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.