Other Stuff

Obviously there was also a Goaltender of the Week announced today, with the honors going to Odessa Jackalopes netminder Alexandre Vincent for the second time this season. Teammate Juha Toivonen has also nabbed goalie honors twice.

Because Toivonen was placed on the IR last week, Vincent started all three of the Jackalopes' games and saved 51 of the 54 shots he faced to help the team go 3-0 and stay tied with the Bucks atop the Southern Conference standings.

The Jackalopes have gone 14-5-2 (30 points) in 21 games, while the Bucks have earned their 30 points by going 15-5-0 in 20 games.

I know some people are wondering why Bucks captain Serge Dube left Saturday night's win over the Texas Brahmas, so I asked Coach Ruskowski about that today, and he said it's nothing big. Something happened that happens to at least one player in almost every game, and he should be back for Wednesday night's game against the New Mexico Scorpions. He did miss practice this morning, though.

On another injury-related note, rookie defenseman Ryan James Hand should be coming off the IR by the end of the week. You can read what Ruskowski had to say about that in my notebook in tomorrow's Times.

If when reading it you wonder why I didn't focus more on Darryl Smith being named Player of the Week, don't worry too much. I'm just trying to save some info and opinions because I'll be writing a feature about him later in the week.

But back to the 2-1 win over the Brahmas...that was huge for the Bucks, and nobody was hesitant to admit that this morning. Sebastien Centomo stole the show, and some goals, apparently. There's also more about that win and the Bucks' current Southeast Division situation going in my notebook.

Robert Keith, who runs the Brahmas Insider Blog, was kind enough to send me the link to his Flickr set from that game, which has a lot of fun shots, including this capture of Smith's shootout goal:

Thanks to Robert for that.

He also has an interview he did with Ruskowski while the team was up in North Richland Hills features some interesting quotes...like this one:

Well, I tell ya, at times I think it's smoke and mirrors, how we win. But we're winning, which is good.

I'm pretty sure he knows it's not all smoke and mirrors, especially with the league's top two scorers on his team, but he still thinks his players need to work on their passing and checking.

All the talk about Smith has reminded me to finally share a status update on last season's top Bucks' rookie Andrew Desjardins, who is currently playing for the AHL's Worcester Sharks after starting the season with the ECHL's Phoenix Roadrunners. I think I went to Worcester a couple times when I was in college, but I always get those outskirt towns confused, so who knows.

As far as the Bucks' winning ways, Bob Hoffman certainly doesn't seem to think there are smoke and mirrors involved, as this is the first bit from his "Shots from the Point" for today:

The Laredo Bucks (15-5-0, 30 points) have picked things up in dramatic fashion after a bit of a slow start sitting with a 4-3 record after seven games. Since that time, the Bucks have gone 11-2 including winning each of their last five games and nine of their last 10. The catalyst to the Bucks success is the line of Jeff Bes-Rick Kozak-Darryl Smith who have combined to score 56 points (19-37=56) with an astounding +30 plus/minus rating in their last 10 games. Laredo has outscored their opponents 38-23 over their last 10 games. The Bucks host New Mexico on Wednesday, play at Corpus Christi on Thursday and at Odessa on Saturday.

Astounding indeed.

But anyway, the CHL has the night off as per usual on Mondays (though the Bucks will have a Monday game later in the month), so my focus can now shift to the Penguins' game against the Buffalo Sabres, which is on VERSUS for those of you interested who happen to have more than basic cable.

Tonight's other NHL games have the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Boston Bruins, the Florida Panthers at the Ottawa Senators, the New York Islanders at the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Nashville Stars at the St. Louis Blues.

Yesterday's NHL Scores: Carolina Hurricanes 3, Washington Capitals 1; Chicago Blackhawks 7, Phoenix Coyotes 1; Calgary Flames 3, New York Rangers 0; Anaheim Ducks 5, Columbus Blue Jackets 3; Colorado Avalanche 5, Vancouver Canucks 4 (SO).