will be contests between the Texas Brahmas and Amarillo Gorillas, Mississippi RiverKings and Oklahoma City Blazers, Arizona Sundogs and Colorado Eagles, Wichita Thunder and Rocky Mountain Rage, and Odessa Jackalopes and New Mexico Scorpions.

The Arizona-Colorado game should be a good one, and I'm pretty sure the popular consensus is that Tracy Egeland will absolutely lose it if the Rage fall to the Thunder tonight.

In the NHL, it's a fairly slow night, with games between the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils, Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators, Atlanta Thrashers and Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers, and Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues.

Last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Boston Bruins 4-2, the Dallas Stars picked up a 5-3 win over the Devils, the Pittsburgh Penguins topped the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 (with all four goals coming in the final 12 minutes of the game), the Buffalo Sabres got a 4-3 OT win over Minnesota Wild, the Calgary Flames beat the Nashville Predators 5-3, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-1, and the Phoenix Coyotes topped the Washington Capitals 2-1.

Catching Up

As I had mentioned on Monday, the team wasn't able to practice on Tuesday because of the WWE/ECW show at the LEC, but they did take a spin class and watch film from Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, which didn't look any different to Coach Ruskowski than it had that night.

"I think sometimes watching the video and watching yourself play and do different things," Coach Ruskowski said. "I was looking back at the game and going, 'How did we lose this game?' I thought we played very well; we took the play to them, we were on them all the time. I looked back and thought the only place that we lost it is where either we weren't disciplined or a couple bad plays by the referees, whatever you want to call it, to make it a 5-on-3. That was the gamebreaker right there."

But the past is the past, and the Bucks are now focused on this weekend's three-in-three, with road games against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees and Corpus Christi IceRays and their first meeting with the expansion Rapid City Rush, at the LEC.

Coach felt like the guys accomplished a lot in practice yesterday, but that didn't keep him from working them hard this morning.

The team practiced for nearly the full two hours and will get an early skate in before leaving for the Valley tomorrow.

But back to yesterday...

When I spoke to Coach after practice, he spoke to me about a few of the things he had been trying to get done.

"We accomplished a lot today," he said. "We had one drill today that accomplished three things we were lacking in the loss. We want our defense to be more mobile D-to-D and carry the puck up; I think we're not moving our feet enough, getting checked too easily. If we can get the puck, move it in, get the passes and dump the puck, it makes us work a little harder down low. We worked on that, we worked on our breakouts when the defenseman doesn't stop behind the net. We worked on a lot of good things, and we actually worked on the 5-on-3 and how we play the 5-on-3 and how we go across and do the different things we're supposed to do. Hopefully, they can register that in their minds and keep that locked up in case we have to use it again."

As far as the third scoring line, Coach will be rotating guys around until he finds a combination that works well together. Right now, rookies Ryan Fuller and Joey Moggach and second-year forwards Erick Lizon and Matt Summers are the players he has working to try to put that line together. Seventh-year defenseman Steve Weidlich is also in that mix and will start as a forward tomorrow night in his first game of the regular season.

At the end of the practice, Coach had the guys do a shootout drill, with half the team shooting on No. 1 goaltender Sebastien Centomo and half on rookie backup.

Bobby Russell, Jeff Bes, Igor Agarunov, Jason Dixon, Devin Featherstone, Alex Goupil, Summers, Lizon, Coach Ruskowski and Vincent Zaore-Vanie shot on Centomo.

No one scored.

Goupil got closest, faking Centomo out right, but missed wide left.

Gibb set aside shots from Serge Dube, Fuller, Adam Rivet, Moggach, Darryl Smith and Weidlich, while allowing goals from defensemen Jaye Judd and Mike Gooch.

Today, the guys did some 5-on-5 work and some more breakouts

Brian Sandalow has a report on practice at the RGV Ice Center yesterday and a notebook on the Bees' start to the season.

Greg Rajan has a new "Meet the IceRays" video, featuring CHL Player of the Week Chris Richards, and his take on 43-year-old Claude Lemieux and his attempt to return to the NHL via the Arizona Sundogs. The four-time Stanley Cup Champion and former Conn Smythe Trophy winner has been skating with the team in practices; we'll see where that goes.

Anyway, here is the CHL's weekly chalk talk, which came out yesterday. Keep in mind the fact that the records do not reflect last night's games.

