My Kind of Sunday

I'm not sure how much any Bucks' fan wants to think about last night's 6-2 loss to the Texas Brahmas, but Robert Keith of the Texas Brahmas Insider has kindly shared his photo album from the game.

Here are a few samples, but there are plenty more if you follow the link above:

Thanks very much to Robert for sharing those.

If anything positive came out of last night for the Bucks, it was Jeff Bes playing the center ice position for the first time in a while (see third photo above) and collecting career points No. 902 and 903 on two assists, thus getting up to 57 for the season and taking back over the league's scoring leaderboard.

Odessa Jackalopes duo Dominic Leveille and Sebastien Thinel are tied for second with 56 points apiece but have already played 38 games, two more than Bes.

Though it added to the Brahmas' Southeast Division lead over the Bucks, their game last night was obviously not the only thing that happened in the division.

As far as that Dustin Traylen situation, here's what Greg Rajan had to say about it in his weekly Corpus Christi IceRays notebook following the IceRays' 5-2 win over the Arizona Sundogs last night:

One night after his dressing-room stall was cleaned out and he left the arena with his gear, goaltender Dustin Traylen was not with the IceRays for Saturday's game.

Traylen, however, remained on the active roster and when asked if the goalie had played his last game in an IceRays sweater, coach Sylvain Cloutier provided a cryptic response.

"Obviously, you can read between the lines," Cloutier said. "That's all I've got to say."

Front-office staffer D.J. Delbuono, a former collegiate goalie, was signed to a five-game contract and dressed as Kris Tebbs' backup on Saturday. However, Cloutier is expected to find a long-term goalie for the team's upcoming road trip.

What is it with teams needing random staff members to dress as goaltenders this season?

The notebook also mentions that the IceRays will be adding defenseman Ryan Crane to their roster to take the spot of recently injured T.J. Reynolds. Crane is a Western Michigan University alum, something I've come to notice is quite common, and that brings me to the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

They kept their seven-point lead over the IceRays for third place in the division with a 3-2 win over the Amarillo Gorillas, which didn't do much for Brian Sandalow but did impress the man whose opinion matters most for the players, head coach and former WMU assistant Chris Brooks.

Here's how the division standings look following this week's action:

I'll be writing my weekly notebook tomorrow, regardless of whether or not the team practices (though I have to imagine Coach Ruskowski isn't going to give them a day off after last night's showing), so I'll be sure to check up on the status of Darryl Smith, Ryan Salvis and Jaye Judd, who all missed last night's game with injuries.

But for now, I'm just going to enjoy the rest of my day off following a beautiful showing by the Penguins in the first NBC on NHL Sunday Game of the Week this season. Getting Sid, Scuds and Tanger back was great, even though Scuds is sporting quite the black eye. Could you imagine taking a wrist shot to that part of your face? Ouch.

Sid was held off the score sheet but played a heck of a game coming back from that knee tweak and even didn't back down when Colton Orr went after him.

If Flower was trying to win me over, he should know it'll take more than one game, but that was a great step in the right direction. Oh, and hearing Cookie Monster talk football after the game was pretty sweet...and much less silly than this and this. I'm hoping someone takes pictures of the guys who go to the AFC Championship Game tonight. The Cardinals and Eagles are about to kick off in the NFC game as I type...

But back to hockey, hopefully some of you got to catch this morning/afternoon's game, but if not, keep in mind there will be one most Sundays for the rest of the season now, starting back up on Feb. 8 with the Penguins hosting the Red Wings. Those of you who have Versus or a place to watch it should be sure not to miss the All-Star Game next Sunday, though. =)

Today's only CHL game is between the Wichita Thunder and Rocky Mountain Rage, while there are three more NHL games later. I'll post all the scores when they are final tonight.

UPDATE: According to Bryan Benway's latest blog, the Bucks will practice tomorrow, and Sebastien Centomo won't be there as he headed to Oklahoma City after last night's game to be with his wife as she delivers their baby. Additionally, defensemen Devin Featherstone and Steve Weidlich were hurt in last nights game, but I'm not sure that's quite a M*A*S*H* unit yet. And Ziggy is out for the season, ugh. Losing a great right-handed faceoff man is never fun, especially on a team full of lefty centers. Photoshop courtesy of The Pensblog. Benway also belatedly shares his side of the Traylen saga:

On to another topic which I should have posted about yesterday but just forgot. I had a long chat with now former Ice Rays/Bucks goaltender Dustin Traylen before Friday night's game in Corpus. Traylen made his way up to the press box to say hello. It was the first time I had spoken to him since last season, as him and I just couldn't quite connect when we have played this season.

Let's just say by the way he was talking he knew that he was done in Corpus. I really think he wants to play back in Laredo, but I doubt that will happen.

In case you were wondering his name has been changed again, back to Dustin, from "Dusty". I don't even know what to call him now, I just sent him a text congratulating him on the name change.

CHL:Rage 3, Thunder 1.

NHL: Penguins 3, Rangers 0
; Avalanche 6, Flames 2; Blue Jackets 6, Canucks 5 (SO); Oilers 6, Coyotes 3.