It took them seven games, but the Texas Brahmas defeated the Odessa Jackalopes in an 8-1 rout last night to earn a spot in the President's Cup Finals.
Thus the Brahmas, regular season Southeast Division and Southern Conference champs, are now officially the conference champions for the postseason.
They will face the winner of the Northern Conference series between the Colorado Eagles and Mississippi RiverKings, which will play its sixth game tonight. The Eagles currently lead the series 3-2 and will try to close it out tonight for the third straight game.
Robert Keith at the Texas Brahmas Insider Blog has pretty much everything you could care to know about the Southern Conference winners and will continue to cover them throughout the finals.
In the NHL, the Boston Bruins swept the Montreal Canadiens in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, and the Pittsburgh Penguins have also advanced via a 4-2 series win over the Philadelphia Flyers. My face hurts from smiling so much about yesterday's game.
The New York Rangers have unsuccessfully tried to close out their series against the Washington Capitals twice, so they will play a Game 7 on Tuesday. The New Jersey Devils will try to knock out the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in a game that is currently in the first period. The Devils have a 3-0 series lead.
In the West, Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks both swept their first-round series, over the Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues, respectively.
The Chicago Blackhawks have a chance at the second round tonight as they head into their game against the Calgary Flames with a 3-2 series lead, while the Anaheim Ducks are leading the top-seeded San Jose Sharks 3-2 in their series.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Whoa
I must admit, when I saw the Mississippi RiverKings go down 4-0 to the Colorado Eagles in the first period of Game 4 of a series they were losing 3-0, I kinda started to count them out.
Former Buck Matt Summers wasn't having that.
He scored his team's first goal before the period ended, assisted on the next in the second and after the RiverKings tied it and kept it that way through the first OT period, he scored a double-OT game winner.
The RiverKings still have quite a climb ahead of them, but winning 6-5 in double overtime can't be too bad for morale, in spite of another former Buck (Kevin Beech) struggling in goal.
His replacement, Tyler Sims, got the game's No. 2 star, while Matt got the No. 1.
In the Southern Conference Finals, the Odessa Jackalopes evened the series at three games apiece with a 2-0 win over the Texas Brahmas tonight.
NHL-wise... well, I don't really feel like talking about that right now.
Former Buck Matt Summers wasn't having that.
He scored his team's first goal before the period ended, assisted on the next in the second and after the RiverKings tied it and kept it that way through the first OT period, he scored a double-OT game winner.
The RiverKings still have quite a climb ahead of them, but winning 6-5 in double overtime can't be too bad for morale, in spite of another former Buck (Kevin Beech) struggling in goal.
His replacement, Tyler Sims, got the game's No. 2 star, while Matt got the No. 1.
In the Southern Conference Finals, the Odessa Jackalopes evened the series at three games apiece with a 2-0 win over the Texas Brahmas tonight.
NHL-wise... well, I don't really feel like talking about that right now.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Independence, Etc...
Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days; my grandparents were in town Thursday and Friday, I was at a track meet all day Saturday... well, you get the idea.
Meanwhile, nothing new to report on the Bucks, but there is another new franchise joining the Central Hockey League, this one in Independence, Mo.
As far as the playoffs go, no CHL games tonight, but the Texas Brahmas lead the Odessa Jackalopes 3-2 in the Southern Conference Finals while the Colorado Eagles are out to a 2-0 lead over the Mississippi RiverKings in the Northern Conference Finals.
I think all the "Juha Toivonen is undefeated in the playoffs" talk jinxed him into giving up five goals in this game. But, though his team took the loss, he individually remained undefeated. Sorry Jeremy Symington.
Right now, I'm waiting for a couple of high school coaches to call me back (cross your fingers for me), but I will eventually post all the scores and stuff from both the CHL and NHL playoffs. Probably on Wednesday, I suppose.
Meanwhile, nothing new to report on the Bucks, but there is another new franchise joining the Central Hockey League, this one in Independence, Mo.
As far as the playoffs go, no CHL games tonight, but the Texas Brahmas lead the Odessa Jackalopes 3-2 in the Southern Conference Finals while the Colorado Eagles are out to a 2-0 lead over the Mississippi RiverKings in the Northern Conference Finals.
I think all the "Juha Toivonen is undefeated in the playoffs" talk jinxed him into giving up five goals in this game. But, though his team took the loss, he individually remained undefeated. Sorry Jeremy Symington.
Right now, I'm waiting for a couple of high school coaches to call me back (cross your fingers for me), but I will eventually post all the scores and stuff from both the CHL and NHL playoffs. Probably on Wednesday, I suppose.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
New Franchise
I don't have much time to blog about this now, but just wanted to post something about the fact that the CHL announced a new team in Allen for the 2009-10 season today.
The team's temporary Web site can be found here.
Seems like pretty soon the league will be able to have a conference comprised purely of Texas teams, eh? I wonder if divisions will be realigned again now that the Brahmas have yet another franchise much closer to them than their division mates this season.
The team's temporary Web site can be found here.
Seems like pretty soon the league will be able to have a conference comprised purely of Texas teams, eh? I wonder if divisions will be realigned again now that the Brahmas have yet another franchise much closer to them than their division mates this season.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Wrapping Things Up
I wasn't able to stick around at the the season ticket holder party at the LEC tonight long enough to witness the presentation of the team awards, but here they are as per Bryan Benway's press release:
-Team MVP: Darryl Smith
-Fastest Skater: Bobby Russell
-Smartest Player: Jeff Bes
-Tough Man: Erick Lizon
-Best Hair: Igor Agarunov
-Best Dressed: Igor Agarunov
-Ladies Man: Jason Dixon
-Worst Dancer: Jaye Judd
-Mr. Neat Freak: Devin Featherstone
-Best Cook: Jaye Judd
-Grumpiest Player (Presented by Terry Ruskowski): Jeff Bes
Hopefully Judd getting worst dancer isn't a result of the guys making fun of him about his bum legs, but I'm glad to report he is feeling better even though it's a little too late now.
Sadly, a lot of the other guys will be sticking around for surgery on those injured parts that nagged the team all season long. Sadly on the surgery part, not the sticking around, of course.
My mission this evening was to interview all the team's vets about the prospects of their returns and say goodbye to everyone, and I accomplished that to the extent that I could. If Brent Cullaton and Andrew Martin were around, I sure as heck couldn't find them.
The story we're running in tomorrow's Times will focus mostly on the vet outlook, but I also spoke to most of them about their thoughts on this season, so I'll be sure to share those on here at some point. Hope those of you who made it to the event had a good time.
Oh, and as some of you were probably informed tonight, Mr. Neat Freak Devin Featherstone dabbles in photography in addition to playing hockey and fighting fires. You can visit his photography site to check his work out. Pretty neat stuff, and that baby foot with the rings is adorable.
-Team MVP: Darryl Smith
-Fastest Skater: Bobby Russell
-Smartest Player: Jeff Bes
-Tough Man: Erick Lizon
-Best Hair: Igor Agarunov
-Best Dressed: Igor Agarunov
-Ladies Man: Jason Dixon
-Worst Dancer: Jaye Judd
-Mr. Neat Freak: Devin Featherstone
-Best Cook: Jaye Judd
-Grumpiest Player (Presented by Terry Ruskowski): Jeff Bes
Hopefully Judd getting worst dancer isn't a result of the guys making fun of him about his bum legs, but I'm glad to report he is feeling better even though it's a little too late now.
Sadly, a lot of the other guys will be sticking around for surgery on those injured parts that nagged the team all season long. Sadly on the surgery part, not the sticking around, of course.
My mission this evening was to interview all the team's vets about the prospects of their returns and say goodbye to everyone, and I accomplished that to the extent that I could. If Brent Cullaton and Andrew Martin were around, I sure as heck couldn't find them.
The story we're running in tomorrow's Times will focus mostly on the vet outlook, but I also spoke to most of them about their thoughts on this season, so I'll be sure to share those on here at some point. Hope those of you who made it to the event had a good time.
Oh, and as some of you were probably informed tonight, Mr. Neat Freak Devin Featherstone dabbles in photography in addition to playing hockey and fighting fires. You can visit his photography site to check his work out. Pretty neat stuff, and that baby foot with the rings is adorable.
Not the Best Timing
Interesting news out of Mississippi a couple days before the RiverKings begin their series against the defending Northern Conference champion Colorado Eagles.
I have to agree with the commentor that says (minor league) hockey players being drunk and disorderly is not a huge surprise, but obviously guys need to be careful, especially this time of year. We'll see if it has any effect on the team on the ice, as it seems no one will be suspended by the league.
Tonight, the Southern Conference Finals pick back up with the Odessa Jackalopes hosting the Texas Brahmas for the first time in the series. Things are tied 1-1 heading into tonight's Game 3, and the Northern series doesn't begin until tomorrow night.
I have to agree with the commentor that says (minor league) hockey players being drunk and disorderly is not a huge surprise, but obviously guys need to be careful, especially this time of year. We'll see if it has any effect on the team on the ice, as it seems no one will be suspended by the league.
Tonight, the Southern Conference Finals pick back up with the Odessa Jackalopes hosting the Texas Brahmas for the first time in the series. Things are tied 1-1 heading into tonight's Game 3, and the Northern series doesn't begin until tomorrow night.
Monday, April 13, 2009
A Night Without Hockey
Sorry this is so belated, but I will finally be posting my leftover quotes from my conversation with Coach Ruskowski last week.
First off, though, you can read my story that ran in Friday's Times, our first revamped edition.
Oh, and to quickly answer a question, Ruskowski never gave me a name as far as who the NCAA kid he was looking into was, but he knows I went to BU, so I think he would have given me a hint if it were someone from there.
I'll ask him about that tomorrow night, assuming I haven't been banned for accidentally getting my RSVP in late, haha.
And now, the quotes, some of which are in the story in an abbreviated fashion...
On the playoff exit:
"I was disappointed. I think back, and I lay in bed thinking about what's going on, and I think, 'We took a team that had more points than us and is supposed to be better than us, and we took them six games.' We'd like to take them to seven games and win it. But four of those games were overtime, and one was double overtime, so we hung in there with what we had. I wanted to win that series; I really, sincerely wanted to win that series, and I thought with four of the games going into overtime, we'd have a chance to win. But there were some guys who were underachievers and some guys who came up and met the challenge. I want to go out and find more guys who will do that because playoff time is do or die."
On Odessa:
"They had a lot of talent. They had a lot of guys who had been in those circumstances before, and we had a lot of rookies and a lot of guys who had never been in those circumstances before. And they were just... they were talented. Their passing, their position, the defense got the puck , they moved it very well, just rushed the puck up. The game-winning goal in overtime was a defenseman. He came up on the play to make an odd-man rush. Those little intangibles will end up winning hockey games and winning series, and I think it's going to be a great series between Odessa and Texas because they're both talented hockey teams."
On losing Jeff Bes to injury:
"It was a huge impact, there's no question. When he was out of the lineup, our power play and penalty killing went down. When he's in the lineup, just the confidence of knowing if something needed to be done, he would do it, goal scoring-wise or making a play. You look at (Darryl) Smith's record, and Bes had a lot to do with that because they played pretty well together and put up a lot of points in the short period of time that they worked together. We missed his leadership - he's a veteran guy who guys look to, and when he's not there it hurts. There's no question it hurts. You can tell by (the fact that) he was out two months or so, and there were only two guys who beat him in the scoring, so you know that's going to hurt you."
On bringing back Brent Cullaton and James Hiebert:
"I think that it was a positive mood to bring, especially Cullaton back with a lot of time left in the season. We needed that little jump start, a shot in the arm, and I think they helped. Of course, Hiebert, I had more time to work with him, to get him back in better shape before he played, but unfortunately we were restricted with time."
On the overabundance of vets:
"Well, that's what the exit meetings are, to see if they want to keep on going, if they want to retire, if they want to go somewhere else, whatever. This is what I'm trying to find out from the guys so I can prepare myself because I owe players to Oklahoma City and to the Rage for the trades that we made this renter. So I have to put up guys for trade, so this will tell me which guys want to come back."
On first-year standouts:
"Obviously Smith was a huge asset for us. I don't know what other kind of accolades he can get other than a championship and being MVP of the playoffs. A great asset for us; he really proved himself and came into his own. (Jason) Dixon, he may not have put a whole lot of numbers up goal-scoring-wise, but he sure put the effort in. It goes to show you that it's not the size of the body, it's the size of the heart that makes a player, and he he certainly has a huge heart. Jaye Judd started off slow and came on real strong, and that really hurt is in the playoffs, not having him back there because he moves the puck really well. I thought (Devin) Featherstone played really well as a rookie coming in. I thought our rookies did a really good job when we finally got the guys we wanted in here."
On his offseason priorities:
"I really want to work on our defense. I look at every team that's successful, and obviously goaltending is a big factor, but defense is a huge factor. Guys that are really good, mobile, quick, move the puck up on the play - that's the kind of defenseman I'm looking for. I want to be more physical. This wasn't the team that I usually put on the ice because I like a physical hockey team. Every time you touch the puck (against us), you're going to get hit. That's the type of team I'm going to try to put forth in the upcoming season."
On the goalie situation:
"It's more up to them than up to me. Obviously, I'd like to have them because I thought they were the best combination in the league, one-two punch. I'd like to find out what they're thinking and see if I can get them back or if they even want to come back."
On what he wants next season:
"We want to be more aggressive, we want to have talented guys, we want to have guys that are goal scorers... I think this year we left it on the shoulders on two or three guys, maybe four guys at the most, to do all the scoring. We have to have a well-balanced team, we have to be more physical and we have to play with that edge, and that's what I want. I want a team that plays with an edge and hates to lose and comes out every game and grinds it out."
On the biggest bright spot from this season:
"I think the adversity that we went through, with the injuries and the things that we had to go through, we came up and met the challenge. Some guys, as I said, came up and met the challenge, and some guys were just there."
I'll let you decide who falls into the latter party for fear of them running me down tomorrow night if they see their names on here. Just kidding. But let me know if you have any questions you would legitimately like me to ask anyone tomorrow by about 4 p.m. (I have a track and field feature to attend to at 4:30 and won't be coming back to the office until later).
Meanwhile, for those of you who happen to be NHL fans (Wednesday can't come soon enough!), Greg Rajan is doing a playoff pool that my intense superstition will not allow me to go near personally, but I think those things are fun for people who don't freak out as easily as I do.
Similarly, one of my favorite blogs is doing something called "Rinkotology," which is pretty neat (in a non-Joy-friendly way) and helping raise money for a good cause (much more Joy friendly).
Speaking of raising money for good causes, this is the coolest thing ever. I am enlisting a male friend to grow a beard for me to sponsor, haha. Not sure he can compete with any of these guys, though.
