Game Day No. 49

The Bucks open their three-in-less-than-three weekend tonight with a game against the Southern Conference-leading Texas Brahmas at the NYTEX Centre in North Richland Hills.

Once the game is done, they'll drive over to Amarillo for two against the conference-worst Gorillas.

This weekend is huge for the Bucks (28-16-4, 60 pts.) because as much as they can easily be written off for even having a chance to catch the Brahmas (33-12-4, 70 pts.), a win tonight with a game in hand and three more against the Brahmas this season would be a step in the right direction.

Because I forgot to link my previous stories this week, I'll share them now; you can read my notebook, a brief story about the guys coming off the IR and my preview for this weekend.

Obviously getting Jaye Judd and Steve Weidlich back is a good thing for this team, while the Brahmas have also recently added a defenseman in Ross Rouleau, who is assumably replacing another Michigan native.

Wednesday was the last day of practice at the LEC this week, so I spoke to Coach Ruskowski and team captain Serge Dube that day. Here are a few of my leftover quotes:


Dube on defensive coverage:

"Defensive coverage comes from communication. The more we talk on the ice, the easier it is to read the play and to react, so the more we talk and the less time and space we give them, we'll be more successful. We had some three-on-three today that looked pretty good, so hopefully we can keep it going through the weekend.

On playing with Brent Cullaton (again):

"He's pulling moves and he's faking me out even. It's great to see his creativity, and it's good to have him because he's played there before for us in the past and he's comfortable playing any position, especially on the power play. He can play up high, he can play down low, and he's sees the play really well, so it makes us easier on (the rest of) us, as well."

Ruskowski on the Gorillas:

"You know, I look at their roster, and I really like their roster a lot. I think they've got some good players, and they're starting to turn things around. When you get a team that has some new confidence and has some new blood in there, they always seem to try to impress the coaches and play a little bit harder. Hopefully they don't play too hard. But you never underestimate your opponents, never underestimate them. You play hard all the way through and hopefully we can get a couple wins out of there. We have to play hard, there's no question. We have to play our best game."

On developing the forecheck:

"I'm hoping that it gets even better and better as it goes along. It's started to improve a little bit, but we have to continue to do that and play great defense."

On practice this week:

"I wish we had more time, one more day of practice. We went over the defensive coverage, we went over picking the right guys up when they come out of their zone; I wanted to get that taken care of and the little things we need to do against Texas, to put that in place and do that. But I didn't get a chance to work on the power play, so I'm hoping we can continue to be successful in both areas."

On the power play:

"What makes it good is even if (Cullaton and Dube at the points) are tired, we can put Rivet or Weidlich or Gooch up there, and they're pretty good on the point, also. It makes both units a little bit stronger. But with Cullaton and the way he passes and brings the puck up, obviously it's a huge advantage for us getting into the zone quicker and under control."

On this weekend's goalie situation:

"I know that in Texas, (Sebastien) Centomo will play, then we'll just play it by ear."

On Rick Kozak and Bobby Russell's rehab:

"They haven't the X-rays yet, but what we say in the hockey world is, 'The hand is a long ways from the heart.' They're going out there, making sure they try to stay in shape by skating. Even if they can't shoot, they can use their legs to skate. The only problem with that is that the casts get a little sweaty after that and you have to redo the casts more often."


The last part was, obviously enough, said with a smile.

For more on tonight's game, you can read Bryan Benway's preview, Robert Keith's preview on the Texas Brahmas Insider Blog and the Pointstreak pre-game notes.

In other divisional news, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees announced today that they have activated forward Trevor Weisberger following nearly three months on the IR and waived center Daryl Moore to clear some roster space.

Brian Sandalow has a little more on that, noting that Weisgerber will be in the lineup when the Killer Bees host the New Mexico Scorpions tonight.

In Corpus Christi, the talk is still all about new IceRays coach Brent Hughes, and Greg Rajan has a Q&A from Hughes' first practice, some IceRays coaching trivia and a look ahead at the IceRays' first games under Hughes.

League-wise, the biggest story is the one that leads Bob Hoffman's "Shots from the Point" for today, which is the Missippi RiverKings' chance to clinch a playoff berth this weekend. Their magic number stands at three, meaning doing well in two games against the Wichita Thunder would earn them a spot.

It doesn't hurt, at least for them, that the RiverKings just got high-scoring winger Bobby Chaumont back from the IR. The Thunder, meanwhile, picked up defenseman Bob Rapoza, who had recently been waived by the IceRays.

In other recent transaction news, Derek Legault, who spent some time in Laredo last season, was waived by the Arizona Sundogs yesterday only to be signed by the Rapid City Rush today. It seems like half of the Rush players are guys who were with the Bucks for brief spans of time.

Meanwhile, as noted in the leftover quotes, Centomo will be starting in goal for the Bucks tonight. I'll do my best to update you on how the game goes, but we'll be getting soccer and softball calls, so I might not be able to catch everything.

Last Night's NHL Scores: Penguins 5, Canadiens 4; Hurricanes 6, Islanders 2; Flyers 6, Sabres 3; Canucks 5, Senators 2; Blackhawks 4, Panthers 0; Devils 3, Lightning 2 (SO); Blue Jackets 4, Maple Leafs 3 (SO); Flames 3, Wild 2 (OT); Blues 2, Predators 1 (OT); Stars 4, Oilers 2; Coyotes 4, Thrashers 3 (SO); Sharks 4, Kings 2.