Game Day No. 13

The Bucks and Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees will face off in a couple hours for the fourth time this season (sixth if you count pre-season). For the Bucks (8-4-0, 16 points), that's pretty much playing the Bees once every other game. For the Bees (6-1-2, 14 pts.), it's taking on the Bucks in 40 percent of their games so far. Geeze.

As was the case in their last game, the Bucks need to win or at least lose in OT to keep the division lead outright.

I'm not sure what can be said about this matchup that hasn't been already, but here is my preview that ran in today's Times, here is Bryan Benway's preview and here are the pre-game notes.

Obviously, the Killer Bees have struggled a bit in their past few games while the Bucks are riding a 3-game winning streak, but tonight's game is all about tonight, and I'm sure the Bees will want to give it their best knowing that this is the start of what will be a long weekend for them, even moreso if they lose.

In the land of former Bucks, Corey Courchene has been waived by the New Mexico Scorpions to make room for defenseman Ben Chaisson, who they acquired in a trade with the Tulsa Oilers. Derek Legault is still on the Arizona Sundogs' roster, for now, in spite of having a plus-minus of minus-7. Speaking of that statistic...

Greg Rajan posted a link today to a story about the plus/minus ratio by someone who happens to think it is useless. I, on the other hand, am a plus/minus freak. You can ask anyone who's watched a hockey game with me; when a goal scores, I want to know every player who was on the ice for both teams. And, when looking at stats online, that is the one to which I tend to gravitate.

Obviously some of the arguments presented in this story are factual, but I do think the plus/minus is very telling and, as Rajan notes, it is something unique to the sport. As much as I love the stat, though, I don't care much for the three players listed as the plus/minus leaders in the NHL this season.

In Pittsburgh, the Penguins provide yet another reason why they are my kind of team. The comments on this posting on Puck Daddy are priceless. Seriously, though, who would step on the Penguin (or any logo for that matter)? If the Bucks do ever decide to let media into their locker room (riiiiiiiight), I promise I won't step on any logos the floor may happen to display. Back to the Pens, though, does this really look to be the size of a port-a-potty?




















Anyway, tonight's other CHL contest features the Amarillo Gorillas and Oklahoma City Blazers, while the NHL has eight games, with the Penguins at the Atlanta Thrashers, the Florida Panthers at the New Jersey Devils, the Montreal Canadiens at the Ottawa Senators, the Vancouver Canucks at the Minnesota Wild, the Chicago Blackhawks at the Dallas Stars, the Calgary Flames at the Colorado Avalanche, the Detroit Red Wings at the Edmonton Oilers, and the Washington Capitals at the Los Angeles Kings.