No CHL games tonight, but my lovely boys in pinstripes got whooped 15-5 by the defending A.L. champs. It's always comforting to get a text from Major League Baseball telling you, "Nick Swisher hits a solo HR (3) off Scott Kazmir in the Top of the 4th. Rays lead the Yankees, 10-1." Especially when Chien-Ming Wang was starting. Nice ERA, ack. But Swisher struck out Gabe Kapler later in the game (not a typo), so I can fall asleep tonight laughing at that.
First off, though, you can read my story that ran in Friday's Times, our first revamped edition.
Oh, and to quickly answer a question, Ruskowski never gave me a name as far as who the NCAA kid he was looking into was, but he knows I went to BU, so I think he would have given me a hint if it were someone from there.
I'll ask him about that tomorrow night, assuming I haven't been banned for accidentally getting my RSVP in late, haha.
And now, the quotes, some of which are in the story in an abbreviated fashion...
On the playoff exit:
"I was disappointed. I think back, and I lay in bed thinking about what's going on, and I think, 'We took a team that had more points than us and is supposed to be better than us, and we took them six games.' We'd like to take them to seven games and win it. But four of those games were overtime, and one was double overtime, so we hung in there with what we had. I wanted to win that series; I really, sincerely wanted to win that series, and I thought with four of the games going into overtime, we'd have a chance to win. But there were some guys who were underachievers and some guys who came up and met the challenge. I want to go out and find more guys who will do that because playoff time is do or die."
On Odessa:
"They had a lot of talent. They had a lot of guys who had been in those circumstances before, and we had a lot of rookies and a lot of guys who had never been in those circumstances before. And they were just... they were talented. Their passing, their position, the defense got the puck , they moved it very well, just rushed the puck up. The game-winning goal in overtime was a defenseman. He came up on the play to make an odd-man rush. Those little intangibles will end up winning hockey games and winning series, and I think it's going to be a great series between Odessa and Texas because they're both talented hockey teams."
On losing Jeff Bes to injury:
"It was a huge impact, there's no question. When he was out of the lineup, our power play and penalty killing went down. When he's in the lineup, just the confidence of knowing if something needed to be done, he would do it, goal scoring-wise or making a play. You look at (Darryl) Smith's record, and Bes had a lot to do with that because they played pretty well together and put up a lot of points in the short period of time that they worked together. We missed his leadership - he's a veteran guy who guys look to, and when he's not there it hurts. There's no question it hurts. You can tell by (the fact that) he was out two months or so, and there were only two guys who beat him in the scoring, so you know that's going to hurt you."
On bringing back Brent Cullaton and James Hiebert:
"I think that it was a positive mood to bring, especially Cullaton back with a lot of time left in the season. We needed that little jump start, a shot in the arm, and I think they helped. Of course, Hiebert, I had more time to work with him, to get him back in better shape before he played, but unfortunately we were restricted with time."
On the overabundance of vets:
"Well, that's what the exit meetings are, to see if they want to keep on going, if they want to retire, if they want to go somewhere else, whatever. This is what I'm trying to find out from the guys so I can prepare myself because I owe players to Oklahoma City and to the Rage for the trades that we made this renter. So I have to put up guys for trade, so this will tell me which guys want to come back."
On first-year standouts:
"Obviously Smith was a huge asset for us. I don't know what other kind of accolades he can get other than a championship and being MVP of the playoffs. A great asset for us; he really proved himself and came into his own. (Jason) Dixon, he may not have put a whole lot of numbers up goal-scoring-wise, but he sure put the effort in. It goes to show you that it's not the size of the body, it's the size of the heart that makes a player, and he he certainly has a huge heart. Jaye Judd started off slow and came on real strong, and that really hurt is in the playoffs, not having him back there because he moves the puck really well. I thought (Devin) Featherstone played really well as a rookie coming in. I thought our rookies did a really good job when we finally got the guys we wanted in here."
On his offseason priorities:
"I really want to work on our defense. I look at every team that's successful, and obviously goaltending is a big factor, but defense is a huge factor. Guys that are really good, mobile, quick, move the puck up on the play - that's the kind of defenseman I'm looking for. I want to be more physical. This wasn't the team that I usually put on the ice because I like a physical hockey team. Every time you touch the puck (against us), you're going to get hit. That's the type of team I'm going to try to put forth in the upcoming season."
On the goalie situation:
"It's more up to them than up to me. Obviously, I'd like to have them because I thought they were the best combination in the league, one-two punch. I'd like to find out what they're thinking and see if I can get them back or if they even want to come back."
On what he wants next season:
"We want to be more aggressive, we want to have talented guys, we want to have guys that are goal scorers... I think this year we left it on the shoulders on two or three guys, maybe four guys at the most, to do all the scoring. We have to have a well-balanced team, we have to be more physical and we have to play with that edge, and that's what I want. I want a team that plays with an edge and hates to lose and comes out every game and grinds it out."
On the biggest bright spot from this season:
"I think the adversity that we went through, with the injuries and the things that we had to go through, we came up and met the challenge. Some guys, as I said, came up and met the challenge, and some guys were just there."
I'll let you decide who falls into the latter party for fear of them running me down tomorrow night if they see their names on here. Just kidding. But let me know if you have any questions you would legitimately like me to ask anyone tomorrow by about 4 p.m. (I have a track and field feature to attend to at 4:30 and won't be coming back to the office until later).
Meanwhile, for those of you who happen to be NHL fans (Wednesday can't come soon enough!), Greg Rajan is doing a playoff pool that my intense superstition will not allow me to go near personally, but I think those things are fun for people who don't freak out as easily as I do.
Similarly, one of my favorite blogs is doing something called "Rinkotology," which is pretty neat (in a non-Joy-friendly way) and helping raise money for a good cause (much more Joy friendly).
Speaking of raising money for good causes, this is the coolest thing ever. I am enlisting a male friend to grow a beard for me to sponsor, haha. Not sure he can compete with any of these guys, though.
No CHL games tonight, but my lovely boys in pinstripes got whooped 15-5 by the defending A.L. champs. It's always comforting to get a text from Major League Baseball telling you, "Nick Swisher hits a solo HR (3) off Scott Kazmir in the Top of the 4th. Rays lead the Yankees, 10-1." Especially when Chien-Ming Wang was starting. Nice ERA, ack. But Swisher struck out Gabe Kapler later in the game (not a typo), so I can fall asleep tonight laughing at that.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
National Champs!
I'm sorry, but I am in no state to type up leftover quotes after watching this. If you heard me scream when Nick Bonino tied the game with 17.4 seconds to play, I apologize.
Oh, and congrats to Matt Gilroy on the Hobey Baker win. Kid has a great story.
I'm sure you can guess how I feel about the NHL award that was locked up tonight. Beautiful day!
UPDATE: In news slightly more relevant to this blog, the Texas Brahmas beat the Odessa Jackalopes 4-1 tonight to tie the Southern Conference Finals at one game apiece. The Jacks won the series opener 3-1 last night. Oh, and it appears the Houston Aeros have signed Sebastien Centomo to a professional tryout with their postseason looming. Interesting.
Oh, and congrats to Matt Gilroy on the Hobey Baker win. Kid has a great story.
I'm sure you can guess how I feel about the NHL award that was locked up tonight. Beautiful day!
UPDATE: In news slightly more relevant to this blog, the Texas Brahmas beat the Odessa Jackalopes 4-1 tonight to tie the Southern Conference Finals at one game apiece. The Jacks won the series opener 3-1 last night. Oh, and it appears the Houston Aeros have signed Sebastien Centomo to a professional tryout with their postseason looming. Interesting.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Not Tonight
Up until a few minutes ago, Pointstreak said there was a game between the Bucks and the Odessa Jackalopes tonight. I assume we all know that is not the case, and I guess whoever took that down got the memo, too.
I went to the LEC early this morning to catch up with Coach Ruskowski and talk to him for my season review story, which will run in tomorrow's Times. I had a lot of plans for the story, but they were changed a bit to make it short due to some spacial concerns. Those of you who get the print version will know what I mean when you see it tomorrow morning.
Due to that fact, I have some leftover quotes about this season and offseason expectations, but I'm going to watch my alma mater on ESPN2 tonight instead of typing them up. I have off tomorrow, but expect them by Saturday at the latest.
And, because I had kinda let it slip my mind, I figure I may as well remind you that the Bucks owe players to the Oklahoma City Blazers and Rocky Mountain Rage for trades during the regular season. That stuff should be addressed soon and is one thing Ruskowski will be discussing with the players during exit meetings this week.
I went to the LEC early this morning to catch up with Coach Ruskowski and talk to him for my season review story, which will run in tomorrow's Times. I had a lot of plans for the story, but they were changed a bit to make it short due to some spacial concerns. Those of you who get the print version will know what I mean when you see it tomorrow morning.
Due to that fact, I have some leftover quotes about this season and offseason expectations, but I'm going to watch my alma mater on ESPN2 tonight instead of typing them up. I have off tomorrow, but expect them by Saturday at the latest.
And, because I had kinda let it slip my mind, I figure I may as well remind you that the Bucks owe players to the Oklahoma City Blazers and Rocky Mountain Rage for trades during the regular season. That stuff should be addressed soon and is one thing Ruskowski will be discussing with the players during exit meetings this week.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
One More Thing
Just so that massive post isn't the one on top of the page, I figured I'd share the link to the Bucks' thank you to all their fans for this season.
Those of you in attendance last night got to hear it straight from Coach Ruskowski's mouth, but in case you couldn't make it, there's always that.
Hopefully that All-Star Game press conference actually takes place sometime soon!
Tonight's NHL Scores: Sabres 3, Maple Leafs 1; Blue Jackets 4, Blackhawks 3 (SO).
Those of you in attendance last night got to hear it straight from Coach Ruskowski's mouth, but in case you couldn't make it, there's always that.
Hopefully that All-Star Game press conference actually takes place sometime soon!
Tonight's NHL Scores: Sabres 3, Maple Leafs 1; Blue Jackets 4, Blackhawks 3 (SO).
Should They Stay or Should They Go?
The Bucks fan who goes by aeb33 has posed to me a question about how I feel about his list of who should stay and go from this season's team.
In case you haven't seen that post on the CHL Forums, you can find it here or view the list below in its entirety.
Keep:
#39 Sebastien Centomo - Enough said, and now that goalies don't count as vets, we can keep him as long as he wants to be here.
#35 Andrew Martin - A hell of a pick up. Excellent goalie, if we keep these two goalies, we'll have a solid keeper night after night. Huge step up from Ryan Gibb.
#24 Steve Weidlich - Unbelievable defenseman, great skater, has been with the team for 7 years, he likely will not play anywhere else for the remainder of his career. Probably the hardest shot on the team. (Veteran)
#28 Adam Rivet - Another solid defenseman, makes very few mistakes. Can blast it from the point.
#20 Matt Miller - I love how this guy plays, very physical player, likes to dig deep in the corners.
#11 Jeff Bes - No explanation needed. (Veteran)
#10 Jason Dixon - Very fast skater, hits hard.
#7 Alex Goupil - Another fast skater, has hit a slump, but always a scoring threat. (Veteran)
#3 Igor Agarunov - Great two way player. (Veteran)
#19 Rick Kozak - Stop taking so many penalties, other than that, we need someone everyone is afraid of.
Maybe:
#4 Shawn Snider - Great speed, great shot. Not a very good puckhandler, if he doesn't get tossed out of the faceoff he usually loses it.
#18 Darryl Smith - Amazing talent, the only reason he's on the Maybe list is because he will likely move on to the ECHL or AHL.
#22 Brent Cullaton - Past his prime, sorry Cully. (Veteran)
#79 James Hiebert - Very good, but probably won't play again. (Veteran)
#17 Devin Featherstone - Really good defenseman, will probably move on.
#5 Jaye Judd - Didn't see him play enough. Can't put him in the other categories.
#44 Vincent Zaore - Solid, but again, didn't see him enough.
#29 Serge Dube - Would love to have him back, but he may be retiring. (Veteran)
There's the door:
#21 Bobby Russell - Huge flop, was supposed to complement Bes, instead he finished with only 36 points. (Veteran)
#13 Ryan Salvis - Fast, but never noticed him on the ice.
#6 Erick Lizon - We need an enforcer, but, at least Kozak put up 44 points, Lizon put up 16.
My take? This is going to take a while, but, let's start with the veterans. As each team can only have four veteran skaters, you need to decide which four you want around.
You are right to say that Bes is a yes with no explanation necessary. In addition to being a great player, he really cares about what he does here. I think he took the loss last night harder than most of the guys who were actually on the ice for it, and that tells you a lot.
Dube did care, too, but I really think he is set on retiring now. He first said he came back to try to bring home another Cup, but then noted that there would be too many vets after this season and he didn't plan to take up a spot next year.
Due to the fact that Cullaton didn't bring his wife and kid(s) out here even though his dad is here, too, I'm guessing he didn't expect this to be a permanent thing and he should possibly be scratched off the list of possible returners.
Russell, on the other hand, did move his wife and sons down, but obviously didn't have the season expected of him. I don't know if calling him a "huge flop" is fair, though, when you consider he barely got to play alongside the guy he was meant to compliment and missed a couple months with an injury.
He is a great guy and a good leader, but I'm not sure Ruskowski's system is one in which he can thrive. Thus, I would have to agree that he might not be one of the vets the team should want to keep around.
Weidlich has been here for every up and down this team has gone through, and I think it's obvious Ruskowski has always considered him a key part of the team whether observers have agreed or not.
He, like the other elder defensemen on this year's squad, had a bit of an off year, but Featherstone likely moving on, having a defensive defenseman stick around will be a necessity.
So that leaves two spots open with Agarunov, Goupil and Hiebert still unaddressed. Assuming Ruskowski doesn't want to bring in any new veteran guys, that leaves him with a tough decision.
Agarunov, as I have noted previously, is good on both sides of the puck and great at contributing to the offense when he's a defenseman and the defense when he's a forward. Plus, the guy is great on the penalty kill. And he has been here his whole pro career, giving him a bit of a bond with Ruskowski. So I'd agree with the yes on that one.
Now, as far as Goupil and Hiebert...oy. Such different players in so many ways. Hiebert is a great guy to have around in so many ways, but honestly, his attitude isn't the greatest. Plus, there are always going to be a few other things on his mind now that he's started his own business. However, the fans here love (or love to hate) him, and that's not something any coach wants to give up voluntarily.
I'd say what it might come down to is how cooperative Hiebert is during contract negotiations if both sides decide they want them. But if he doesn't work out, I see no reason why Ruskowski would want to give up a player with Goupil's attitude, work ethic and skill.
As far as everyone else...
