Is It Really Dec. 9 Already?

Of course the day I mention in my notebook that injured defenseman Vincent Zaore-Vanie is still out on the ice during practices (albeit in sneakers, not skates) is the first day he's walking around in street clothes and doesn't even go near a puck.

Forward Joey Olson also wasn't in practice after suffering a kind of odd injury over the weekend. He's fine, though, and should be able to play tomorrow night as the Bucks (15-5-0, 30 points) host the New Mexico Scorpions (8-12-1, 17 pts.).

Team captain Serge Dube, however, will not, as Coach Ruskowski has decided to continue his precautionary measures and keep the veteran defenseman off the lineup against the Scorpions and possibly against the Corpus Christi IceRays (7-9-2, 16 pts.) on Thursday.

"I'd rather miss him two games than six weeks," Ruskowski said.

Fair enough. The injury was well-timed, if such a thing can be true, as rookie defenseman Ryan James Hand will finally be playing in his first regular season game tonight. Obviously he'll be a bit different to have out there than Dube, but he will keep the other D-men from being run ragged and likely put his own physical stamp on the game.

With five straight wins under their belts, the Bucks are heading into another 3-game week, this one ending in Odessa with their second matchup against the Jackalopes (14-5-2) this season. The Jackalopes won the previous meeting 5-2 at the LEC on Nov. 6.

The Bucks and Jacks are currently tied atop the Southern Conference, and that game could be big as far as deciding who will stake claim over the standings, but obviously Ruskowski does not want his players looking ahead too far with two games coming before that one.

"Right now, we're focused on New Mexico," he said. "After the game, we'll start focusing on Corpus. After that game, we'll start focusing on Odessa. You can't pass up any team because each team is so good that it will beat you if you don't play your best.

"I’m trying to teach the guys to never underestimate your opponents, no matter what the situation or what we last game or how we’ve played them before. If we can really continue to focus on how we play our game, we’ll be a much better team."

Not sure if any of you remember the Bucks' last game against the Scorpions, as it was played over a year ago, but I sure do. There were 35 penalties in the game, all but four of which were for fighting, roughing or some type of unsportsmanlike conduct. Seventeen of those penalties were assessed in the game's final nine seconds.

All the hostility was supposedly a result of the team playing four games in a couple of weeks and players making enemies left and right, so with this being the first meeting in over a year and most of the players from each team's squad last season gone, tomorrow night shouldn't be quite so ridiculous.

Meanwhile, there are a few games tonight, with the Texas Brahmas (12-6-2, 26 pts.) and Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (9-7-2, 20 pts.) each getting a chance to gain some ground on the division-leading Bucks with their first matchup of the season at the NYTEX Centre in North Richland Hills.

The Jackalopes are also in action and could thus take over the Southern Conference standings for now if they beat the Amarillo Gorillas (6-13-0, 12 pts.). Oh, and the Wichita Thunder (6-13-1, 13 pts.) are at the Oklahoma City Blazers (14-3-2, 30 pts.).

In the NHL, the Islanders are at the Flyers, the Flames are at the Canadiens, the Canucks are at the Predators, and the Kings are at the Avalanche. Yeah, I think I'm just going to go with team names from here on out.

Last night, the Penguins blew two 2-goal leads and failed to score on three separate 5-on-3 chances to drop their second straight game and third of four. As you can guess, I was thrilled. The high points for me were Sid's ridiculous assist (one of Geno's was pretty awesome, too) and seeing Ben Lovejoy play (and play pretty darn well). Great last name. Today was a little cheerier on the Penguins' front (for me, anyway), as Geno has finally gotten past one of the Canadiens' in the All-Star voting. Only 4,000 votes keeping him from the starting lineup...

Okay, Microsoft Word just ate the preview I had written, meaning I now have to start over and do some more work on my day off. Fun times. I'll have more on tomorrow's game tomorrow, and I'll try to post the scores from the relevant games tonight.

Yesterday's NHL Scores: Bruins 5, Lightning 3; Maple Leafs 4, Islanders 2 ; Sabres 4, Penguins 3; Panthers 4, Senators 3 (OT); Blues 6, Predators 3.

UPDATE: One quick thing I had previously forgotten to mention...yesterday, when I was interviewing Bobby Russell, he mentioned to me that Billy Tibbetts had signed with the Brahmas. I had no backup for that at the time so I was told not to mention his name in the story. ... Okay, scratch what I said earlier. Now it seems that they did sign him but are not going to keep him for a currently undisclosed reason.