Coach Ruskowski actually kept the guys on the ice pretty long today for the day before a three-in-three, and he skated rookie defenseman Ryan James Hand for a good 30 minutes after he let the rest of the guys go. I'm thinking that means he won't be playing tomorrow.
Tomorrow night's game will be the Bucks fifth of this young season against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, who have gone 3-5-2 following their impressive 5-0 start. Each team has won two games of the season series so far.
The Killer Bees are in town a day early, which I knew to expect because I am on the Vice President of Communications Rich Bocchini's e-mail list, but I was surprised to see them at the arena so early today.
While I was talking to Coach Ruskowski outside his office after the Bucks finished up, players in unfamiliar gear started walking by, and at first I thought they might be the oldest Junior Bucks team or something. Then I realized they were grown men with bees on their chests but was still a little perplexed as to why they were already at the LEC.
Usually, when the Bucks play at the Killer Bees or vice versa, the road team leaves about five or six hours before the game, so having them here a day and a half early seems a bit odd. The ice at Dodge Arena is covered because the Rio Grande Valley Vipers are playing home games tonight and tomorrow, but I wonder why the RGV Ice Center wasn't available.
Meanwhile, the Bees only had 17 guys on the ice, other than Chris Brooks (who still has a mean shot and is probably thinking in the back of his mind that he should suit up this weekend) and Sean Gillam, so I guess they haven't been able to bring in someone to help fill the void left by Rob Voltera and Trevor Weisgerber being placed on the IR just yet.
My preview for the weekend's games will focus mostly on the new lines and the scoring consistency the team is trying to obtain heading into these important division matchups. I have some leftover quotes from Joey Olson and Ryan Salvis , who I spoke to on Monday, about their new lines, and I spoke to Ruskowski and Igor Agarunov to get their take and their outlook for the weekend.
While I was at practice this morning, I received Bob Hoffman's e-mail with the newest CHL coaches' poll, which places the Oklahoma City Blazers (14-2-2, 30 points) in the No. 1 spot. The Colorado Eagles (15-3-0, 30), who were No. 1 in the first two polls of the season, have dropped to No. 2.
The Bucks (12-5-0, 24), who started at No. 8 then moved to No. 6, have jumped up a few more spots to take the No. 3 position, tops in both the Southeast Division and Southern Conference. The Brahmas (11-6-1, 23) are not far behind in the No. 4 spot.
No. 5 went to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (10-5-2, 22), who were previously No. 3; the Odessa Jackalopes (12-5-2, 26) have dropped from No. 4 to No. 6; the Mississippi RiverKings (11-8-0, 22) improved from No. 8 to No. 7; the Killer Bees (8-5-2, 18) have fallen from No. 5 to No. 8; the Arizona Sundogs (8-11-1, 17) have moved back onto the poll at No. 9 and the Rapid City Rush (4-6-5, 13) have dropped from No. 9 to 10.
The Blazers and Eagles were the only teams to receive first-place votes, while the New Mexico Scorpions (7-11-1, 15) were the only team to drop off the poll. They did still receive votes, though, as did the Corpus Christi IceRays (6-8-1, 13) and Wichita Thunder (6-11-1, 13).
Another press release sent out by the league highlights the signing of Mark Messier's son Lyon, a defenseman, by the Scorpions, which happened yesterday. One of the headlines for this story on the CHL Web site reads, "NHL Bloodlines Infect Scorpions," which I find rather creepy.
Last but not least, former Bucks standout and the RiverKings' second-leading scorer Bobby Chaumont has earned November's "Three Star Award," having been the first star of four games in the month, including the RiverKings' comeback win over the Bucks, in which he scored two goals.
I normally don't read about the "gifts" the players receive for winning these awards, but this time I did, and apparently, "Chaumont will receive a pair of Oakley THUMP sunglasses which feature blue tooth technology and a built in MP3 player." That sounded a bit extreme to me, so I decided to look them up, and...
Weird. I went to the RiverKings' schedule to see if they'd be coming back to Laredo for me to get a glimpse of those things in person and discovered two things: 1. They are not, and 2. Matt Summers has been placed on the 14-day IR, retroactive to Nov. 28. I'm pretty sure I know why...and that I shouldn't say for his sake. Hopefully he's alright.
Speaking of injuries, defenseman Vincent Zaore-Vanie refuses to let his keep him down, as he was at practice again today helping Hand and rookie D-man Mike Gooch with some drills before doing some stick-handling exercises of his own. I don't understand how he isn't freezing with just shorts and T-shirt on the ice, but to each his own.
UPDATE: The Bucks may have just caught a little bit of a break in that forward Jason Deitsch has been recalled by the Houston Aeros after scoring 11 points in eight games with the Brahmas. Ruskowski is all about getting points early in the season, so I'm sure he'll want to his team to make the most of the fact that it is going up against Killer Bees and Brahmas squads that are missing big scorers.
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