Centomo has been much better than many people have given him credit for most of this season, and he played a lot of games with a nagging injury that he's only going to be able to take care of now that the season has ended.
Martin has also been impressive since getting here, and I honestly don't remember seeing too many goals allowed by either goalie that I thought were even the least bit their fault.
I know Ruskowski doesn't often keep his goalies, but I'd say there's a real chance he keeps both of these ones, as good goalie stats in the past were usually a product of great defensive play and this year was quite the opposite case.
In other words, I'm down with saying yes to both of them.
Rivet...well, no offense to your assessment, but he did make some mistakes this season. He went from being third among the league's defensemen with a plus-29 last season to registering a minus-1 this year...good for 79th.
He still contributed on the offensive side, but not as much as in the past two seasons (and only one point more than his rookie year, during which he was an astounding plus-39), and I don't really like judging D-men on their points.
However, he is obviously a quality defenseman who cares a heck of a lot about this team (I swear he seemed clinically depressed whenever I talked to him about his struggles and those of the defense overall this season), and he's been here and knows what's up. You need guys like that to teach the new ones who come in year after year.
So, again, I'll agree with your yes.
Miller...well, he's a maybe in my book. Yes, he plays hard and loves battling in the corners. But the fact that he was a healthy scratch in Game 4 should tell you something about what Ruskowski was seeing from him in desperate times. I don't know if I'd say show him the door in quite those terms, but I would say you can find guys who can do the things he does well and then some.
Dixon is indeed a fast skater who hits as hard as he can, and if Ruskowski had any intention to get rid of him, I think he'd have done it in a trade to get something back he wanted for this season. The kid works his butt off no matter what line he's on or how much or little playing time he gets and played his best hockey in the playoffs, which is never a bad sign. I'll second another yes for that one.
And then there is Kozak. At his best, he is definitely a force to be reckoned with. But, like Hiebert, he has a bit of an attitude issue. And, while I have nothing against fighting when there is reason for it, earning unnecessary retaliatory penalties can doom a team.
If he's willing to play the part he is needed to play, manage his temper when he needs to and refrain from breaking his hand on other players' skulls, then keeping him around wouldn't be a bad thing. But, because of all those reasons and the fact that he didn't seem to thrive under postseason pressure, I'm going to mark him a maybe on my list.
If what Snider did in the playoffs is any indication of what he's like as a player overall, I'd have to make him a definite yes. Taking faceoffs was not something he should necessarily have been doing, just something he was needed to do because of the lack of true center iceman on the team. But he is aggressive as heck and very accurate when shooting the puck.
He was just starting to find his place on this team chemistry-wise, though, so having the season end the way it did may not make coming back the most desirable thing for him. Keep in mind he was contacted prior to the season and chose to go a different direction.
As I said in my previous post, if Smith comes back, that's just a shame. I know that some guys get sold on Laredo because of how well they're treated down here, but he should not be in the CHL next year. Of course, if he is, I imagine it'll be here.
Featherstone is pretty much the same deal. He needed a year to get used to the professional game, but he has a great approach to the game and is a very solid defensive defenseman who should be able to move up.
Judd was still in Laredo as of a couple days ago, and I imagine you don't let someone hang around that long if you don't like anything about them. Just like you, I didn't see enough of him to make a strong assessment of his play, but I can't think of any terribly negative things to say about him off the top of my head.
Assessing Zaore is a bit of a connundrum. He could be sloppy at times, and I think his biggest flaw was trying to do too much and making things difficult for himself. But he did obviously miss a bit of time, so he might have thought he needed to do more to make up for that. However, I know that what Ruskowski wanted from him was not what he got, and you need to assess each individual player based on how they play their own game, so I'd put him in the no category.
And finally, Salvis and Lizon.
Salvis has a lot of potential and showed it sometimes but was admittedly a bit invisible at others. However, Ruskowski liked the way he played, and he tried to do what was expected of him in this system. Keep in mind the fact that his linemates were changing constantly and this was his first season at the professional level. I'll make him a maybe.
Lizon was tossed around all over the place but didn't seem to fit quite right no matter where he went. He won some key fights but lost a couple, too, and was definitely expected to be more than just an enforcer. Ruskowski put him on the top line a couple times, for goodness' sake. But I will agree with the no for him.
Overall, one of my biggest concerns with this year's team was the fact that a lot of the guys seemed like they couldn't care less about what happened out there.
As Ruskowski often said, there was no surefire way to get them to put their best effort forward, and plain old potential doesn't win games.
As I assume is obvious enough from things I have written previously, I am not allowed into the Bucks' locker room, and because of that, I only saw one player after last year's season-ending loss to the Arizona Sundogs because they were all too upset to come out.
Yesterday, a couple of them were milling around wanting to talk to their buddies on the Jackalopes and genuinely seeming unaffected by the loss their team had just sustained. I'm not going to name names, so please don't ask, but that definitely had something to do with my responses.
Sorry this post is of epic length, but hopefully that answered your question.
In case you haven't seen that post on the CHL Forums, you can find it here or view the list below in its entirety.
Keep:
#39 Sebastien Centomo - Enough said, and now that goalies don't count as vets, we can keep him as long as he wants to be here.
#35 Andrew Martin - A hell of a pick up. Excellent goalie, if we keep these two goalies, we'll have a solid keeper night after night. Huge step up from Ryan Gibb.
#24 Steve Weidlich - Unbelievable defenseman, great skater, has been with the team for 7 years, he likely will not play anywhere else for the remainder of his career. Probably the hardest shot on the team. (Veteran)
#28 Adam Rivet - Another solid defenseman, makes very few mistakes. Can blast it from the point.
#20 Matt Miller - I love how this guy plays, very physical player, likes to dig deep in the corners.
#11 Jeff Bes - No explanation needed. (Veteran)
#10 Jason Dixon - Very fast skater, hits hard.
#7 Alex Goupil - Another fast skater, has hit a slump, but always a scoring threat. (Veteran)
#3 Igor Agarunov - Great two way player. (Veteran)
#19 Rick Kozak - Stop taking so many penalties, other than that, we need someone everyone is afraid of.
Maybe:
#4 Shawn Snider - Great speed, great shot. Not a very good puckhandler, if he doesn't get tossed out of the faceoff he usually loses it.
#18 Darryl Smith - Amazing talent, the only reason he's on the Maybe list is because he will likely move on to the ECHL or AHL.
#22 Brent Cullaton - Past his prime, sorry Cully. (Veteran)
#79 James Hiebert - Very good, but probably won't play again. (Veteran)
#17 Devin Featherstone - Really good defenseman, will probably move on.
#5 Jaye Judd - Didn't see him play enough. Can't put him in the other categories.
#44 Vincent Zaore - Solid, but again, didn't see him enough.
#29 Serge Dube - Would love to have him back, but he may be retiring. (Veteran)
There's the door:
#21 Bobby Russell - Huge flop, was supposed to complement Bes, instead he finished with only 36 points. (Veteran)
#13 Ryan Salvis - Fast, but never noticed him on the ice.
#6 Erick Lizon - We need an enforcer, but, at least Kozak put up 44 points, Lizon put up 16.
My take? This is going to take a while, but, let's start with the veterans. As each team can only have four veteran skaters, you need to decide which four you want around.
You are right to say that Bes is a yes with no explanation necessary. In addition to being a great player, he really cares about what he does here. I think he took the loss last night harder than most of the guys who were actually on the ice for it, and that tells you a lot.
Dube did care, too, but I really think he is set on retiring now. He first said he came back to try to bring home another Cup, but then noted that there would be too many vets after this season and he didn't plan to take up a spot next year.
Due to the fact that Cullaton didn't bring his wife and kid(s) out here even though his dad is here, too, I'm guessing he didn't expect this to be a permanent thing and he should possibly be scratched off the list of possible returners.
Russell, on the other hand, did move his wife and sons down, but obviously didn't have the season expected of him. I don't know if calling him a "huge flop" is fair, though, when you consider he barely got to play alongside the guy he was meant to compliment and missed a couple months with an injury.
He is a great guy and a good leader, but I'm not sure Ruskowski's system is one in which he can thrive. Thus, I would have to agree that he might not be one of the vets the team should want to keep around.
Weidlich has been here for every up and down this team has gone through, and I think it's obvious Ruskowski has always considered him a key part of the team whether observers have agreed or not.
He, like the other elder defensemen on this year's squad, had a bit of an off year, but Featherstone likely moving on, having a defensive defenseman stick around will be a necessity.
So that leaves two spots open with Agarunov, Goupil and Hiebert still unaddressed. Assuming Ruskowski doesn't want to bring in any new veteran guys, that leaves him with a tough decision.
Agarunov, as I have noted previously, is good on both sides of the puck and great at contributing to the offense when he's a defenseman and the defense when he's a forward. Plus, the guy is great on the penalty kill. And he has been here his whole pro career, giving him a bit of a bond with Ruskowski. So I'd agree with the yes on that one.
Now, as far as Goupil and Hiebert...oy. Such different players in so many ways. Hiebert is a great guy to have around in so many ways, but honestly, his attitude isn't the greatest. Plus, there are always going to be a few other things on his mind now that he's started his own business. However, the fans here love (or love to hate) him, and that's not something any coach wants to give up voluntarily.
I'd say what it might come down to is how cooperative Hiebert is during contract negotiations if both sides decide they want them. But if he doesn't work out, I see no reason why Ruskowski would want to give up a player with Goupil's attitude, work ethic and skill.
As far as everyone else...
Centomo has been much better than many people have given him credit for most of this season, and he played a lot of games with a nagging injury that he's only going to be able to take care of now that the season has ended.
Martin has also been impressive since getting here, and I honestly don't remember seeing too many goals allowed by either goalie that I thought were even the least bit their fault.
I know Ruskowski doesn't often keep his goalies, but I'd say there's a real chance he keeps both of these ones, as good goalie stats in the past were usually a product of great defensive play and this year was quite the opposite case.
In other words, I'm down with saying yes to both of them.
Rivet...well, no offense to your assessment, but he did make some mistakes this season. He went from being third among the league's defensemen with a plus-29 last season to registering a minus-1 this year...good for 79th.
He still contributed on the offensive side, but not as much as in the past two seasons (and only one point more than his rookie year, during which he was an astounding plus-39), and I don't really like judging D-men on their points.
However, he is obviously a quality defenseman who cares a heck of a lot about this team (I swear he seemed clinically depressed whenever I talked to him about his struggles and those of the defense overall this season), and he's been here and knows what's up. You need guys like that to teach the new ones who come in year after year.
So, again, I'll agree with your yes.
Miller...well, he's a maybe in my book. Yes, he plays hard and loves battling in the corners. But the fact that he was a healthy scratch in Game 4 should tell you something about what Ruskowski was seeing from him in desperate times. I don't know if I'd say show him the door in quite those terms, but I would say you can find guys who can do the things he does well and then some.
Dixon is indeed a fast skater who hits as hard as he can, and if Ruskowski had any intention to get rid of him, I think he'd have done it in a trade to get something back he wanted for this season. The kid works his butt off no matter what line he's on or how much or little playing time he gets and played his best hockey in the playoffs, which is never a bad sign. I'll second another yes for that one.
And then there is Kozak. At his best, he is definitely a force to be reckoned with. But, like Hiebert, he has a bit of an attitude issue. And, while I have nothing against fighting when there is reason for it, earning unnecessary retaliatory penalties can doom a team.
If he's willing to play the part he is needed to play, manage his temper when he needs to and refrain from breaking his hand on other players' skulls, then keeping him around wouldn't be a bad thing. But, because of all those reasons and the fact that he didn't seem to thrive under postseason pressure, I'm going to mark him a maybe on my list.
If what Snider did in the playoffs is any indication of what he's like as a player overall, I'd have to make him a definite yes. Taking faceoffs was not something he should necessarily have been doing, just something he was needed to do because of the lack of true center iceman on the team. But he is aggressive as heck and very accurate when shooting the puck.
He was just starting to find his place on this team chemistry-wise, though, so having the season end the way it did may not make coming back the most desirable thing for him. Keep in mind he was contacted prior to the season and chose to go a different direction.
As I said in my previous post, if Smith comes back, that's just a shame. I know that some guys get sold on Laredo because of how well they're treated down here, but he should not be in the CHL next year. Of course, if he is, I imagine it'll be here.
Featherstone is pretty much the same deal. He needed a year to get used to the professional game, but he has a great approach to the game and is a very solid defensive defenseman who should be able to move up.
Judd was still in Laredo as of a couple days ago, and I imagine you don't let someone hang around that long if you don't like anything about them. Just like you, I didn't see enough of him to make a strong assessment of his play, but I can't think of any terribly negative things to say about him off the top of my head.
Assessing Zaore is a bit of a connundrum. He could be sloppy at times, and I think his biggest flaw was trying to do too much and making things difficult for himself. But he did obviously miss a bit of time, so he might have thought he needed to do more to make up for that. However, I know that what Ruskowski wanted from him was not what he got, and you need to assess each individual player based on how they play their own game, so I'd put him in the no category.
And finally, Salvis and Lizon.
Salvis has a lot of potential and showed it sometimes but was admittedly a bit invisible at others. However, Ruskowski liked the way he played, and he tried to do what was expected of him in this system. Keep in mind the fact that his linemates were changing constantly and this was his first season at the professional level. I'll make him a maybe.
Lizon was tossed around all over the place but didn't seem to fit quite right no matter where he went. He won some key fights but lost a couple, too, and was definitely expected to be more than just an enforcer. Ruskowski put him on the top line a couple times, for goodness' sake. But I will agree with the no for him.
Overall, one of my biggest concerns with this year's team was the fact that a lot of the guys seemed like they couldn't care less about what happened out there.
As Ruskowski often said, there was no surefire way to get them to put their best effort forward, and plain old potential doesn't win games.
As I assume is obvious enough from things I have written previously, I am not allowed into the Bucks' locker room, and because of that, I only saw one player after last year's season-ending loss to the Arizona Sundogs because they were all too upset to come out.
Yesterday, a couple of them were milling around wanting to talk to their buddies on the Jackalopes and genuinely seeming unaffected by the loss their team had just sustained. I'm not going to name names, so please don't ask, but that definitely had something to do with my responses.
Sorry this post is of epic length, but hopefully that answered your question.
About Last Night
Coach Ruskowski is busy today, so I'm not going to be able to talk to him for my season-ending story until tomorrow. Thus, it will run in Friday's paper.
What I can tell you now is mostly what you already know: losing Jeff Bes had a huge impact on this team, Ruskowski does not blame his goaltending at all for his team's shortcomings this season and it is going to be a long offseason.
I had to write two versions of my story last night so one could run early for the out-of-town editions, but I don't think there's any internet proof of that one out there.