Not sure if any of you checked the boxes from those, but former Corey Courchene and Derek Legault, who each played part of last season with the Bucks, each registered a point in last night's game between Arizona and the New Mexico Scorpions.

Courchene, currently on the Scorps' roster, had a power play goal, while Legault, currently a Sundog, assisted on a Karl Sellan power play score. It was each player's first point of the season.

Another player who spent time on last season's roster, Tyler Harder, was reactivated from a suspension to the Oklahoma City Blazers roster yesterday.

You can see all the latest CHL transactions here.

There will be a preview for tomorrow night's game (and the entire weekend) in tomorrow's Times, and I'll post some leftover news and notes about this weekend's games on the blog. I'm currently not sure if I'll attend the morning skate tomorrow, but it's a possibility.

This weekend should definitely be an interesting one, with games against the new-look Bees and IceRays and a team the Bucks have never seen before in the Rush. Here is some of Coach's take on facing these teams:

You look at Rio, they beat Rocky Mountain 7-2. You look at Corpus, they put Tulsa 12-3. You look at Rapid City, they went down to Colorado and Colorado beat them in high-scoring shootouts, so they have goal scoring power, too. It's weird; the first week is kind of a weird week, and we're just going to have to play our game the way we should, and hopefully that will be good enough to win. It's definitely going to show where we have to improve on this team.

I will be covering the Cigarroa-Nixon football game tomorrow night, but I will try to post updates from the Bucks game from my Blackberry. Saturday, I'll be in the office, so I'll watch the game on Nifty and blog from what I see there. Sunday, I'll be at the game, so you can expect game updates like from previous home games.

Oh, and to respond to the anonymous question about whether or not the new guy is here...there are a few things that need to be resolved before I can really answer. I can tell you, though, that there will not be anyone new traveling with the team to Rio and Corpus this weekend.

Tonight's Scores

Sorry about the lack of updates today. I am currently without internet in my new apartment, and I tried not to spend much time in the office as it was technically one of my days off.

I will definitely post more tomorrow, but for now, here are tonight's scores:

CHL: Colorado Eagles 5, Rocky Mountain Rage 1; Arizona Sundogs 5, New Mexico Scorpions 3.

NHL: New Jersey Devils 5, Dallas Stars 0; Florida Panthers 3, Ottawa Senators 1: San Jose Sharks 7, Philadelphia 6 (SO); Detroit Red Wings 4, St. Louis Blues 3; Chicago Blackhawks 3, Edmonton Oilers 0.

Back in the Swing of Things

The CHL announced the nominees for its first "Performance of the Week" honors for the 2008-09 season earlier today, and Bucks rookie Darryl Smith's debut hat trick is on the list.

Obviously, Chris Richards' seven points on Saturday and Tulsa netminder Kevin St. Pierre's 55 saves (in a loss, poor thing) are pretty impressive stats, but a hat trick in someone's first professional game is quite a feat in its own right.

You can read about the nominees here and vote in the poll here.

Meanwhile, here is my notebook that ran in today's Times. There are a few other things I wanted to touch on that I didn't have the space for, but I think I'll save it for now to see if I can go more in-depth as the season progresses.

Over in Corpus Christi, Greg Rajan has word that IceRays defenseman T.J. Reynolds will be suspended for his actions during one of the many altercations between the IceRays and Tulsa Oilers on Saturday night. I still can't believe how many penalty minutes were served in that game, and over the weekend in general.

In Wichita, the 0-2 Thunder received some bad news as captain Mike Batovanja will need surgery to repair a torn ACL and could miss the rest of the season. He has currently been placed on the 30-day injured reserve but will obviously miss more than that amount of time.

Speaking of the Thunder, they are currently losing 2-0 to the Oklahoma City Blazers (2-0-0) at the first intermission of their game tonight. In tonight's other CHL contest, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (2-0-0) lead the Mississippi RiverKings (1-1-0) 2-0. I'll update with final scores when those games are finished.

Last night in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins topped the Boston Bruins 2-1 in a shootout, the Dallas Stars beat the New York Rangers 2-1 in Sean Avery's not-so-quiet return to Madison Square Garden, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 and the Colorado Avalanche picked up another close win, this one in a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Right now, the Bruins are tied with the Buffalo Sabres 2-2 , the Columbus Blue Jackets lead the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 and the Anaheim Ducks lead the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1, with all three games in the final period. The Tampa Bay Lightning hold a 2-o lead over the Atlanta Thrashers at their second intermission, and the Washington Capitals and Calgary Flames are set to face off at 8:30 p.m. our time.

