Game No. 39 - Bucks at Mudbugs

I wasn't at a computer for this one, so I had Pointstreak open on my Blackberry, and you can imagine my surprise when it said Ken Carroll scored an unassisted goal.

After making sure that wasn't just a complete error on the part of the scorekeeper, I assumed he had somehow touched the puck exactly as the delayed penalty was committed and Sebastien Centomo left the net unaware of the puck heading directly toward it.

However, it seems the Bucks scored against themselves, and it wasn't even the first time in the game that they did so. David Pszeyczny eventually took over the goal-scoring credit; thanks to Travis Huntington for clearing that whole ordeal up in his press release.

You can also read Bryan Benway's press release, but he had to catch a bus before the change was finalized, so it still credits Carroll with that game-winning goal (at least as of when I type this).

That bus ride from Bossier City, La., will be even less fun than usual, and even less fun than after a usual loss (the Bucks have never won at the CenturyTel Center during the regular season, after all) due to the fact that leading scorer Jeff Bes was hurt in the game.

He suffered an injury after being checked into the boards during the second period, and I've been told he was pointing to his knee before being helped off the ice, so that could be very, very bad news for the Bucks.

If you were able to watch that game, I'd love to know what you think about the severity of the injury because sometimes a guy needs to be helped off the ice then comes back later in the game (clearly not the case tonight), and sometimes guys get helped off the ice and miss the rest of the season.

Obviously, most of you will have heard about the injury prior to reading about it here, and it is already a topic of conversations on the Bucks' CHL Forum, where fans seem to be hoping losing Bes could ignite a fire under the rest of the team.

Considering the way they played after the last time they supposedly had a fire ignited under them, I'm not too sure about that, but I guess we'll find out once Bes' status is cleared up.

His injury is also a topic in "The Swamp," where a Mudbugs fan wishes him well and spelled his name wrong, but it's the thought that counts.

The Bucks' next game is against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on Thursday at Dodge Arena, where they are winless this season, and they are now 3-7-1 in their last 11 road games.

I'll still be out of town as of Wednesday morning, so I won't be able to attend the Bucks' first practice after they get home, but I will update you on Bes, trades or any other news as soon as I hear about it.

Obviously, losing tonight wasted one of the Bucks' chances to gain a couple of points on the Brahmas (27-10-4, 58 points), so they are still 10 back at 22-13-4 (48 pts.) with the Killer Bees (19-17-4, 42 pts.) only six behind them and Thursday's game looming large.

But losing tonight is obviously not nearly as big as losing Bes if that happens to be the case, so we'll see what happens there. I apologize for leading off with the bit about the goal rather than Bes' injury, but I figured the latter would be more common knowledge than the former once tomorrow morning arrives.

No other scores tonight, so that'll do it. I'll post more about tonight's game, including that extra-attacker goal with 16 seconds to play and the fact that the usually oft-penalized Bucks found a way to lose with only three calls against them, and the other events around the league when I get back to Laredo on Wednesday night.

Best wishes to everyone in Oklahoma dealing with that ice storm.

P.S. Puddinman's avatar is Franklin Delano Bluth, G.O.B.'s puppet extraordinaire with whom he attempted some ventriloquism on "Arrested Development." Am I up for those virtual cool points?