My final story, which was the one with quotes, can be found here.
Just for kicks, here's that first one:
Jackalopes end Bucks' season with OT win
Russ Moyer scored 5:48 into overtime during Game 6 of the Southern Conference Semifinals to give the Odessa Jackalopes a 4-3 win and end the Laredo Bucks’ season.
The Jackalopes defeated the Bucks by a series score of 4-2, knocking them out of the playoffs prior to the conference finals for the first time in team history.
It was also the first time Laredo had lost a series in which it got out to a 2-0 lead, as Odessa recovered from two games down to sweep the next four games and win the series.
For the fourth time in the series and third straight time at the LEC, the Bucks and Jackalopes ended regulation tied to bring the game into overtime.
Laredo had led for nearly six minutes late in the third period on a dramatic goal by Alex Goupil, but Odessa kept its chance to clinch alive when Dominic Leveille grabbed the rebound of a shot by CHL MVP Sebastien Thinel and sent it past Centomo to tie the game with just 34.2 seconds left on the clock.
The Jackalopes had jumped out to an early lead in the first period as Leveille grabbed a loose puck and flipped it over Centomo, who was still sprawled out from a previous save on Thinel, just 3:11 into the game. Moyer, a defenseman, had the other assist.
On the next Odessa power play, Brent Cullaton and Shawn Snider took advantage of a bad pass within the Jackalopes’ defensive zone to tie the game on Snider’s shorthanded goal at 12:32.
But before the period ended, another Odessa advantage led to another goal for the Jacks, this time with Phillippe Plante doing the honors and Thinel and Moyer once again assisting.
The Bucks didn’t strike back for that goal until 13:46 in the third period when Jason Dixon scored his first goal at the most opportune time to tie the game and bring some life to the Laredo squad.
Goupil’s goal came 13:46 into the third period when he slammed home a loose puck with Odessa netminder Juha Toivonen out of his net. Matt Miller was credited with the lone assist.
The Jackalopes pulled Toivonen during a late power play created by a tripping call on Steve Weidlich, and Laredo hit the post on an empty-net attempt before Leveille tied it to momentarily silence the crowd of 3,950.
They got right back into it when the overtime began but quickly lost enthusiasm again as Odessa began to dominate play.
As had been the case the entire night, Centomo kept the Bucks alive, setting aside several shots before his team truly threatened in the other end.
Notes: Leveille and Thinel assisted on the game-winner. … Centomo saved 33 of 37 shots to take the loss, while Toivonen stopped 22 of 25 to earn his fourth straight win against Laredo. … The Jackalopes were 2-for-7 on the power play, while the Bucks were 0-for-3, scoring their only special teams goal shorthanded. ... Laredo swept Odessa in the same round last season.
I don't have a whole lot of leftover quotes from last night because Ruskowski obviously wasn't in his most talkative mood and Paul Gillis isn't very talkative in general, but I'll still share what I do have.
Ruskowski on Leveille's game-tying goal:
"Obviously it didn't do anything good for us. If you look back at the last two overtimes, they scored, and I guess in the back of everybody's mind is, 'If we make a mistake, they're going to score again,' and obviously they did. But obviously, if they didn't score that goal, then we wouldn't have had to go to overtime. It's a bitter pill to swallow, and I'm having trouble swallowing it."
On his goalie's play:
"I love my goalies. I think that I have probably the two best combination goalies in the league. They've kept us in more hockey games than I could ever imagine. For him to go out like that is a bitter pill for him to swallow also. But I think he's played tremendous all season long, and I can't say anything but good things about that."
On what he saw overall in the series:
"I think there's parts of our game that have to improve, and we're going to work on that during the summertime."
Gillis on his team's overtime play:
"We really wanted to be aggressive. We wanted to go after them; we didn't want to sit back. The first game in overtime, we lost because we turned the puck over too much in the neutral zone. We just wanted to play aggressively, get the puck deep and go to work on it."
On his team's road success:
"We've always said right from the beginning that no matter where we play we have to put our best foot forward and be ready to go. We never let them off the hook with road games. They have no excuses, and they have to go everywhere and try to win the game. We started right from the first game of the year, talking about that, and it paid off."
Obviously, there are a lot of things I'll be asking Ruskowski about tomorrow, from which vets he plans to keep to what he thinks the team's biggest flaws were this season now that it's all said and done to what type of players he's looking to bring in next year.
Though this is an incredibly early exit for the Bucks, I'd say seven postseason trips in seven years isn't the worst thing on earth.
But, of course, this long summer isn't going to sit well with Ruskowski or the players who plan to stick around. And, though I know his return would be a dream come true for the fans, I really hope Darryl Smith isn't one of those players.
And, as far as those amateurs Ruskowski was looking at...guess they'll have to try to find another place to play when their current teams get knocked out.
No CHL games tonight, and only two in the NHL, so this is more of a basketball and baseball evening, but I'll be sure to keep you posted on anything related to the Bucks that happens in the coming weeks, as well as the rest of the playoffs.
What I can tell you now is mostly what you already know: losing Jeff Bes had a huge impact on this team, Ruskowski does not blame his goaltending at all for his team's shortcomings this season and it is going to be a long offseason.
I had to write two versions of my story last night so one could run early for the out-of-town editions, but I don't think there's any internet proof of that one out there.
My final story, which was the one with quotes, can be found here.
Just for kicks, here's that first one:
Jackalopes end Bucks' season with OT win
Russ Moyer scored 5:48 into overtime during Game 6 of the Southern Conference Semifinals to give the Odessa Jackalopes a 4-3 win and end the Laredo Bucks’ season.
The Jackalopes defeated the Bucks by a series score of 4-2, knocking them out of the playoffs prior to the conference finals for the first time in team history.
It was also the first time Laredo had lost a series in which it got out to a 2-0 lead, as Odessa recovered from two games down to sweep the next four games and win the series.
For the fourth time in the series and third straight time at the LEC, the Bucks and Jackalopes ended regulation tied to bring the game into overtime.
Laredo had led for nearly six minutes late in the third period on a dramatic goal by Alex Goupil, but Odessa kept its chance to clinch alive when Dominic Leveille grabbed the rebound of a shot by CHL MVP Sebastien Thinel and sent it past Centomo to tie the game with just 34.2 seconds left on the clock.
The Jackalopes had jumped out to an early lead in the first period as Leveille grabbed a loose puck and flipped it over Centomo, who was still sprawled out from a previous save on Thinel, just 3:11 into the game. Moyer, a defenseman, had the other assist.
On the next Odessa power play, Brent Cullaton and Shawn Snider took advantage of a bad pass within the Jackalopes’ defensive zone to tie the game on Snider’s shorthanded goal at 12:32.
But before the period ended, another Odessa advantage led to another goal for the Jacks, this time with Phillippe Plante doing the honors and Thinel and Moyer once again assisting.
The Bucks didn’t strike back for that goal until 13:46 in the third period when Jason Dixon scored his first goal at the most opportune time to tie the game and bring some life to the Laredo squad.
Goupil’s goal came 13:46 into the third period when he slammed home a loose puck with Odessa netminder Juha Toivonen out of his net. Matt Miller was credited with the lone assist.
The Jackalopes pulled Toivonen during a late power play created by a tripping call on Steve Weidlich, and Laredo hit the post on an empty-net attempt before Leveille tied it to momentarily silence the crowd of 3,950.
They got right back into it when the overtime began but quickly lost enthusiasm again as Odessa began to dominate play.
As had been the case the entire night, Centomo kept the Bucks alive, setting aside several shots before his team truly threatened in the other end.
Notes: Leveille and Thinel assisted on the game-winner. … Centomo saved 33 of 37 shots to take the loss, while Toivonen stopped 22 of 25 to earn his fourth straight win against Laredo. … The Jackalopes were 2-for-7 on the power play, while the Bucks were 0-for-3, scoring their only special teams goal shorthanded. ... Laredo swept Odessa in the same round last season.
I don't have a whole lot of leftover quotes from last night because Ruskowski obviously wasn't in his most talkative mood and Paul Gillis isn't very talkative in general, but I'll still share what I do have.
Ruskowski on Leveille's game-tying goal:
"Obviously it didn't do anything good for us. If you look back at the last two overtimes, they scored, and I guess in the back of everybody's mind is, 'If we make a mistake, they're going to score again,' and obviously they did. But obviously, if they didn't score that goal, then we wouldn't have had to go to overtime. It's a bitter pill to swallow, and I'm having trouble swallowing it."
On his goalie's play:
"I love my goalies. I think that I have probably the two best combination goalies in the league. They've kept us in more hockey games than I could ever imagine. For him to go out like that is a bitter pill for him to swallow also. But I think he's played tremendous all season long, and I can't say anything but good things about that."
On what he saw overall in the series:
"I think there's parts of our game that have to improve, and we're going to work on that during the summertime."
Gillis on his team's overtime play:
"We really wanted to be aggressive. We wanted to go after them; we didn't want to sit back. The first game in overtime, we lost because we turned the puck over too much in the neutral zone. We just wanted to play aggressively, get the puck deep and go to work on it."
On his team's road success:
"We've always said right from the beginning that no matter where we play we have to put our best foot forward and be ready to go. We never let them off the hook with road games. They have no excuses, and they have to go everywhere and try to win the game. We started right from the first game of the year, talking about that, and it paid off."
Obviously, there are a lot of things I'll be asking Ruskowski about tomorrow, from which vets he plans to keep to what he thinks the team's biggest flaws were this season now that it's all said and done to what type of players he's looking to bring in next year.
Though this is an incredibly early exit for the Bucks, I'd say seven postseason trips in seven years isn't the worst thing on earth.
But, of course, this long summer isn't going to sit well with Ruskowski or the players who plan to stick around. And, though I know his return would be a dream come true for the fans, I really hope Darryl Smith isn't one of those players.
And, as far as those amateurs Ruskowski was looking at...guess they'll have to try to find another place to play when their current teams get knocked out.
No CHL games tonight, and only two in the NHL, so this is more of a basketball and baseball evening, but I'll be sure to keep you posted on anything related to the Bucks that happens in the coming weeks, as well as the rest of the playoffs.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Semifinal Game No. 6
Darryl Smith and Serge Dube were both out for warmups as expected. Sebastien Centomo and Juha Toivonen will be starting in goal. Rick Kozak is the Bucks' scratch tonight.
Starters: Bucks -Igor Agarunov (D), Centomo (G), Jason Dixon (F), James Hiebert (F), Smith (F), Weidlich (D); Jackalopes - Jean Bourbeau (F), Paul Kelly (F), Russ Moyer (D), Ryan Swiniarski (F), Toivonen (G), Dave Van Drunen (D).
First Period: This is the only CHL game tonight, and you can follow it here or in the space to follow. ... Dixon obviously appreciates the chance to be up on what I believe is tonight's top line, and he worked pretty hard on that first 30-second shift, taking the game's first shot. ... Hopefully it's just my imagination, but it kinda looked like the Jacks were going after Smith (in a bad way) during that first shift. ... Brent Cullaton stole one to create another chance for the Bucks early in his first shift, then the Jacks brought the puck back to test Centomo for the first time. He made a kick save on that one. ... Jacks get the game's first power play with Hiebert headed to the box for slashing at 2:10 in the period. ... Dominic Leveille has the Jacks on the board at 3:11 on a pretty goal scored when a shot by Sebastien Thinel bounced loose after Centomo sprawled to make the save on it. Moyer gets the second assist. The crowd is pretty tiny here tonight, and it just got even quieter than it had been. ... And now it's the Bucks turn to go on the advantage with Garrett Gruenke headed to the his favorite place on earth for interference at 3:42. ... Tough breaks for the Bucks there as one shot went just wide, then a loose puck in the crease somehow managed to get knocked away. ... Smith just broke away with someone (Goupil or Hiebert, not sure) and had a great opportunity but had his shot gloved away. ... The majority of the play has been in the neutral zone for the past few minutes as neither team can seem to crack the other. Kinda looking a bit sloppy out there, actually. ... Vincent Zaore-Vanie just managed to stick handle the puck around the net, then tried a wraparound but missed and had no one there to knock his shot in on the open net. Zaore is headed to the box, though, so any goal may have been waved off anyway. Holding stick is the call, at 12:32. ... Well, no harm there. I'm guessing Coach Ruskowski is liking his decision to bring Shawn Snider in here as Snyder has just scored another huge goal, this time on a tricky backhand assisted by Cullaton at 12:56. Very good job taking advantge of a Jacks turnover in their own zone. I think Bryan Benway is hyperventilating. Game tied 1-1, but let's not forget the Jackalopes are still on the power play. ... I really need new contacts, but after nearly 15 minutes, I've finally noticed that Jeff Bes is behind the bench in his assistant coaching capacity. No wonder he's not up here in the press box. Glad to see that; I know he had wanted to be able to get out there. ... Thinel just snuck in with the closest Buck right behind him and took a shot on Centomo that the goalie somehow set aside. Huge save. ... Hiebert back to the box, this time for roughing, at 16:59 in the period. ... The Jacks have a 2-1 lead on a goal eerily similar to their first other than the scorer's position at the time. Phillippe Plante scored from just outside the crease on assists from Thinel and Moyer. Another case of Centomo making a save and needing his defense to clear the puck but having them do nothing of the sort. The goal came at 18:01 in the period, and oddly enough, the Jacks have only scored with Hiebert in the box tonight, and all three goals have come with the Bucks shorthanded. ... The whistle was blown with .9 seconds left on the clock, and the teams are leaving the ice with that still on the clock. Well, the Bucks, anyway. Okay, Jackalopes, too, now. Weird. Jacks lead 2-1 at the first intermission, up 11-9 on shots and 2-for-3 on the power play.