UPDATE: Here are the final scores: Mudbugs 6, RiverKings 2; Blazers 5, Thunder 1; Ducks 3, Maple Leafs 2 (SO); Sabres 3, Bruins 2 (SO); Blue Jackets 4, Canucks 2; Lightning 3, Thrashers 2 (OT); Flames 2, Capitals 1.

Around the League

As per usual during the regular season, the CHL announced Player and Goaltender of the Week honors this afternoon. They have been awarded to Corpus Christi IceRays center Chris Richards (apparently Hockey DB has not started reflecting the name change just yet) and the Odessa Jackalopes' Juha Toivonen, respectively.

Bob Hoffman's press release does not appear to be online yet, so I'm going to copy and paste from the e-mail he sent:

Corpus Christi’s Chris Richards and Odessa’s Juha Toivonen Earn Weekly Awards

The Central Hockey League announced today that the recipients for the Oakley CHL Player and Goaltender of the Week for the period ending October 19^th, 2008 are center Chris Richards of the Corpus Christi IceRays and goaltender Juha Toivonen of the Odessa Jackalopes.

Richards led the IceRays to a 12-3 win over the Tulsa Oilers in their only game of the week. The Cornwall, Ontario native scored four goals and added three assists leading the league in scoring despite playing just the one game. He also finished the game with a +4 plus/minus rating. The seven-point game matches a career high for the veteran center who had four goals and three assist on February 1^st, 2007 while a member of the Youngstown SteelHounds. The 5-10, 180-pound forward was one of the biggest off-season signings in the league after recording 278 points over his last three seasons (all with the SteelHounds).

Toivonen went 2-0 this past weekend making 46 saves on 49 shots (.939 save percentage) in the two road victories versus the defending CHL Champion Arizona Sundogs. The rookie made 22 saves in the Jacks 7-2 victory on opening night and 27 saves in the team’s 3-1 win the following night. The Hattula, Finland native was a member of the 2005 Team Finland club that played in the Under 18 World Junior Championships. The 21-year-old has the Jacks one of five teams that have started the season 2-0.

In recognition of their achievement, both Richards and Toivonen will receive a pair of Oakley sunglasses.

Oakley CHL Player of the Week
Chris Richards, Corpus Christi IceRays
Position: C

(Weekly Totals)
Games Played: 1
Goals: 4
Assists: 3
Points: 7
Plus/Minus: +4

Oakley CHL Goaltender of the Week
Juha Toivonen, Odessa Jackalopes
Position: G
(Weekly Totals)
Games Played: 2

Record: 2-0-0
GAA: 1.50
Save %: .939
Saves: 46 of 49

In other news around the league, the Jackalopes have been forced to make some roster changes following an impressive 2-0 start against the defending champion Sundogs, as forward Jean Bourbeau has been called up to the AHL after playing just two professional games.

Meanwhile, it seems that the Bucks have decided to join in on all the fun in the blogosphere. Here is the link to the team's blogging home. Only Bryan Benway has posted so far; you can read his first entry here.

Some other CHL blogs that I've yet to mention include Kollen Long's Wichita Thunder blog for the Wichita Eagle and Alex Mansfield's New Mexico Scorpions blog. I am in the process of figuring out the best way to link these on the sidebar of this page.

For those of you who are curious about the new IceRays' sweaters you'll be seeing this season, Greg Rajan has a first look at their three options. I have to agree with all the comments on that post; the black ones are pretty cool.

There were no CHL games yesterday, but in the NHL, the Chicago Blackhawks collected their second win of the season with a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks and the Carolina Hurricanes topped the Anaheim Ducks 3-1.

Tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins are in Boston, where they practice at my alma mater's arena, to take on the Bruins; the Dallas Stars are at the New York Rangers; the Florida Panthers are at the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche are at the Los Angeles Kings.

Speaking of BU, it's a shame they lost to New Hampshire this weekend; with Boston College falling to Northeastern, the Terriers could have had a real shot at taking over the No. 1 spot in the next few weeks. They only fell one spot with the loss, so I guess it's not that bad..

