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).