Second Period: Good pace to start this one and a couple good saves already. I know they always say every team has to start with strong goaltending, but perhaps these ones need to stop relying on theirs so very much. ... Matt Miller just had a close breakaway chance and Plante went about stopping that in a very unique way as he threw his own body under Miller to take him down and thus tossed Miller into Toivonen, who took out his own net. Plante will serve two for tripping, putting the Bucks on the period's first power play at 3:42. ... Ruskowski said he wanted more 5-on-5 offense, but he can't be thrilled with what his team has been doing on the power play tonight. ... Well, they get another chance right away as Leveille has been called for hooking at 6:13. Pretty early in that one, Toivonen made a great stop and Van Drunen cleared a loose puck to keep the Bucks from adding to their number on the scoreboard. Then Hiebert had a solo chance but was upended just in time to wrist his shot hight. Better effort overall by the Bucks, but still not great. ... Weidlich has been awfully feisty this series, eh? ... I'm surprised Iliana Davalos was okay with being the villain in that "Anything for Love" skit. ... Bobby Russell is headed to the box for cross-checking, and Van Drunen was kind enough to take out his own net to sell that call. Jacks on the power play at 10:17. ... The Bucks are being outshout 7-1 in this period. I know shots don't equal scoring chances per se, but that's still not good. ... Well, as Brian Rae keeps saying, the Bucks are putting themselves in front of the net, and they were playing pretty hard for a couple minutes there, so it was only a matter of time. Cullaton did a great job grabbing a pass of a turnover, then made a backhand pass when he saw he didn't have time to get the shot off himself, and Smith and Dixon were there. Dixon knocked it in to tie the game 2-2 at 13:16 in this second period. Cullaton and Smith get assists. ... I love it when someone does something that makes me shake my head then they leave the ice only to get screamed at by Ruskowski for the mistake. Not in a mean, but you get me. Hopefully. ... Zaore is headed to the box with 1:13 to play in the period on an interference call for semi-accidentally upending one of the Jacks in front of his own net. ... Lots of close calls both way tonight, but we'll head into the third period tied 2-2 as it stands that way at the end of two. Jackalopes lead 23-14 in the shot department.
Third Period: Bucks killed off the remaining 47 seconds of that penalty without allowing a shot. Ties have often led to things not ending in the Bucks' favor this series, so we'll see how this turns out. ... Hiebert is headed back to the box for the first time since the first period at 7:32 in the third for high sticking. You know what happened the last two times he was in there, so let's see if the trend can be bucked, if you will. ... Very intense few minutes here, and Centomo just stopped play with a save between his pads, one of many impressive ones he's made tonight. Just over seven minutes to play. ... Oh my gosh. The puck was flying all over the Jacks' offensive zone and Centomo just keeps stopping it, then he bounced up from making one save to glove a puck that the Jacks thought was for sure the go-ahead goal. Very impressive. ... This period is seriously nuts. Toivonen got dragged out of his net to make a save and a puck somehow stayed loose for what seemed like an eternity only to get knocked in by Alex Goupil with just 6:14 left in the game. Bucks lead 3-2. That was about as intense as it can get, and the Bucks need to keep that momentum if they want to win this game, much less the series. Wow. ... Toivonen must be getting pretty worked up because Miller just hooked his leg a bit, then Toivonen responded by taking a full-on whack at Miller's leg. ... That wasn't a penalty, but Weidlich just took out Kelly to earn one with 3:07 to play. He'll serve two for tripping to put the Jackalopes on their seventh power play of the game. ... The Jacks have pulled Toivonen, and the Bucks just hit the post on their first empty-net chance. ... Icing on the Bucks with 43.5 seconds to play. ... And Paul Gillis will take this opportunity to use his time out and draw up a play for his team. ... Centomo made a glove save outside the net on the first shot of this 6-on-5 to stop the clock with 38 seconds to go. ... Oh boy. Leveille tied it up with 34.2 seconds to go. Thinel on the assist again. This time it's Rae hyperventilating, and I'd have to say that was a pretty deflating series of events for the Bucks. ... Overtime once again. I have to imagine Ruskowski is giving them one hell of a speech right now. ... I'm being a creep and looking over the Jacks' video guy's shoulder to watch a replay of the goal, which shows Leveille breaking free of the man assigned to him to collect a rebound of a shot by Thinel and snap it right past Centomo. If nothing else, this has been a pretty exciting game. Time to start the first take of my game story...which will hopefully at least get a final score in it! ... Oh, and how big does missing that empty net look right now? Ouch.
Overtime: Agarunov broke up an early pass that could have created a great chance for the Jacks, so kudos to him for proving that playing as a forward sometimes hasn't deteriorated his defensive capabilities. ... The pushing and shoving is back in full effect, but the Bucks might want to be careful to stay out of the box for needless penalties right about now. Just saying. ... Leveille and Thinel just had a 2-on-1, but Centomo positioned himself up against the post to stop it. ... Centomo sure is one busy man. ... Game over, Jacks win. Surprised the Bucks can actually handle shaking their hands right now. Anyone want to go do my postgame interviews for me? ... Ruskowski just wished the Jacks luck in the next series and thanked the fans with all his players on the ice to pay tribute to everyone in the stands.
Game Over: Jackalopes win 4-3, win the series 4-2 and knock the Bucks out of the playoffs. I'm still in the press box as of 11:15 and should probably get out of here, but I'll have my leftover quotes from postgame interviews and such tomorrow. And, of course, you can see some of what Ruskowski and Gillis had to say in tomorrow's Times.
Tonight's NHL Scores: Hurricanes 9, Islanders 0; Capitals 4, Thrashers 2; Rangers 3, Canadiens 1; Flyers 2, Panthers 1; Maple Leafs 4, Devils 1; Senators 3, Bruins 2; Penguins 6, Lightning 4; Wild 3, Stars 1; Blackhawks 4, Predators 2; Kings 2, Oilers 1; Blues 5, Coyotes 1; Canucks 4, Flames 1; Sharks 1, Avalanche 0 (SO).
Semifinal Game Day No. 6
Just got off the phone with Coach Ruskowski, and he said both Darryl Smith and Serge Dube will be in the lineup for tonight's game.
That's obviously good news for the team and for the fans among you, but the Jackalopes have beaten the Bucks with those two in the lineup before.
He also said he plans to start Sebastien Centomo, so I guess the alternating goalies thing has come to an end for now.
For my preview that ran in today's paper, I spoke to Steve Weidlich, the player who has played in the most playoff games in the Bucks sweater, and he made it pretty clear he does not want this year to be the one that breaks the team's tradition of success.
When I asked him if he thinks everyone on the roster understands this game's significance as much as those of them who have been around for a while, this is what he had to say:
"I’d like to think so. I’m pretty sure everybody does. I don’t think anybody wants to go home yet; it’s way too early in the season for me. We’ve been pretty lucky in previous years as far as at least making it to the second round. I don’t want to go home, and I’m pretty sure nobody else does."
And as far as going from up 2-0 in this series to down 3-2:
"I wouldn’t say it was bad luck. They’re a good team; they weren’t in first place for no reason. They’re a skilled team. It comes down to who makes the least amount of mistakes, and I think it’s just a matter of us focusing and playing our game. If we do that, we won’t have a problem."
I asked Ruskowski about the one-on-one meetings he had before the playoffs started and whether or not guys have been living up to their promises, and this is what he said:
"No, and that’s the sore spot that I’m facing. Some guys tell me what I want to hear, but they don’t show me what I want to see."
A short answer like that is a sure sign that he is pretty upset with the guys he's thinking of, but he is never one to call people out via the media, so you can make your own assumptions on that part.
The only other full and relevant leftover quote I have from yesterday's interview is this one about special teams:
"It’s always been a big factor. In every game we’ve played in the series, the power play and penalty killing have been a huge asset either for or against us. That seems to be the turning point, but above anything else, we need to start scoring goals 5-on-5. We have to generate more offense that way."
Obviously having Smith back should help in that regard, and as it has been noted, the Bucks have come back from worse series deficits before.
With their "backs against the wall" tonight, we'll see what the team that has had its ups and downs all year long is really made of...and if it gets to play on for at least one more game.
Don't forget to wear white if you are so inclined.
That's obviously good news for the team and for the fans among you, but the Jackalopes have beaten the Bucks with those two in the lineup before.
He also said he plans to start Sebastien Centomo, so I guess the alternating goalies thing has come to an end for now.
For my preview that ran in today's paper, I spoke to Steve Weidlich, the player who has played in the most playoff games in the Bucks sweater, and he made it pretty clear he does not want this year to be the one that breaks the team's tradition of success.
When I asked him if he thinks everyone on the roster understands this game's significance as much as those of them who have been around for a while, this is what he had to say:
"I’d like to think so. I’m pretty sure everybody does. I don’t think anybody wants to go home yet; it’s way too early in the season for me. We’ve been pretty lucky in previous years as far as at least making it to the second round. I don’t want to go home, and I’m pretty sure nobody else does."
And as far as going from up 2-0 in this series to down 3-2:
"I wouldn’t say it was bad luck. They’re a good team; they weren’t in first place for no reason. They’re a skilled team. It comes down to who makes the least amount of mistakes, and I think it’s just a matter of us focusing and playing our game. If we do that, we won’t have a problem."
I asked Ruskowski about the one-on-one meetings he had before the playoffs started and whether or not guys have been living up to their promises, and this is what he said:
"No, and that’s the sore spot that I’m facing. Some guys tell me what I want to hear, but they don’t show me what I want to see."
A short answer like that is a sure sign that he is pretty upset with the guys he's thinking of, but he is never one to call people out via the media, so you can make your own assumptions on that part.
The only other full and relevant leftover quote I have from yesterday's interview is this one about special teams:
"It’s always been a big factor. In every game we’ve played in the series, the power play and penalty killing have been a huge asset either for or against us. That seems to be the turning point, but above anything else, we need to start scoring goals 5-on-5. We have to generate more offense that way."
Obviously having Smith back should help in that regard, and as it has been noted, the Bucks have come back from worse series deficits before.
With their "backs against the wall" tonight, we'll see what the team that has had its ups and downs all year long is really made of...and if it gets to play on for at least one more game.
Don't forget to wear white if you are so inclined.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Northern Conference Final set
Don't know how I forgot to mention this earlier, but Jeff Bes was back out on the ice for the first time since his injury today to handle his assistant coaching duties.
It was nice to see, though the depressing sight of him standing on the outside looking in was replaced by that of Darryl Smith holding the door open for his teammates as they left the ice.
As you may be able to guess from seeing the way he plays, Smith is going pretty crazy not being able to get out there, and if he can't play tomorrow...well, he'll be one upset guy.
Some happy campers tonight are the Mississippi RiverKings, who clinched a spot in the Northern Conference finals with a 3-1 win over the Oklahoma City Blazers, and the Colorado Eagles, who swept the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs with a 4-3 overtime win to accomplish the same feat.
The Mudbugs can't feel good having had their season end because they blew a 3-goal lead.
But anyway, as mentioned earlier, Smith and Serge Dube are both game-day decisions for tomorrow, and the goalie is also yet to be determined.
I was thinking of going to the morning skate to find out but then realized the injured guys will need to talk to Bobby Moore after the skate to make a decision, so I'll probably just give Coach Ruskowski a call in the early afternoon and report back to you on here.
Hope your baseball team had a better start to the season today (or last night...or tomorrow) than mine did!
NHL Scores: Red Wings 4, Sabres 1; Senators 3, Canadiens 2; Flames 4, Kings 1.
It was nice to see, though the depressing sight of him standing on the outside looking in was replaced by that of Darryl Smith holding the door open for his teammates as they left the ice.
As you may be able to guess from seeing the way he plays, Smith is going pretty crazy not being able to get out there, and if he can't play tomorrow...well, he'll be one upset guy.
Some happy campers tonight are the Mississippi RiverKings, who clinched a spot in the Northern Conference finals with a 3-1 win over the Oklahoma City Blazers, and the Colorado Eagles, who swept the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs with a 4-3 overtime win to accomplish the same feat.
The Mudbugs can't feel good having had their season end because they blew a 3-goal lead.
But anyway, as mentioned earlier, Smith and Serge Dube are both game-day decisions for tomorrow, and the goalie is also yet to be determined.
I was thinking of going to the morning skate to find out but then realized the injured guys will need to talk to Bobby Moore after the skate to make a decision, so I'll probably just give Coach Ruskowski a call in the early afternoon and report back to you on here.
Hope your baseball team had a better start to the season today (or last night...or tomorrow) than mine did!
NHL Scores: Red Wings 4, Sabres 1; Senators 3, Canadiens 2; Flames 4, Kings 1.
Quick Update
Darryl Smith and Serge Dube both sat out practice this morning, and both are question marks for tomorrow night.
I didn't see Dube around, but Smith said he hopes to play and thinks it's a possibility.
Coach Ruskowski said both players' status for tomorrow, as well as tomorrow night's goaltender, will be decided after the morning skate tomorrow.
In case you hadn't heard yet, the Bucks will be hosting a "White Out" for Game 6 tomorrow night.
I think those of you who have been following this team for a while understand how big tomorrow night is, and I can tell you for a fact that Ruskowski and the players would greatly appreciate your support.
Meanwhile, happy Opening Day (Part 2)! I'll be back later.
I didn't see Dube around, but Smith said he hopes to play and thinks it's a possibility.
Coach Ruskowski said both players' status for tomorrow, as well as tomorrow night's goaltender, will be decided after the morning skate tomorrow.
In case you hadn't heard yet, the Bucks will be hosting a "White Out" for Game 6 tomorrow night.
I think those of you who have been following this team for a while understand how big tomorrow night is, and I can tell you for a fact that Ruskowski and the players would greatly appreciate your support.
Meanwhile, happy Opening Day (Part 2)! I'll be back later.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Last Night
Here's the story from the Bucks' 2-1 loss to the Odessa Jackalopes last night.
Obviously, this puts them on the brink of elimination with the team's fate resting on its performance in Tuesday's game.
The Bucks will more than likely be without Darryl Smith for the contest, and considering that slew of misconduct penalties at the end of last night's game, they might lose a couple other guys.
I hope and assume the team will be practicing tomorrow, so I'll try to get some info on all of that then.
Oh, and the Northern Conference series between the Mississippi RiverKings and Oklahoma Blazers did not end last night, as the Blazers won 5-4 to cut the RiverKings' series lead to 3-2.
They resume play tomorrow, as do the Colorado Eagles and Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. The Eagles can clinch a spot in the Northern Conference Finals with a win.
Today's NHL Scores: Red Wings 3, Wild 2; Capitals 6, Thrashers 4; Blackhawks 1, Blue Jackets 0 (OT); Panthers 4, Penguins 2; Sharks 3, Ducks 2; Avalanche 4, Canucks 1.
Obviously, this puts them on the brink of elimination with the team's fate resting on its performance in Tuesday's game.
The Bucks will more than likely be without Darryl Smith for the contest, and considering that slew of misconduct penalties at the end of last night's game, they might lose a couple other guys.
I hope and assume the team will be practicing tomorrow, so I'll try to get some info on all of that then.
Oh, and the Northern Conference series between the Mississippi RiverKings and Oklahoma Blazers did not end last night, as the Blazers won 5-4 to cut the RiverKings' series lead to 3-2.
They resume play tomorrow, as do the Colorado Eagles and Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. The Eagles can clinch a spot in the Northern Conference Finals with a win.
Today's NHL Scores: Red Wings 3, Wild 2; Capitals 6, Thrashers 4; Blackhawks 1, Blue Jackets 0 (OT); Panthers 4, Penguins 2; Sharks 3, Ducks 2; Avalanche 4, Canucks 1.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Semifinal Game No. 5
In case I get caught up with all my desk duties, you can follow the game here, just like I will be.