Monday, Monday

The players had a really rough skate today for the first time this season. I'm not sure if it was because of the loss on Saturday or to make up for time lost to the day off yesterday, but everyone was pretty worn out by the end of the day. Actually, I guess the reason was probably because there will not be ice tomorrow in preparation for the WWE show at the LEC.

Meanwhile, Steve Weidlich was back on the ice and suited up as a forward, which Coach Ruskowski said was just to help him get back into the swing of things but not something that should be ruled out for game situations.

I'm not sure Weidlich will be the D-man to get the call to offense should Coach choose to go that direction, but he does believe it to be an option now that he has eight defensemen on his roster once Ryan James Hand comes off the IR.

Hand was at practice today for the first time since his injury and skated in the sprint exercises at the end of practice. He wasn't in pads or anything, but he was holding his stick and seemed to be in great condition other than the cast on his injured hand. I assume he will come off the IR as soon as his 30 days are up, or at least as soon as Coach can decide who to cut to make room for him.

I got to meet Jaye Judd, who was acquired in a trade late last week and did not arrive in Laredo until the morning of the season opener on Friday, for the first time today. He, like everyone else Coach has brought in this season, seems like a great guy and very dedicated to learning as much as he can to help the team in any way that he can.

Judd said he wasn't feeling his best on Friday after all the travel and definitely did not think he played great due to being unfamiliar with the systems and everything else he needed to know, but I'd say he did a pretty decent job considering the situation.

There should be some more roster news in the next couple days.

Back to this weekend, though. Starting off 1-1 is clearly never the Bucks' objective, but as anyone who saw these games can tell you, the guys played hard and never let up throughout both contests. The loss on Saturday was based on 90 seconds of a 60-minute competition, and even Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs head coach Scott Muscutt could not stop raving about the Bucks when I spoke to him after the game.

"The Laredo Bucks are so well-coached, and they are always consistent," he said. "They have those big five guys that come back here every year and they are so potent out there on power play, on penalty kill and even strength. You take your back off for one second against these guys, and you're going to pay the price."

Ruskowski felt the same way and told me today that he is not at all unhappy with his team's performance Saturday night, so I guess that wasn't the reason behind all the extra skating this morning at all.

However, Coach does think there are a few players who the team depends on who haven't quite stepped up to that challenge yet this season. He isn't going to name names, of course, and he is confident that those kinks will work themselves out shortly.

I have some leftover quotes from this weekend and some new stuff from Coach this morning, but I'm going to save them for now in hopes that I can write a notebook to run in today or Wednesday's paper.

Obviously, no one is thrilled by the fact that they can't practice tomorrow, but I'm sure the team will get together somewhere...just not in the arena; they aren't even allowed in at all on days with shows at night. The ice should be back out on Wednesday afternoon.

Interesting...

Word on the street is that there will be a new player at practice (not camp, sorry) tomorrow morning, meaning the Bucks are going to have to cut someone soon, then give someone else the axe when Ryan James Hand comes off the injured reserve in about a month.

Meanwhile, here is my game story from last night.

Brian Sandalow has the story from the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees' 7-2 win over the Rocky Mountain Rage, while Greg Rajan has more on the craziness that was the Corpus Christi IceRays' 12-3 victory over the Tulsa Oilers.

Quick Reminder

I'll post more on tonight's game tomorrow, but for now, I just wanted to remind everyone that the Bucks Booster Club's meet-and-greet bowling tournament is tomorrow. Here's the info:

THE LAREDO BUCKS BOOSTER CLUB

ARE HOSTING A MEET AND GREET

BOWLING TOURNAMENT

OCTOBER 19^TH, 2008

JETT BOWL NORTH

Registration starting at 12:00NOON and tournament starting at 1:00pm

5 persons per team

$150 per team

Three games with shoes for each person,

One pitcher of Soft Drink and one Large Pizza

Trophies for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams

COME AND MEET THE 2008-2009 LAREDO BUCKS PLAYERS.

SO BE THERE!

Oh, and holy cow.

