Catching Up

As of when I am starting to type this, the Houston Aeros and Lake Erie Monsters are tied 1-1 in the second period, and Darryl Smith is a plus-1 in the game. Smith is wearing No. 14, which is the number his e-mail address ends with, so perhaps he prefers that over 18...or maybe that just happened by chance.

Meanwhile, back in Bucks' land, my notebook that ran in today's Times is fairly short due to spacial concerns caused by crazy amounts of Border Olympics scores, but it touches on the problems Coach Ruskowski has seen with his team in its recent skid, which include defensive coverage, physicality and special teams.

Obviously, the first two things on that list are ones that have bothered him throughout the season and areas in which he says he absolutely needs to see improvement.

Prior to Smith's departure, Ruskowski was already out looking for new players to bring in, but now things are a bit more urgent. He is pursuing a few specific guys, but nothing had really come together as of early this afternoon.

As previously mentioned, team captain Serge Dube missed practice today and will likely be turned into a forward should he return to the ice for tomorrow night's game, but the Bucks should still be okay on defensemen...at least as far as numbers go.

Speaking of D-men, when I got to practice this morning, Vincent Zaore-Vanie was riding a stationary bike that he had pulled over to the glass so he could watch practice and work out at the same time. He said his injury still isn't feeling great but that he hopes to be able to skate (leisurely in practice) by the end of the week. I guess we'll see about that.

Okay, now the Aeros are up 2-1. More importantly, the Penguins are down 5-2. Ugh.

Due to last Monday showcasing a game and thus not seeming like a Monday for me, I forgot to mention the weekly award winners.

Amarillo Gorillas defenseman Neil Smith became the first blueliner to nab weekly player honors this season, while Wichita Thunder netminder Tim Boron was named Goaltender of the Week. Those were for games played Dec. 16-21.

In that span, Smith registered a plus/minus rating of plus-4 and handed out two assists, while Boron saved 81 of the 84 shots he faced, including 53 in a win over the Mississippi RiverKings.

Weekly honors for Dec. 22-28 were announced yesterday, with New Mexico Scorpions forward Chris Robertson being named Player of the Week and Arizona Sundogs netminder Marco Emond earning the goalie accolades.

Smith scored four goals, including a hat trick in the Scorpions' 6-4 win over the Colorado Eagles on Saturday, and handed out two assists to lead the Scorps to a 2-1 record on the week. Emond allowed only one goal in his two starts for the Sundogs, saving 62 shots.

Performances of the Week for those spans went to the Eagles' and Sundogs' combined 10 power-play goals in the Eagles' 7-5 win on Dec. 13 and Boron's 53-save performance in the Thunder's aforementioned 2-1 win over the RiverKings on Dec. 19.

This week's nominees are Killer Bees netminder Christian Boucher's 41-save shutout of the Bucks last Monday, Thunder forward Jason Tessier's hat trick in a 6-3 win over the Tulsa Oilers on Friday, Odessa Jackalopes defenseman Russ Moyer's five points in a 7-3 win over the Amarillo Gorillas on Saturday, the Texas Brahmas' 3-goal third period in their 4-3 win over the Oklahoma City Blazers that night and Robertson's hat trick.

Meanwhile, the Killer Bees and Corpus Christi IceRays are playing right now in one of the CHL's three games tonight. Killer Bees lead 3-2 in the second as I type, but I'll post final scores from these games and the NHL matchups later tonight.

Brian Sandalow reported prior to tonight's game that veteran forward Robin Bouchard has left the Killer Bees to attend to some family business and will not be returning. To clarify, I'm only linking that to Sandalow because he had it on his blog before Killer Bees Vice President of Communications Rich Bocchini sent out his press release. Seventeen minutes before, to be exact.

Bouchard's departure leaves the Killer Bees without a veteran on their active roster. Last week, another vet who had left the Killer Bees joined the Flint Generals of the IHL, and his new coach had some interesting things to say.

Now that the Pens have become the Bruins' latest victim, I should probably get back to my more time-sensitive work duties. I'll post all of tonight's (and yesterday's) scores later, as well as final info about Smith's first AHL appearance.