Darryl Smith is officially a scratch, and Sebastien Centomo and Juha Toivonen are your starting goalies.
First Period: Prior to Collin Circelli getting called for hooking at 3:55, all I could tell you about this one is that the Jackalopes took the first shot. Bucks on the power play now. ... Fifteen seconds after that penalty box stay ended, Russ Moyer and Matt Miller each earned a trip of their own with hooking and roughing minors, respectively. ... Not much to speak of so far, but the Bucks lead 5-1 on shots a bit past halfway through the period. ... Dominic Leveille is headed to the box for hooking at 12:41 to put the Bucks on their second power play. ... Bucks up 8-3 on shots with five to play in the period. ... And now Adam Rivet will go to the box for hooking at 16:21 to give the Jacks their first power-play chance of the night. ... Guess the Jackalopes' power play is starting to recover from its slump earlier in the series, as Jeff Pierce scored on assists from Sebastien Thinel and Circelli 29 seconds into Rivet's penalty. Jacks lead 1-0. ... And now they will go right back on the advantage, with Miller taking a hooking call at 17:08, 18 seconds after that goal. ... Jacks will take that 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Bucks have outshot them 10-7 so far. ... Apparently Coach Ruskowski did something that wasn't to Mark Lemelin's liking because he was assessed a delay-of-game penalty at the 20-minute mark of the period. Anyone know what happened there?
Second Period: Shawn Snider is headed to the box at 6:24 to put the Jackalopes on the first power play of this period. ... Bucks killed that and now get one of their own with Mike Ramsay being called for interference at 9:42. ... It'll be 4-on-4 for a bit then a Jackalopes' power play as James Hiebert took a hooking call at 10:29. ... And now Dave Van Drunen to the box for holding at 14:56. ... The Bucks sure seem to like going after Juha Toivonen, and Erick Lizon is now headed to the box at 17:39 for goalie interference. ... That one worked out in the Bucks' favor, as Snider was able to score shorthanded to tie the game. Rivet has what is currently the lone assist on the goal, which came at 18:23. ... This'll head into the second intermission tied 1-1. Jacks outshot the Bucks 10-5 in the period and are now up 17-15 in that department for the game. ... Apparently Garrett Gruenke and Hiebert got into it at the end of the period, as both have been assessed roughing minors at the 20-minute mark.
Third Period: Ryan Salvis has been called for hooking to put the Jackalopes on a power play just 28 seconds into the final (regulation) stanza. ... Brian Swiniarski has now given the Bucks their first of the period with a high-sticking call at 3:16. ... The Jackalopes have taken the lead back at 6:38 in the period on a goal from Phillippe Plante. Leveille and Circelli get the assists. ... By the looks of what just popped up on the score sheet, I'm guessing Pierce hooked someone, Rick Kozak went after him because of it, then Gruenke went after Kozak. Of course, I could be completely wrong. Whatever the case, Pierce and Gruenke are headed to the Jackalopes' box for hooking and roughing, respectively, and Kozak to the Bucks' for roughing at 7:15. That'll give the Bucks a power play. ... Nothing doing on that, and now Salvis is headed back for another hooking call at 10:52. ... Some more matching penalties at 16:43, with Kenny Bernard and Kozak being sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct. ... Clock has stopped with 11 seconds left...we'll see if that means anything. Centomo has been out of his net for four seconds at this point. ... Bucks lose, fall behind 3-2 in the series.
Game Over: I don't have time to say much right now, but...
Odessa - Sebastien Thinel - (Fighting Major), 5 min, 19:49
Odessa - Russ Moyer - (Roughing Double Minor), 4 min, 19:49
Odessa - Russ Moyer - (No Category Misconduct), 10 min, 19:49
Odessa - Dominic Leveille - (Roughing), 2 min, 19:49
Laredo - Adam Rivet - (Fighting Major), 5 min, 19:49
Laredo - Rick Kozak - (Roughing Double Minor), 4 min, 19:49
Laredo - James Hiebert - (Fighting (Instigator)), 2 min, 19:49
Laredo - James Hiebert - (Fighting Major), 5 min, 19:49
Laredo - James Hiebert - (Fighting (Instigator) Misconduct), 10 min, 19:49
Odessa - Dave Van Drunen - (Roughing Double Minor), 4 min, 20:00
Odessa - Dave Van Drunen - (No Category Misconduct), 10 min, 20:00
Laredo - Steve Weidlich - (Roughing Double Minor), 4 min, 20:00
Laredo - Steve Weidlich - (No Category Misconduct), 10 min, 20:00
Whoa boy.
NHL Scores: Bruins 1, Rangers 0; Senators 4, Flyers 3 (SO); Devils 3, Sabres 2; Canadiens 6, Maple Leafs 2; Hurricanes 3, Penguins 2 (OT); Islanders 3, Lightning 1; Stars 5, Blues 4; Predators 5, Blue Jackets 4 (SO); Oilers 5, Canucks 3; Ducks 5, Sharks 2; Kings 6, Coyotes 1.
Darryl Smith is officially a scratch, and Sebastien Centomo and Juha Toivonen are your starting goalies.
First Period: Prior to Collin Circelli getting called for hooking at 3:55, all I could tell you about this one is that the Jackalopes took the first shot. Bucks on the power play now. ... Fifteen seconds after that penalty box stay ended, Russ Moyer and Matt Miller each earned a trip of their own with hooking and roughing minors, respectively. ... Not much to speak of so far, but the Bucks lead 5-1 on shots a bit past halfway through the period. ... Dominic Leveille is headed to the box for hooking at 12:41 to put the Bucks on their second power play. ... Bucks up 8-3 on shots with five to play in the period. ... And now Adam Rivet will go to the box for hooking at 16:21 to give the Jacks their first power-play chance of the night. ... Guess the Jackalopes' power play is starting to recover from its slump earlier in the series, as Jeff Pierce scored on assists from Sebastien Thinel and Circelli 29 seconds into Rivet's penalty. Jacks lead 1-0. ... And now they will go right back on the advantage, with Miller taking a hooking call at 17:08, 18 seconds after that goal. ... Jacks will take that 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Bucks have outshot them 10-7 so far. ... Apparently Coach Ruskowski did something that wasn't to Mark Lemelin's liking because he was assessed a delay-of-game penalty at the 20-minute mark of the period. Anyone know what happened there?
Second Period: Shawn Snider is headed to the box at 6:24 to put the Jackalopes on the first power play of this period. ... Bucks killed that and now get one of their own with Mike Ramsay being called for interference at 9:42. ... It'll be 4-on-4 for a bit then a Jackalopes' power play as James Hiebert took a hooking call at 10:29. ... And now Dave Van Drunen to the box for holding at 14:56. ... The Bucks sure seem to like going after Juha Toivonen, and Erick Lizon is now headed to the box at 17:39 for goalie interference. ... That one worked out in the Bucks' favor, as Snider was able to score shorthanded to tie the game. Rivet has what is currently the lone assist on the goal, which came at 18:23. ... This'll head into the second intermission tied 1-1. Jacks outshot the Bucks 10-5 in the period and are now up 17-15 in that department for the game. ... Apparently Garrett Gruenke and Hiebert got into it at the end of the period, as both have been assessed roughing minors at the 20-minute mark.
Third Period: Ryan Salvis has been called for hooking to put the Jackalopes on a power play just 28 seconds into the final (regulation) stanza. ... Brian Swiniarski has now given the Bucks their first of the period with a high-sticking call at 3:16. ... The Jackalopes have taken the lead back at 6:38 in the period on a goal from Phillippe Plante. Leveille and Circelli get the assists. ... By the looks of what just popped up on the score sheet, I'm guessing Pierce hooked someone, Rick Kozak went after him because of it, then Gruenke went after Kozak. Of course, I could be completely wrong. Whatever the case, Pierce and Gruenke are headed to the Jackalopes' box for hooking and roughing, respectively, and Kozak to the Bucks' for roughing at 7:15. That'll give the Bucks a power play. ... Nothing doing on that, and now Salvis is headed back for another hooking call at 10:52. ... Some more matching penalties at 16:43, with Kenny Bernard and Kozak being sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct. ... Clock has stopped with 11 seconds left...we'll see if that means anything. Centomo has been out of his net for four seconds at this point. ... Bucks lose, fall behind 3-2 in the series.
Game Over: I don't have time to say much right now, but...
Odessa - Sebastien Thinel - (Fighting Major), 5 min, 19:49
Odessa - Russ Moyer - (Roughing Double Minor), 4 min, 19:49
Odessa - Russ Moyer - (No Category Misconduct), 10 min, 19:49
Odessa - Dominic Leveille - (Roughing), 2 min, 19:49
Laredo - Adam Rivet - (Fighting Major), 5 min, 19:49
Laredo - Rick Kozak - (Roughing Double Minor), 4 min, 19:49
Laredo - James Hiebert - (Fighting (Instigator)), 2 min, 19:49
Laredo - James Hiebert - (Fighting Major), 5 min, 19:49
Laredo - James Hiebert - (Fighting (Instigator) Misconduct), 10 min, 19:49
Odessa - Dave Van Drunen - (Roughing Double Minor), 4 min, 20:00
Odessa - Dave Van Drunen - (No Category Misconduct), 10 min, 20:00
Laredo - Steve Weidlich - (Roughing Double Minor), 4 min, 20:00
Laredo - Steve Weidlich - (No Category Misconduct), 10 min, 20:00
Whoa boy.
NHL Scores: Bruins 1, Rangers 0; Senators 4, Flyers 3 (SO); Devils 3, Sabres 2; Canadiens 6, Maple Leafs 2; Hurricanes 3, Penguins 2 (OT); Islanders 3, Lightning 1; Stars 5, Blues 4; Predators 5, Blue Jackets 4 (SO); Oilers 5, Canucks 3; Ducks 5, Sharks 2; Kings 6, Coyotes 1.
Semifinal Game Day No. 5
Okay, that took much longer than expected.
You can check out Bryan Benway's preview and the Pointstreak pre-game notes for more on tonight's game, which is about as crucial as crucial can get.
Home ice obviously hasn't meant much so far this series, with the road team winning all four games, so the Bucks will be looking to keep that trend going tonight.
The Bucks are 9-0 all-time after winning the first two games of a playoff series, and the team has never had its season end before the conference finals in team history, so this current group has a lot of pressure on it, especially with Darryl Smith possibly out of commission.
Tonight's game should begin in about 15 minutes.
The only other CHL game tonight has the Oklahoma City Blazers at the Mississippi RiverKings for the fifth, and possibly final, game of their Northern Conference Semifinal series.
As far as the series that ended last night, Brian Sandalow has a story with some thoughts from the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, who seem to have been very gracious losers.
Some excerpts:
"That's something we went over before the game. We kind of said that what's going to happen is going to happen," Bees goalie Wylie Rogers said. "We just need to go out and play our absolute best as a group, the way we know how to play. I think we did that.
"For the most part we went out with a bang and played really well. The cards didn't fall the way we wanted them to, and that's sports for you."
"I was extremely pleased with the effort the guys put forth tonight," Bees coach Chris Brooks said. "Had a lot of chances to score, stuck with one of the premier teams in the league. I told the guys they have a lot to be proud of."
Brooks also sounds quite optimistic about the team's future:
"This team will win a championship. This organization will win a championship," Brooks said. "It's a tough pill to swallow but I've always believed things happen in life for a reason. Like I told the guys after the game, everybody's going to play a part when this team wins a championship. Everybody on this team's going to play a part of it as long as you learn from the past and learn from your experiences."
Brian also has his thoughts on the series and the Killer Bees' season as a whole.
Robert Keith has the other side of the story and a post-series Q&A with Dan Wildfong for his Texas Brahmas Insider Blog.
You can check out Bryan Benway's preview and the Pointstreak pre-game notes for more on tonight's game, which is about as crucial as crucial can get.
Home ice obviously hasn't meant much so far this series, with the road team winning all four games, so the Bucks will be looking to keep that trend going tonight.
The Bucks are 9-0 all-time after winning the first two games of a playoff series, and the team has never had its season end before the conference finals in team history, so this current group has a lot of pressure on it, especially with Darryl Smith possibly out of commission.
Tonight's game should begin in about 15 minutes.
The only other CHL game tonight has the Oklahoma City Blazers at the Mississippi RiverKings for the fifth, and possibly final, game of their Northern Conference Semifinal series.
As far as the series that ended last night, Brian Sandalow has a story with some thoughts from the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, who seem to have been very gracious losers.
Some excerpts:
"That's something we went over before the game. We kind of said that what's going to happen is going to happen," Bees goalie Wylie Rogers said. "We just need to go out and play our absolute best as a group, the way we know how to play. I think we did that.
"For the most part we went out with a bang and played really well. The cards didn't fall the way we wanted them to, and that's sports for you."
"I was extremely pleased with the effort the guys put forth tonight," Bees coach Chris Brooks said. "Had a lot of chances to score, stuck with one of the premier teams in the league. I told the guys they have a lot to be proud of."
Brooks also sounds quite optimistic about the team's future:
"This team will win a championship. This organization will win a championship," Brooks said. "It's a tough pill to swallow but I've always believed things happen in life for a reason. Like I told the guys after the game, everybody's going to play a part when this team wins a championship. Everybody on this team's going to play a part of it as long as you learn from the past and learn from your experiences."
Brian also has his thoughts on the series and the Killer Bees' season as a whole.
Robert Keith has the other side of the story and a post-series Q&A with Dan Wildfong for his Texas Brahmas Insider Blog.
Quick Note
I am very glad to see the positive reaction to my story being updated after last night's game for the local deliveries of today's print edition.
One thing I was less happy to see is the fact that I never know what day it is finally caught up to me in print, as the second edition for some reason says "4-3 win on Wednesday," which is even worse than that error would normally be because the Jackalopes did actually have a 4-3 overtime win over the Bucks on Wednesday. Sorry about that; I'll make sure "Tuesday" is the first word I type for my Game 6 story.
Moving on to more important things, I just got off the phone with Coach Ruskowski, and he said Darryl Smith is a "big question mark" for tonight. By the sound of it, Smith will not be playing and could still be out of the lineup for Game 6 on Tuesday.
Smith was taken to the hospital after leaving last night's game, and tests did not show any severe injury, but he's still limping around as of earlier today. He did make the trip up to Odessa, though.
Matt Miller was indeed a healthy scratch last night, though, so the Bucks should have a full lineup regardless of whether Smith can play.
As far as the goalie change, Ruskowski said Andrew Martin was kind of getting dehydrated and cramped and just needed a break. Sebastien Centomo, who played 35:16 last night, will still be starting tonight.
