Tonight's the Night

The season opener is almost here...about 50 minutes away, to be exact. Apparently the game will have a late start due to some pre-game ceremonies and the like.

A meeting with the Rocky Mountain Rage is not the ideal way for a young team to start the season, but it should be a good test and a great chance for Sebastien Centomo to introduce himself to the home crowd.

The lineup for this evening is the roster listed below, minus Ryan James Hand and Steve Weidlich, who will sit out this weekend with an undisclosed injury. The team does not expect him to be placed on the injured reserve because the doctor said he'd be fine to play soon, just not tonight or tomorrow...which might explain the late acquisition of Jaye Judd.

I'm curious to see how the lines skate together tonight, considering it will be the first time they are doing so in game situations. The lines have changed since preseason, and the top line of Jeff Bes, Bobby Russell and Darryl Smith was missing two of its components in the exhibition games.

The other two lines could play some swapping games tonight depending on how things go early, but Igor Agarunov and Alex Goupil should consistently play together, regardless of who their third linemate is.

During practices, Coach had been mixing Joey Moggach, the shortest guy on the team (definitely smaller than the 5-foot-8 he is listed as on the roster), in with the taller guys that I would normally suspect to comprise the team's checking line...we'll see what he does with him in an actual game.

I have to say I've been counting down to this day for a very long time, and I'm glad it's finally here. I'll post the starting lineup as soon as I get it, then update period-by-period as I did for the preseason games.

You can see the pre-game notes here and keep up with other opening night action through the league scoreboard here.

Tonight's other matchups pit the Texas Brahmas against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, the Wichita Thunder against the Mississippi RiverKings, the Tulsa Oilers against the Oklahoma City Blazers, the Rapid City Rush (in their first game ever) against the Colorado Eagles (who beat the Rush 6-0 in preseason), the Amarillo Gorillas against the New Mexico Scorpions and the Odessa Jackalopes against the Arizona Sundogs.

Texas is the only other Southeast Division team playing tonight, as the Corpus Christi IceRays and Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees open their respective seasons tomorrow night. I'll try to update other scores during intermissions.

In the NHL, the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs are in a scoreless tie, the Ottawa Senators lead the Phoenix Coyotes 4-0, the Columbus Blue Jackets lead the Nashville Predators 3-0, the Buffalo Sabres lead the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 and the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes and Los Angeles Kings are set to begin later in the night.

UPDATE: The players are finally out on the ice for warmups. Bucks are in their regular white home sweaters with blue pants and white socks with blue and gold trim; the Rage are wearing very red sweaters, black pants and red and black socks...Erick Lizon of all people is talking to former Bucks captain Brent Cullaton at center ice. ... Centomo seems to take warmup drills much more seriously than the Bucks' goalies did last year; we'll see if that translates into the game. ... Weidlich and Hand are over by the door watching warmups together. ... Lizon was the first player to leave the ice from either team. ... Now all the Bucks but Goupil are off while a decent portion of the Rage lineup is still out. ... Goupil is officially the last man out, taking empty net shots across the length of the ice. ... The players are barely off now that it's 7:30, the originally stated start time for the game. I'm guessing the game will be starting later than the 7:50 time I was given. Thank goodness we have a midnight deadline for high school football. ... Bucks majority owner Glenn Hart is in the house for the opener, the Bucks' first at home in the team's history. ... The Bucks are going to come onto the ice from where the visiting team does normally, and apparently they'll be welcomed by some pyrotechnics, which seem dangerously close to the blow-up Buck they skate through. ... As of 7:40, the guys are standing behind the door waiting to be allowed to make their way out there. I wonder how they feel about having to stand around waiting for Bucky to do his thing. Well, probably not as bad as the Rage feel skating around in circles with a very lengthy video mashup playing on the jumbotron. I enjoyed it, though, even if mostly for amusement purposes. ... A couple of the other games have already gotten started; the Brahmas and Mudbugs are tied at 1, the RiverKings lead the Thunder 2-0 and the Oilers leads the Blazers 1-0. ... U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar is dropping the ceremonial first puck. ... CHL Commissioner Duane Lewis is also here to watch the game.