A Week in Review

What a difference two days make.

Following last night's 5-2 win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, Coach Ruskowski's reaction was the complete opposite of everything he felt coming off Thursday's 5-2 loss to the Odessa Jackalopes.

Obviously the guys took everything Ruskowski had said about them Thursday night seriously, and I can't disagree with his statement that everyone played hard in the win.

Though everything was all smiles last night, Ruskowski still admitted he isn't 100 percent happy with his personnel situation, so don't let the "big win" make you think there won't be any more moves.

But, all is right with the Bucks' universe for now, as they have taken back the Southeast Division lead and have a spring in their step coming off a win they seemed to think they desperately needed.

I'm saving most of my leftover stuff from last night for the notebook I'll be writing tomorrow, but I will share a little more about that interesting fight Serge Dube got in with Jesse Perrin.

As I said in my story (and the blog), and as any of you at the game saw, Dube's attack on Perrin was a direct reaction to a hit Perrin put on Jeff Bes just seconds earlier. Apparently Perrin came from out of Bes' sight range and put an elbow to his head when slamming him into the glass.

We could tell from the press box Bes was shaken up, but Dube elaborated a bit, mentioning that Bes made a face he only makes when he is really hurting. So, as the guy closest to the situation, Dube did what he had to do.

I was seriously sitting there with my jaw dropped as the fight played out, though it wasn't exactly a battle of fists. When the refs skated Dube over to the penalty box, he was grinning ear-to-ear, but he didn't try to garner any applause from the crowd as fighters often do. After the game, I got to see the cuts and bruises on his face, but he was still beaming for all the world to see.

Anyway, the fact that the Killer Bees were coming off a hard-fought shootout loss to the Jackalopes does need to be factored into the equation...they were not at full-strength last night. However, that is not to say the Bucks would not have beaten them in that specific game if they had been.

Earlier yesterday, Brian Sandalow had posted about Rio Grande Valley head coach Chris Brooks and his curiousities about how his team would react to losing. I guess he found out. I was unable to talk to Brooks due to an 11 p.m. deadline, but I saw him in the hallway downstairs, and he looked more sad than mad. I'm sure Sandalow will find out what Brooks was thinking about the loss later in the week.

Previously in the week, Sandalow was busy in the blogging (and the high school football, but that's another story) sense, with a post about his latest "prison rules" story and his first "Talking Back" of the season.

He also has a new "5-Minute Major" featuring Killer Bees rookie netminder Wylie Rogers, who was then fresh off receiving Goaltender of the Month honors. I think I forgot to post the link to his previous video blog, so here is that one, which features Jay Kure, the owner of Jay Sk8's Pro Shop at the RGV Ice Center. Say something to him about that Wings jersey. Please.

In Corpus Christi blogland, Greg Rajan has his take on the IceRays' 4-3 overtime win and 3-2 shootout loss against the Arizona Sundogs. Earlier in the week, he spoke about Sandalow's prison story, and in that post introduced me to the existence of Bob Przybylo, the Oklahoma City Blazers beat writer for The Oklahoman and a guy with one of the coolest names I've ever seen.

That'll about do it for now; I need to focus more of my attention on the Colts game...and watching puppies (that site is taking over my life). When the game is over, though, I will seriously try to figure out how to post links to all the blogs around the league...in alphabetical order by blogger's name because that seems to be the best way to handle that.

One quick thing before I go - Happy Birthday (!) to Jorge Lopez, one of the Bucks' "stick boys," also known as an assistant assistant equipment manager. Hope you're having a great day!

UPDATE: Yay Colts! The blog list has been added, but I have no idea why the links are bolded. Oh well. Hopefully that helps those of you who like to read up on stuff throughout the league...though it seems the links to Brian Sandalow and Bryan Benway's blogs are not working. Ugh.