I need to go format a slew of middle school track meet results, then type up Little League scores, but I'll be back ASAP with a game day post and to live blog the game as best I can later.
Those of you in town, don't forget that the Bucks' official watch party is once again being held at Rudy's Bar-B-Q on McPherson Road. The game starts at 7:05 p.m.
One thing I was less happy to see is the fact that I never know what day it is finally caught up to me in print, as the second edition for some reason says "4-3 win on Wednesday," which is even worse than that error would normally be because the Jackalopes did actually have a 4-3 overtime win over the Bucks on Wednesday. Sorry about that; I'll make sure "Tuesday" is the first word I type for my Game 6 story.
Moving on to more important things, I just got off the phone with Coach Ruskowski, and he said Darryl Smith is a "big question mark" for tonight. By the sound of it, Smith will not be playing and could still be out of the lineup for Game 6 on Tuesday.
Smith was taken to the hospital after leaving last night's game, and tests did not show any severe injury, but he's still limping around as of earlier today. He did make the trip up to Odessa, though.
Matt Miller was indeed a healthy scratch last night, though, so the Bucks should have a full lineup regardless of whether Smith can play.
As far as the goalie change, Ruskowski said Andrew Martin was kind of getting dehydrated and cramped and just needed a break. Sebastien Centomo, who played 35:16 last night, will still be starting tonight.
I need to go format a slew of middle school track meet results, then type up Little League scores, but I'll be back ASAP with a game day post and to live blog the game as best I can later.
Those of you in town, don't forget that the Bucks' official watch party is once again being held at Rudy's Bar-B-Q on McPherson Road. The game starts at 7:05 p.m.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Semifinal Game No. 4
Starters: Bucks - Igor Agarunov (D), James Hiebert (F), Erick Lizon (F), Andrew Martin (G), Shawn Snider (F), Steve Weidlich (D); Jackalopes - Jean Bourbeau (F), Paul Kelly (F), Russ Moyer (D), Brian Swiniarski (F), Juha Toivonen (G), Dave Van Drunen (D).
First Period: Interesting starting lineup for the Bucks. ... Hiebert got the game's first shot about 45 seconds in after the puck was in the Jacks' zone for most of the time prior to that. ... Jeff Pierce utilized a takeaway in his team's zone to get the first good scoring chance of the game, but his shot missed wide. ... The top line remains Brent Cullaton-Darryl Smith-Jason Dixon with Hiebert back in the lineup. ... Play has been kept in the neutral zone most of the first few minutes with touch checks and sloppy open-ice hits providing the excitement lacking due to the sparing shots. ... Rick Kozak just got one off, but Toivonen gloved it only to have Serge Dube go after the puck in his closed glove hand. ... Not much later, the Bucks went flying into Toivonen and other Jackalopes around the net, resulting in a very mild scrum behind it. Borbeau andKozak were given the game's first two penalties, both roughing, as a result, so two minutes of 4-on-4 start now at 4:16. ... Ouch. Make it a 4-on-3 as Devin Featherstone lowered his stick to help defend against a turnover in his defensive zone only to have Kory Karlander trip right over it. That came 5:17 in, so he'll serve two for tripping, leaving the Jacks with a 4-on-3 for 59 seconds and a 5-on-4 for 1:01. Dixon, Dube and Rivet will do the honors for now. ... Another good penalty kill for the Bucks, who only allowed three shots, two in the early seconds of that power play. A couple big clears, though. ... The Jacks seem to not want to score on the power play this series, but they scored just eight seconds after Featherstone left the box as Swiniarski got his first goal of the postseason on a bad-angled shot that seemed to bang in past Martin off some iron. Bourbeau has what is currently the lone assist. ... And that odd line combination has tied it up for the Bucks just 46 seconds later as Hiebert brought the puck up the ice and fed it over to Snider, who fumbled a bit but managed to get a shot off and past Toivonen. Lizon gets the other assist on the score, which came at 8:11 in the period on the Bucks' sixth shot of the game. ... The Brahmas have a 1-0 lead over the Killer Bees. ... Another wide shot from the Jacks to waste a good opportunity, this time with Mike Ramsay missing the net. ... The Bucks just almost scored on themselves but were lucky to have the puck bounce off Martin and away from the net. They need to be more careful with the puck in their own end. ... Russell seemed to take down one of the Jacks and was in turn taken down by Van Drunen, but he's the only one headed to the box, for holding at 12:45, to give the Jacks their second power play. ... Ryan Palmer just took down Cullaton to earn a tripping call and make it 4-on-4 at 13:29. ... Adam Rivet wasted no time (or at least very little) taking advantage of that scenario to slap one in from the point, putting the Bucks up 2-1 at 13:53 in the period. Cullaton has what is currently the lone assist. ... The Jacks came on strong off the next faceoff but were stopped a couple times then had the puck cleared out of their offensive zone. ... Very close call there for the Jacks as Toivonen managed to get a toe on a shot and deflect it wide. ... Snider just took a rocket slap shot from Toivonen's right circle, had it stopped, then got completely flattened by one of the Jacks. They are definitely trying to bring their physical play up tonight. ... The Jacks just came very close to scoring on a delayed penalty call, as Martin made the initial stop but left the puck loose in the crease with the net pretty wide open. The whistle didn't blow until only 1:06 left in the period, and Smith is headed to the box for...about three seconds. Before they even announced the penalty, Moyer nailed one in from the high slot on an assist from Kelly, who won the faceoff cleanly. Tied 2-2 with 1:03 to play. The penalty was for board checking, by the way, and that was the Jacks' first power-play goal of the series after they led the league in goals scored on the advantage during the regular season. ... End of the period, game tied 2-2. Jackalopes lead 14-10 on shots. The Brahmas lead 1-0 at the other game's first intermission.
Second Period: Snider was very aggressive all first period and has come out that way in the second, then Hiebert was alone in front but couldn't get past Toivonen. Only 53 seconds into the period and already very intense stuff. ... The Jacks have taken an unsporstmanlike conduct penalty for something somone on the bench did, and Bernard will serve that starting at 1:32 to give the Bucks the first power play of the period. ... You know why I think Sebastien Thinel hasn't scored a playoff goal in years? He refuses to shoot the puck. Just had a great chance and chose to pass, only to have the pass broken up which gave me some deja vu because the same thing happened in the first period. ... The Killer Bees have tied that other game at 1 early in the second period. ... Apparently the team store is now selling shirts that read, "That's just Hiebert being Hiebert." I cannot tell you how many times I've heard that phrase, haha. ... And the Brahmas have the lead back just 15 seconds later. Ouch. ... Well, one of Thinel's passes finally connected, and Dominic Leveille scored as a result. Ryan Palmer had the initial pass to set up an odd-man rush for the Jacks, who were pretty much a sure thing to score on that chance. Jacks lead 3-2 at 10:42 in the period. ... Garrett Gruenke just loves fighting the Bucks, and this time it was Hiebert, who took the brunt of the blows in a brawl with the man about seven inches taller than him. Hiebert landed a few but seemed off balance for a while as Gruenke pummeled him. He came back with a few more, and there was a lot of dancing in that one, but I think you'd have to give it to Gruenke for sure. ... Gruenke got a roughing penalty in addition to the necessary fighting major, so the Bucks will be on the advantage for the fourth time tonight as Pierce serves that for his teammate. So, not only did Hiebert get his team and the crowd riled up and make a plug for that new shirt, but he got the Bucks a power play chance. Not too shabby for a lost fight. ... Martin just made a couple of stellar saves in a very short time span as clearing the puck is getting to be a problem for the Bucks again. ... Russell has just tied the game at 14:39 as he skated in at the just the right moment to wrist a rebound over Toivonen's shoulder. Smith was out there with him and has what is currently the lone assist. ... Upon further review, the puck had actually been deflected away from Toivonen by one of his defenseman and trickled right over to Russell's stick. That was a simple case of being in the right place at the right time. Good shot, though. ... Thinel finally took a shot, albeit a bad-angled one from behind the circle, but Martin was able to stop it easily. ... Moyer just lost his stick in taking down Vincent Zaore-Vanie and will now serve two for tripping. His reaction to Cruickshank's arm raise was pretty priceless, and he even skated over to literally touch the puck with his glove to stop play. Power play for the Bucks with 3:35 to play in the period. ... The Brahmas still lead 2-1 heading into the second intermission of their game. ... End of two here, game still tied 3-3. Jackalopes lead 27-15 on shots, and the Bucks' regroups and breakouts have been kind of lacking. We'll see if they can pick things up in the third.
Third Period: Pretty steady back-and-forth to start this one, which is somehow way behind the other game in spite of that one starting five-10 minutes later. ... Lizon has gotten the second assist on Russell's goal in the second period. Quite a mish mosh there. ... Zaore is headed to the box at 5:05 to give the Jackalopes the first power play of the period. ... And now Leveille is headed to his team's sin bin at 6:59 for slashing to make it 4-on-4 for six seconds, then the Bucks' first power play of the period. ... A Bucks' slap shot just missed the net by inches on the closest chance either team has had in a while, then the Bucks got another good one a bit later, but no dice. ... Goalie change for the Bucks with 8:12 to play, as Sebastien Centomo will replace Andrew Martin. Interesting. ... The Killer Bees' miraculous turnaround season has come to an end, with Texas scoring an empty-netter late to win 3-1. ... Toivonen is coming up huge for the Jacks down the stretch. ... Paul Gillis called a time out with 3:19 left on the clock to draw up a play for his team. We'll see if anything comes of that. ... Well, I've been trying to type up a story to allow for quote-getting time, but that won't be happening as we are headed to overtime once again. Centomo made some HUGE stops toward the end of that one, and got a little help from his crossbar. ... Brian Rae just said something about the fact that going into overtime makes that overnight trip even more of a pain, which reminded me of that whole thing. Poor guys, yikes. ... This is the third overtime of the series, so that tells you something about how well-matched these teams are. ... The Bucks outshot the Jacks 7-5 in the third but are being outshot 32-22 overall.
Overtime: Centomo will stay in net for the OT, so I am quite curious as to what happened to Martin. I'll have to call Coach Ruskowski tomorrow to ask about that and to see whether or not Matt Miller was a healthy scratch. ... I seriously hate quoteless game stories, but I guess that's the way it's going to be in this series. ... I really thought the Jackalopes just scored, but I guess the puck bounced off something before crossing the goal line. Very close call. ... This whole 5-on-5 for OT in the playoffs thing is so lame. ... Wow has Centomo been a wall in this OT. The Jacks are only listed at five shots, but I'm not sure that's quite right. ... Whoa, Dube just kinda jumped someone while Weidlich tussled with someone else. All this while Hiebert was on the ice and not messing with anyone. Twilight Zone, anyone? ... Dube and Bernard took matching penalty minors to make it 4-on-4 like it should be 10:56 into this OT period. ... Thinel just knocked Smith over, and Weidlich reacted by jumping Thinel. Possibly not the best decision at the current point in time. This game is killing me! ... Thinel was called for cross checking and Weidlich for roughing to make it 4-on-4 again. All that means is that if Weidlich hadn't taken that penalty, the Bucks would be on a power play right now. ... And now they will get it with a holding call against Gruenke with exactly one minute left on the prior penalties and 2:41 left on the clock. ... Toivonen just made a couple incredible saves then got knocked into his net by a group of Bucks attempting to chase a loose puck. ... Weidlich must have taken feisty pills this morning, yikes. He just jumped Gruenke then seemed willing to fight the linesman dragging him away to get back into it. He'll be in the box for the rest of this OT, as will Gruenke, it seems. ... Smith is being helped off the ice after all that, which is definitely bad news. ... Two minutes apiece for roughing. Fifteen seconds left on the clock. ... Gruenke skated out of the box to boos from the crowd, but he was just heading to the locker room, don't worry. ... Time for a second OT. Tomorrow is going to suck for these teams, absolutely suck. ... Obviously everyone wants a call for that hit by Van Drunen that took Smith out, but no such luck. Similarly, Rae wants something against Weidlich for running people down, and no dice there, either.
Second Overtime: A bit of 4-on-4 here to start, and I am quite certain Smith is still nowhere to be found. Poor kid. ... I'm not even sure what to blog and what not to blog anymore. Both teams have had some good chances, but the goalies have been solid and a few errant passes have helped them out. Just over five minutes into this OT, and things don't look guaranteed to end anytime soon. ... Centomo left the crease to chase a puck out in his left circle and immediately got forced back in to make a glove save on an on-target shot by the Jackalopes. ... Greg Rajan is going to love this. Thinel just deflected a shot by Jarad Bourassa to win the game for the Jackalopes 7:03 into the second overtime. I had to write a quick story so we could replate with it for the local editions, so my brain is shot right now. That was quite a game. The streak ends at 1,081, Greg.
NHL Scores: Flyers 8, Maple Leafs 5; Devils 5, Lightning 4; Sabres 5, Capitals 4 (OT); Thrashers 4, Panthers 1; Wild 4, Flames 0; Blackhawks 3, Predators 1.
Semifinal Game Day No. 4
Game 4 of this Southern Conference Semifinal series will begin in 10 minutes...hopefully.
Andrew Martin and Juha Toivonen are tonight's starting goaltenders, and Matt Miller will be the Bucks' scratch.
You can read my very brief preview, Bryan Benway's preview and the Pointstreak pre-game notes for info on this game.
It's obviously a big one for both teams as the Bucks look to keep their series lead and the Jacks look to even things up before both teams have to trek up to Odessa tonight in preparation for tomorrow night's Game 5.
The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees are hosting the Texas Brahmas in tonight's only other game, which could be the last of their semifinal series.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Tonight
The Colorado Eagles became the second team to take a 3-0 lead in its conference semifinal series with a 3-2 overtime win against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs tonight.
In tonight's other game, also a Northern Conference affair, the Missippi RiverKings defeated the Oklahoma City Blazers 2-1 to take a 3-1 lead in their series.
The Bucks watched tape this morning but were unable to practice today due to the concert at the LEC tonight. Hopefully the turnaround goes smoothly and the ice isn't too choppy tomorrow night.
Due to all the delays and the overtime last night, I didn't have time to get quotes for my story and had to write it in about five minutes, but you can read that here.
NHL Scores: Bruins 2, Senators 1; Canadiens 5, Islanders 1; Hurricanes 4, Rangers 2; Blues 5, Red Wings 4; Flames 2, Stars 1; Sharks 2, Oilers 1; Ducks 6, Canucks 5 (SO); Coyotes 2, Kings 1.
In tonight's other game, also a Northern Conference affair, the Missippi RiverKings defeated the Oklahoma City Blazers 2-1 to take a 3-1 lead in their series.
The Bucks watched tape this morning but were unable to practice today due to the concert at the LEC tonight. Hopefully the turnaround goes smoothly and the ice isn't too choppy tomorrow night.
