Interestingly enough, he's wearing N0. 9, which may be a hint to everyone who keeps thinking the old No. 9 will be coming back. One thing Hiebert is doing, though, is placing ads in the LMT.
I'm sure a lot of you have noticed that the team has signed stick boy extraordinaire/Vice President of Bench Operations Jorge Lopez to a goalie contract. Don't worry; it isn't a desperation move. The league has some technicalities about being able to sign an emergency goaltender, as in you need to already have two goalies on your roster before you sign one to a 5-game deal. Jorge will not suit up and certainly will not play. But congrats to the kid on being a professional hockey player, even if only on paper and for a few days.
Ruskowski said he will be bringing another goalie in ASAP and is talking to one currently, hoping that he can bring him in here in time to keep Sebastien Centomo from having to start all three games this weekend.
As we all know, the Bucks have yet to win at Dodge Arena this season and currently sport an 0-4-0 record here. They have, however, beaten the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees five times on their home ice at the LEC. If they don't snap their winless streak here tonight, they'll only be four points ahead of the Killer Bees for second place in the Southeast Division heading into tomorrow night's game.
The Bucks are currently 22-13-4 (48 points), while the Killer Bees are 19-17-4 (42 pts.).
Ruskowski told me when I spoke to him before the game that the current state of the team is "disturbing" to him and that the troubles they've been having on the road are something he hasn't seen in seven seasons coaching here. He said that this group of guys needs to step up and start playing "like the Laredo Bucks can play," and he means tonight.
I wasn't able to talk to Stephens because Ruskowski was calling the guys into a team meeting when I arrived, but I'll try to catch up with him after the game if time permits and get an idea of how he feels about the trade and what he thinks he can bring to this team.
Game time's only about 45 minutes away, so I'm going to hold off on blogging about other stuff until tomorrow when I'm back in the office for the afternoon.
For more on this weekend's games, you can read my preview, Bryan Benway's preview, Rich Bocchini's game notes, or the Pointstreak pre-game notes.
Oh, and for the first time this season, there is absolutely no question about which goalies will be starting for either team. Christian Boucher gets the call for the Killer Bees, and Centomom will be between the pipes for the Bucks.
This will be my first time seeing Vincent Zaore-Vanie in a game since his return from the IR, so we'll see how he does. Ruskowski said he was impressed by Zaore's effort in the past two games, especially considering he was out for nearly two months.
Apparently Erick Lizon will be sitting out tonight, as he is standing off the ice in his track suit while the other guys warm up. He and Jaye Judd are the guys who aren't playing but still made the trip; I haven't seen Jeff Bes or Steve Weidlich around.
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