Game Day No. 17

Coming off a big comeback win last night, the Bucks will look to sweep the weekend series with the Sundogs tonight in another matchup at Tim's Toyota Center.

Bryan Benway blogged about last night's win and also has a preview for tonight's game. The part of the blog that I found most intriguing was also the part that is most expectable.

But, as you can imagen (sic), coach was not completely happy with the W last night.

There are still some things that he wants his team to improve on, like being physical, and passing better. When you do those things well, you have a better chance to win.

I hope the fans enjoy having their team coached by a man who never settles as much as I enjoy the fact that Coach Ruskowski never sugarcoats things when I talk to him. If I notice a mistake, I can bet he's going to point it out after the fact. The only way to really succeed is to never be satisfied, and it's nice that he's honest about it.

As mentioned last night, the Bucks' win improved their record to 11-5-0 (22 points), put them back in first place in the Southeast Division and moved them into a tie with the Odessa Jackalopes (10-5-2, 22) for first in the Southern Conference.

Their closest divisional competition, the Texas Brahmas (10-5-1, 21) take on the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (10-4-2, 22) in Bossier City tonight, with the 'Bugs coming off a 4-3 win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (7-5-2, 16), who have dropped three in a row and are in Kansas to face the Wichita Thunder (6-10-1, 13) tonight.

Last but not least, as far as the Southeast Division goes, the Corpus Christi IceRays (6-7-1, 13) will host the Mississippi RiverKings (10-8-0, 20) tonight for the second time in two days and the third in a week.

I mentioned last night how perplexing I found the fact that the IceRays have beaten the RiverKings twice, with RiverKings' wins over the Bucks and Killer Bees sandwiched between the losses, but I guess the IceRays deserve some credit for that. According to Greg Rajan's game story, they "caught fire" in the third, which kinda sounds exactly like what the RiverKings did against the Bucks.

There was a bit of a controversy in the IceRays' 3-2 win last Saturday that resulted in Chris Mei being placed on the IR, and T.J. Reynolds took it upon himself to handle that, then share his opinion with Rajan, last night.

The game also featured some retribution, as IceRays defenseman T.J. Reynolds pummeled Mississippi winger Matt Pierce after a controversial hit last week that left teammate Chris Mei sidelined for at least a month.

Reynolds was ejected for jumping Pierce -- who didn't fight back -- and while he expressed regret for the ejection, Reynolds said "it had to be done."

"We're going to stick up for each other," Reynolds said. "There's a time and place for it. A guy like (Pierce) won't drop the gloves. He's gutless and won't stick up for himself."

Those are some fighting words, but sticking up for each other is what being a team, especially in hockey, is all about, so Reynolds is certainly holding up his end in that bargain.

But, the big story in the CHL today is the Rapid City Rush finally playing their home opener...and finally beating the Colorado Eagles, in a rather dominant fashion.

The teams had already met five times this season, all at the Budweiser Events Center (obviously), and Colorado had won all five contests, averaging six goals per game. Kudos to Miguel Beaudry for shutting out by far the leaugue's most prolific offense.

Jim Holland of the Rapid City Journal had a preview for today's game, in which includes this excerpt about the Rush's equipment manager:

Someone fully expecting no sleep is Rush equipment manager Shawn “Stixy” Smith, who will put in a full day in Colorado, then bring the team gear directly to the civic center to prepare for the afternoon game. Uniforms for both teams will need to be cleaned and skates re-sharpened, then set up in the arena’s new locker rooms.

“It’s going to be a lot of long hours. Everything is in a mad scramble. The deadline’s here. It’s crunch time,” he said.

Smith spent much of the week moving into training and equipment rooms at the civic center, even as construction continued around him.

“There may not be everything situated where you want it, even though we have (the game) here,” he said. “Anyone who’s ever moved into a new home knows what that’s like.”

Adding to the odds for a lack of sleep on his part was the fact that the game was played at 2:05 p.m. Mountain Time to avoid a conflict with Rapid City's "Festival of Lights Parade." The attendance numbers haven't been posted yet, so we'll see if that move paid off.

Oh, and it turns out that major delay in the Rage's win over the Gorillas last night was neither a figment of my imagination nor a Poinstreak error. Here is an excerpt from Gorillas Director of Media Relations Trent Kling's press release:

It was in the second intermission the activities at the Amarillo Civic Center took a turn for the absurd. One-third of the way through its sweep of the ice, Amarillo’s Zamboni broke down in the neutral zone. For a short period of time, Civic Center personnel struggled to get the machine off the ice surface, before finally being towed off by a forklift.

The problems did not end there for Civic Center staff. A large rut was left in the broken Zamboni’s aftermath on the ice near the north blueline. Extensive repair was needed for the rut, which took over an hour to properly fix. Meanwhile, the ‘Ice Crew’ swept the ice with brooms, trying to smooth over the rocky surface.

Wow. Let's hope for the sake of everyone at Bucks' games, especially Art Cullaton, that never happens in Laredo.

The Rush's win over the Eagles was the only early game on another full-slate day. In addition to the games involving Southeast Division teams tonight, the New Mexico Scorpions are at the Oklahoma City Blazers, the Jackalopes are at the Tulsa Oilers and the Gorillas are at the Rage in another one of the league's odd home-and-home choices this season.

NHL-wise, the Edmonton Oilers beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2, and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 already today. Later on (well, not much later), the Buffalo Sabres are at the Montreal Canadiens (Long trip, eh?), the Philadelphia Flyers are at the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators are at the New York Islanders, the Detroit Red Wings are at the Boston Bruins, the Washington Capitals are at the Columbus Blue Jackets, the New Jersey Devils are at the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Minnesota Wild are at the Nashville Predators, the San Jose Sharks are at the Phoenix Coyotes, the Tampa Bay Lightning are at the Colorado Avalanche, and the Vancouver Canucks are at the Calgary Flames.

In other NHL "news," this is pretty amusing. I'm sure that was a necessary story to write...and that Crosby was just thrilled to be asked such ridiculous questions.