Due to all the delays and the overtime last night, I didn't have time to get quotes for my story and had to write it in about five minutes, but you can read that here.
NHL Scores: Bruins 2, Senators 1; Canadiens 5, Islanders 1; Hurricanes 4, Rangers 2; Blues 5, Red Wings 4; Flames 2, Stars 1; Sharks 2, Oilers 1; Ducks 6, Canucks 5 (SO); Coyotes 2, Kings 1.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Semifinal Game No. 3
James Hiebert, who had seemed confident he would play tonight, apparently will not, as he is not on the lineup card. He did skate in practice yesterday, so I imagine he'll be back on Friday.
First Period: Finally getting started at 7:20, but I must admit that playoff video was pretty fun and, dare I say it, cute. Whoever decided to turn off the lights when I wasn't in the press box is not cool, though, haha. Oh, and funny that they were wearing their blues in the video when they're wearing their whites tonight. But skating out with little kids is always gold. And I guess Bucky escaped prison after all, just in time to hear a very theatric rendition of the anthem. ... Garrett Gruenke and Erick Lizon skated over to center ice to throw down after the first stoppage 43 seconds in, and I'd have to say Lizon took that one just one day after nearly killing me. Just kidding, sorta. Both landed a few shots, but Lizon got a couple more and the biggest one of the brawl and got Gruenke to the ground pretty quickly. Gruenke didn't seem to think the fight should have ended that way, so we might ssee another No. 6 vs. No. 6 exchange tonight. ... Jason Dixon is on the top line with Darryl Smith and Brent Cullaton in Hiebert's absence, and the other line for tonight is Bobby Russell-Ryan Salvis-Rick Kozak. ... Gruenke just left the box for a minute to have the Jackalopes' trainer look at his lip. Not sure if that's the best way to show toughness. ... Couple very close calls before the Jackalopes scored to take their first lead of the series at 3:07 in the game. Scoring first is a huge factor in this series, as Coach Ruskowski mentions in my preview for tonight, so we'll see if the Bucks can recover. Jeff Pierce scored that one on assists from Phillippe Plante and Bourbeau. Centomo was getting pulled all over the place as the Jacks kept the puck in the crease and octagon for a while and eventually ended up sprawled across the ice with Pierce's shot flying over him. ... Devin Featherstone just took a boarding penalty for a hit on Mike Ramsay to put the Jackalopes on their first power play of the game. Keeping the Jacks off the advantage was a topic Goupil and I discussed yesterday, as they have one of the league's best power plays, but he did note that the Bucks have been pretty successful in killing them so far. Serge Dube, Rivet, Russell and Salvis out to start this kill. ... They did their part, then Dixon, Snider, Steve Weidlich and Zaore did an impressive job on their PK shift. Dube and Rivet back out now, this time with Cullaton and Smith. ... And now Russell and Salvis back out with Igor Agarunov and Weidlich for the last few seconds of this. ... Paul Kelly sent a slap shot just wide of the net to close out that advantage. ... Kozak and Van Drunen just wiped out together but skated away without any fuss. ... Sebastien Thinel just came thisclose to scoring his first playoff goal in quite some time, but Centomo shut the five hole just in time to catch the puck between his legs. ... Toivonen just managed to poke away a puck he had no way of seeing with Russell screening him as Featherstone slapped one in from the point. ... Bucks get their first power play now as Ryan Palmer is headed to the box for high sticking at 7:49. Cullaton and Dube at the points with Goupil, Miller and Smith up front. ... Ruskowski must have been flipping out during a 30-second span during which his players passed it back and forth beautifully but failed to take a single shot. ... Okay, he might forgive them now, as Miller has tied it up with a falling-down highlight-reel type score from the Toivonen's right circle. Top-shelf score and a nice effort. Goal came 9:49 into the game. Dixon and Rivet with the assists. ... Holy cow, that was one of the coolest goals I have seen in a long, long time. Smith doing the honors this time just 16 seconds after Miller's score. I must catch that on replay. Seriously, wow. ... Great give-and-go between Smith and Cullaton, who has what is currently the lone assist. Cullaton caught Smith's stick perfectly as Smith was getting taken down and managed to deflect the puck right over Toivonen. Smith then crashed the net (awesome phrase) and jumped up for a very enthusiastic celebratory yell. Bucks lead 2-1. ... Dube just destroyed Thinel into the boards, which got some of the Jackalopes shoving around and Kozak freaking out. Dube will serve a boarding penalty for his actions, and Kelly will also head to the box. Thinel is still on the ice and kinda freaking me out. I wish we had a better vantage point for this kind of thing. ... Thinel eventually stood up on his own and skated off about as slowly as you'll ever see a professional hockey player skate. Penalties are being determined, and Tudor Floru is currently over by the Bucks' bench talking to Ruskowski about that situation. ... Paul Gillis got his turn, too, and the end result was a five-minute boarding major for Dube, a roughing minor for Kozak and a roughing minor for Kelly. The Jacks will have a 5-on-4 advantage for five minutes. ... Cullaton just had a great shorthanded chance but got robbed of the puck by Kenny Bernard. ... The crowd is a couple thousand shy of capacity but still quite noisy and very into this game. ... Thinel is back out skating but looked a bit off-balance on his first shift. ... Smith just made a couple nifty plays to get the puck deep in the Jackalopes' zone but had no one to pass it to and had to put the brakes on fast and try to take it Toivonen himsel. No dice, but nice effort. ... Bucks still shorthanded with the first group of guys out of the box. ... Just as I was thinking that it's pretty crazy the Bucks were going to kill off five whole minutes of a power play without Dube on the ice, one of the Jacks hit the goal post and lit the lamp...but only temporarily. No goal, as the puck never crossed the line, and the Bucks have done exactly that. ... This period is taking quite some time, thanks in part to the fact that Centomo is covering every puck he saves and keeps. Not saying that's a bad thing, though...well, other than for the Jackalopes, I suppose. ... Toivonen left his net with the Bucks rushing in and got run into by Miller, who then tussled with Gruenke briefly. Though Miller had no reason to hit Toivonen as hard as he did, the responsible thing to do is to go after the puck, which he did. Toivonen is fine, so we'll have two penalties but not too much harm done otherwise. ... Those penalties will be goalie interference on Miller and roughing on Gruenke. It'll be four-on-four for two minutes with 2:45 left in the period. ... Salvis just overskated the pass on a give-and-go with Russell to cap off a very intense minute or so. I love 4-on-4 hockey. ... Back to 5-on-5 now, and the Jacks get the first shot of the latest even-strength run but are stopped by Centomo. End of the period, Bucks lead 2-1 in spite of purportedly being outshot 17-7. Yikes. ... Oh no, they waited about five minutes before starting the clock, so I'm guessing this will be a long intermission. Hopefully things will speed up a bit for the sake of allowing me to get postgame quotes. ... Awww, li'l chilluns. ... Brahmas lead the Killer Bees 1-0 after their first period, while the Blazers lead the RiverKings 2-1 in the second.
Second Period: Smith has been pretty on fire tonight, not that this is anything new and exciting. That kid is seriously so much fun to watch. ... The Bucks just had quite a bit of trouble clearing a rebound but managed it after a while. That's obviously a big key out there and something they seem to be doing much better during the playoffs than they had at points in the regular season. ... Haha, these little player videos they're showing on the Jumbotron are neat. ... Very nice save on a point-blank shot by one of the Jacks. Collin Circelli, I believe. ... The RiverKings have just tied their game at 2, and Toivonen has just dislodged his net. ... Seriously, these videos are kinda hilarious. ... Pushing and shoving all around, not surprisingly. ... Toivonen just had to make quite a dive to keep a dribbling rebound off a shot by Snider from getting to Goupil's stick. ... Kelly just robbed Dixon of the puck, then Dixon, seemingly incidentally, got tangled up with him and took him down with his stick. That'll be a tripping penalty against Dixon at 6:25. ... Circelli just took Weidlich out behind the Bucks' net, so things are going to get evened up out here. Call is for cross-checking at 6:46. ... Some of the battles along the boards have been pretty sloppy tonight, but the Bucks are doing their best to come away with the puck however they can. ... Nothing doing 4-on-4, time for a mini Bucks' power play. ... Blazers have the lead back, 3-2 after two. Brahmas are up 2-0 now. ... Just as Ruskowski said had been the case in Odessa, the Bucks are getting a few little breaks here and there tonight. Centomo just made a good save but allowed the rebound, which then got wristed inches over the crossbar. That's not the first miss like that the Jacks have had. ... Killer Bees have scored to make it 2-1. ... Rivet just drew a tripping call against Kory Karlander, and the Bucks will be going on the power play with 8:39 to play in the period. ... If the Bucks have really only taken 12 shots tonight, Smith must have made about three quarters of them. ... Smith just lost his helmet, and as a result, the Jacks will lose another player on the ice for a couple minutes. Moyer is going off for elbowing at 12:32 in the period to give the Bucks a 5-on-3 for 46 seconds. ... The Bucks just rocked another set play, this time with Dube getting the goal as the trailer on some nice work by Salvis and Cullaton. Very nice shot by Dube from just ahead of the goal line. But apparently the arena thinks Kozak scored. Oy. Bucks lead 3-1 at 13:46 in the period. ... Not to be outdone, Centomo just made a very theatrical glove save at the other end when play resumed. ... This team genuinely looks nothing like the one we saw for the majority of the regular season. Ruskowski has been on them to no end at practice this week and making them watch tape every afternoon, but I guess they must get how big this is on their own to a certain extent. ... Toivonen just made a pretty nice save, only his 12th of the night overall. ... Whoa, I just noticed the Jacks are being credited for 30 shots. When I spoke to Centomo earlier this week, he said the guys were doing a good job of making sure the shots he faces aren't of the highest quality, which makes having as many saves as he did last week an easier thing to accomplish. Not sure if that's really true or if he's just trying to be nice to his teammates, but it's certainly not as though they are playing poorly in front of him. ... The Brahmas and RiverKings just scored at about the same time to respectively take a 3-1 lead and tie their game at 3. Does that make sense? Just in case it doesn't: Brahmas up 3-1, RiverKings and Blazers tied 3-3. ... Centomo just made another save and had the net ripped off its moorings behind him while trying to control the rebound. ... Rivet and Bourbeau just started shoving each other, and when Rivet stepped away, Kozak came in and dropped the gloves. Quite a battle there, with Kozak fighting much of it with his jersey over his head. Brian Rae is saying Kozak flat-out lost that one, but I'd say it was a bit of a draw. He's also calling for Rivet to get an instigator penalty, but we'll see about that. ... Nope. The fighters are getting five apiece, of course, but they'll serve most of that in the third as there are only 21 seconds left. ... Bucks will take this 3-1 lead into the second intermission in spite of being more than doubled on shots (31-15). The Brahmas scored once more right before their second break to take a 4-1 lead in their game. ... RiverKings have taken a 4-3 lead with 5:07 to play on a goal by Bobby Chaumont. Matt Summers, who scored the RiverKings' first goal, had an assist on that one. ... RiverKings win 4-3 to take a 2-1 series lead.
Third Period: Big pileup in the Jackalopes' crease as the Bucks chased down a rebound no one was there to collect initially. ... Russell is headed to the box for hooking at 3:59 to put the Jackalopes on the first power play of this period. ... Smith got a shorthanded chance early but couldn't quite escape the man who was covering him. ... Jacks only got one shot on that power play, their first of the period overall, and Centomo stopped it. ... Circelli just turned the puck over to Goupil while trailing a play and gave Goupil a one-on-one with Toivonen, but Goupil couldn't quite get a shot off in time. ... Sorry if the blogging is lagging a bit; not quite as much to say, and I'm trying to start my story because it's getting late. ... Brahmas lead 5-1 now. ... Make that 5-2. ... And make this one 3-2, as Ramsay just scored on assists from Pierce and Palmer at 8:40. ... Major close call there, but Centomo managed to keep the puck out. ... Anyone who questioned Centomo's play this season better be praising what he's doing to keep the lead in the Bucks' hands right now. ... Whoops. I didn't say that. Jackalopes just tied it with 6:43 to play on a goal scored on a rebound. Bernard from Ramsay and Karlander. Obviously you can't really fault Centomo too much for allowing three goals on 42 shots. ... Centomo just lost his stick but didn't face any shots without it. ... Time for some 4-on-4 to close this out, as Pierce and Zaore were each called for holding with 1:59 to play. ... Okay, make that elbowing on Pierce. ... Brahmas won their game 6-2. ... Holy cow did Toivonen just come up huge for his team. ... Someone's out to get me tonight; ridiculously long game in regulation, and now we're headed to overtime. I might not be able to get quotes; that's terrible.
Overtime: Oh, right, there's an intermission before OT in the playoffs. No quotes for sure. ... Wow, major sports stress moment there, as Centomo lost a rebound, nearly leaving the net wide open for the Jacks but the Bucks managed to clear it out, thanks mostly to Snider. Seriously, 4-on-4 is intense. ... And the Jacks have completed the comeback, winning 4-3 on a goal by Van Drunen. Time to write quite quickly now.
Game Over: Jackalopes win 4-3; Bucks now lead the series 2-1. No practice tomorrow, which makes it stink even more that I didn't have time to get quotes tonight.
NHL Scores: Capitals 5, Islanders 3; Thrashers 3, Sabres 2 (OT); Penguins 6, Devils 1; Maple Leafs 3, Flyers 2; Blackhawks 3, Blues 1; Coyotes 3, Avalanche 0.
Semifinal Game Day No. 3
The players just skated out to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," and I am now going to be annoyed for the rest of the night.
Sebastien Centomo will be the Bucks' starting goaltender, while Juha Toivonen is getting his first start of the series for the Odessa Jackalopes.
Sorry this isn't a more in-depth game day post, but I got caught up doing things at the office and just got o the arena.
You can read my preview, Bryan Benway's preview and the Pointstreak pre-game notes for some info about the game.
Darryl Smith will be presented his Rookie of the Year award tonight, and hopefully the house will be pretty packed for that and the game.
Oh, and hope some of you got to see the Bucks' page in today's print edition. I know it's not much, but it looked pretty neat.
Bucks are in their home whites tonight, while the Jackalopes are in some very red sweaters. Interesting font on those.
Apparently we'll be starting a bit late, as the players left the ice at 6:53 only to have the clock set to 18 minutes.
Oh, right, there are two other games tonight, with the Texas Brahmas at the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees in Game 3 of their Southern Conference Semifinal series and the Mississippi RiverKings at the Oklahoma City Blazers in Game 3 of their Northern Conference series.
The Brahmas lead their series 2-0, while the Northerners are tied 1-1.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)