What's Going On

When I spoke to Coach Ruskowski and a few players this morning, the Bucks were 13 points behind the Texas Brahmas for first place in the Southeast Division but seemed to have given into the idea that catching up is not really an option or a priority.

One 6-3 win over the Corpus Christi IceRays later, the Brahmas are now 15 points up and inching even closer to clinching the division crown.

The Brahmas (36-12-5, 77 points) have played two more games than the Bucks (29-18-4, 62 pts.), but that only equals to a chance at four more points, which the Brahmas could easily pick up in their remaining games against the Bucks if things keep going the way they have been.

I think winning on Friday was really the only way that the Bucks could have had even the slightest chance of catching the Brahmas, but obviously the guys are not willing to verbally relinquish hope. I'll have more on that in my notebook, which will run in tomorrow's Times.

I'll also be talking a little bit about the personnel situation, as Mickey Gilchrist will arrive in Laredo tomorrow and Rick Kozak and Bobby Russell are both expected to return within a couple of weeks.

However, Mike Gooch and Erick Lizon both sat out practice completely today, while Jason Dixon was doing some off-ice training instead of skating with the team, and one of them could miss some time this weekend.

Serge Dube, Adam Rivet and Steve Weidlich also missed the latter half of practice, but they left to attend a luncheon for the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation, a charity that the Bucks have championed for quite some time in Laredo.

Jeff Bes was wandering around the arena once again, and Ruskowski told me today that they are not going to put him on the season-ending IR. He's not expected to be able to play again in the regular season, but he's too valuable to the team for them to risk giving him up completely if there's any chance he could be ready to go in the playoffs.

It seems like it's a good thing that the Bucks' one win of the weekend came in their last game, because obviously that makes the trip home a little less unbearable and can possibly provide some momentum heading into another three-in-three weekend.

This one will be big, as the Bucks host the Arizona Sundogs on Thursday and Saturday and travel to Hidalgo to take on the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on Friday. Keep in mind the fact that the Killer Bees (26-21-4, 56 pts.) are only six points (four now) back of the Bucks with 13 games left to play for each team.

But before I get too far ahead of myself, here's what Ruskowski had to say about all five games of that recent road trip:

"The first part of the road trip (in New Mexico) went excellent. We moved the puck really well, we got timely goals, good goalkeeping and the defense played well. Against Texas, I don't know what...the last two times in there, we just don't seem to play very well. We take opportunities that we have, and we just don't take them to heart and we don't score goals. Plus, too many goals against. Then, the (first) game in Amarillo, we just didn't play very smart. We were ahead, and we took two penalties that hurt is really bad. Then the next game, we played very well. I changed the lines around, changed defensive partners around. I don't know if that was it, or if the guys just focused on what they had to do. They did the job pretty well, took the puck to net, took the puck to net, took the puck to net. When you do that, good things happen. Good things happened last game against Amarillo."

One of those line changes moved Josh Bonar up to a spot Darryl Smith's second winger, which will obviously shake things up on the other lines, as well. Gilchrist is expected to play this weekend, so that will also be a factor, as will any other forwards having to sit out. I'll let you know what things look like at practice tomorrow when there are a few more bodies on the ice.

I'll post some more quotes and stuff later once I decide exactly what's going in my story, as well as some links to stories from around the division, including everything about the Brahmas' win over the IceRays this morning.