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.