Game Day No. 12

Tonight is round two of the Bucks' series with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs this season. Bossier took round one, but only because of two 5-on-3 goals in a matter of seconds.

The Bucks (7-4-0, 14 points) come into tonight's game fresh off a well-played third period in a 2-1 win over the Tulsa Oilers, while the Mudbugs (8-2-1, 17 pts.) were handed an overtime loss by the Texas Brahmas (6-3-1, 13 pts.) after leading from the 18-minute mark in the first period until there were just eight seconds left in the game. Yikes.

Following that heartbreaker, the 'Bugs had to hop on a bus for eight hours and got here early this morning, which means no morning skate and not a lot of rest. But, they are professionals, so I'm sure Scott Muscutt won't let all that affect them too much.

I spoke to Coach Ruskowski on Thursday about what the Bucks will have to do differently tonight if they want to get a win against their Louisianan rivals, and he was quick to cite those 5-on-3 mistakes in the first matchup.

"They scored their two goals, bang, bang when we took unnecessary penalties and were down 5-on-3," Ruskowski said. "We're going to have to be more disciplined, we're going to have to be physical and, again, we have to work hard. We have to be conscientious of what the situation is. If we're down, we can't take penalties; we have to make opportunities to get power plays. If we're ahead, we can't penalties because it gives them an opportunity to come back and beat us. We have to be smart. If we're going to go out, we should be taking somebody else off with us."

The Bucks will probably need a win (or at least an OT loss) tonight to hold their lead in the Southeast Division, as the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (6-1-1, 13 pts.) will be taking on a Thunder (3-6-1, seven pts.) squad that has to be reeling after losing the way they did last night and Texas, which also has 13 points, will be hosting the New Mexico Scorpions (5-6-1, 11 pts.). But, hey, you never know.

As I had mentioned yesterday, I will not be able to cover tonight's game due to the Alexander vs. McAllen Memorial bi-district playoff at the SAC. With only three of us on staff for sports, playoffs taking priority and one of my co-workers off for a wedding, I need to be in the office...but I will not be covering archery as Bryan Benway might have you believe.

In other CHL games tonight, the Amarillo Gorillas are at the Corpus Christi IceRays, the Oklahoma City Blazers are at the Mississippi RiverKings, the Rocky Mountain Rage are at the Odessa Jackalopes, and the Rapid City Rush are at the Arizona Sundogs once again.

In the NHL, the New Jersey Devils get another shot at the Washington Capitals at home, the Philadelphia Flyers are at the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Maple Leafs are at the Vancouver Canucks, the Ottawa Senators are at the New York Islanders, the Boston Bruins are at the New York Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres are at the baby blue Pittsburgh Penguins, the Columbus Blue Jackets are at the Minnesota Wild, the Dallas Stars are at the Phoenix Coyotes, the Colorado Avalanche are at the Edmonton Oilers, and the Nashville Predators are at the Los Angeles Kings.