Game No. 2 - Bucks vs. Mudbugs

Pre-Game: It seems Ken Carroll will be on the bench for this one, at least if Ryan Mior can do his job in his first professional start. Interesting decision against a team that scored seven goals last night. .... You can see the pre-game notes here and read Bryan Benway's preview here. ... I guess I failed to mention this last night, but you can watch or listen to the game online. To listen, click here. To watch, go here. .... Alex Goupil was the last player to leave the ice after warmups again. Ryan Fuller and Bobby Russell were the two Bucks who stayed out with him the longest. It seems he's taken up shooting across the ice at an empty net as a pre-game habit. ... You can follow the live scoring for tonight's game here. ... Apparently Mior came to the Mudbugs from the Gatineau Olympiques, meaning he was a teammate of Bucks rookie forward Darryl Smith for the last two seasons. ... Goupil's little model turn in this pre-game video is just as hilarious the second time around. ... Bucks are of course in their home whites, while the Mudbugs are black and teal with purple socks (and very purple goalie pads on Mior). ... Smith vs. Clayton for the opening faceoff, and here we go.

Starters: Bucks - Jeff Bes (F), Sebastien Centomo (G), Serge Dube (D), Devin Featherstone (D), Russell (F), Smith (F). Mudbugs - Joe Blaznek (F), Travis Clayton (F), Kevin Cooper (F), Simon Mangos (D), Mior (G), Clay Thoring (D).

First Period: Adam Rivet has the Bucks on the board 4:39 into the game off a beautiful centering pass from behind the net from Matt Summers. First point of the season for each, while Jason Dixon got his fourth on the second assist. ... Fight! The Bucks just had their first of the regular season. Erick Lizon vs. Neil Clark. There was a lot of buildup before Lizon landed his first punch square in Clark's face. Lizon won, though Clark slipped and brought them both down long before it would have ended otherwise. The crowd liked it, but Lizon didn't seem too impressed with his own performance. ... End of the period, same score. Solid showing from both teams so far. Bucks are looking more dedicated on defense tonight, but have still allowed 12 shots while only taking seven. ... Centomo is quite dramatic, but clearly that works out well for him. ... Bucks are 0-of-1 (1.5) on power plays, while the Mudbugs are 0-of-3.

Second Period: They are just about to begin the middle period, but I had to interrupt this to say that Sidney Crosby has scored his 100th career goal, first of the season, on his first shot of the game. =) ... Clayton just got the puck past Centomo for what would have been the tying goal, but the net came off the posts a nanosecond earlier, so it is still 1-0. ... We're experiencing a bit of delay with 10:44 to go due to some problems with the Mudbugs' net. ... Igor Agarunov went to the box for slashing, then nine seconds later, Adam Rivet was sent to join him for holding. The Mudbugs have a 5-on-3 for 1:51. ... Clayton scored on assists from Cooper and Blaznek not long into the two-man advanatage to make it 1-1 , then Centomo was called for unsportsmanlike conduct to keep the Bugs on their 5-0n-3 for another 1:17. Yikes. ... Chris Brassard has the Mudbugs up 2-1 on a power play score assisted by Todd Paul and Brett Smith, with the Bucks committing another penalty just as the goal scored. Coach must be fuming right now. ... Apparently these teams are not fond of 5-on-5 hockey. After six solid minutes of power plays for the Mudbugs, they committed two consecutive penalties to give the Bucks two straight man advantages of their own. ... The period is finally over, with seven penalties having been committed by both teams combined in the last 10:44. ... The shot tallies read Mudbugs 24, Bucks 15, but I can assure you the Bugs have taken more than 24 shots on Centomo. You can't really fault him for that first goal, but the second was something he had a direct effect on setting up with his penalty.

Third Period: In the Valley, the Bees are beating the Rage 5-0 at the second intermission. Either the Bees are much improved, or the Rage are completely falling apart this season. ... Things are not looking great for the Bucks with 1:13 to play and the Mudbugs on a 4-on-3 power play for the rest of the game with a 2-1 lead. ... Coach just called a timeout and drew a play out for the guys, which undoubtedly involves taking Centomo off the ice. ... That was indeed part of the plan, and we now have 4-on-3 hockey for 1.8 seconds with an extra attacker and another penalty on the Bugs.

Game Over: Mudbugs win 2-1. Post-game interviews are just no fun after a loss. ... The Bucks are now tied for third in the division with the Brahmas, with the IceRays and Killer Bees tied for first after demonstrative wins tonight. See the post below for all the scores.