Game Day No. 13

Tonight's the night that James Hiebert makes his much-hyped return to the LEC as a member of the Texas Brahmas.

Not sure how many of you actually get the paper, but the Bucks run ads on the front page of our section every day they host a game, and the ad for tonight even featured a picture of James and a note about him being in town.

The latter half of my game story from last night's 4-3 shootout loss focuses on tonight's matchup, and here are some of the quotes I used as well as some leftover ones about Hiebert's return:

Adam Rivet:

"I'm sure he's going to be excited to play. He was in town the other day, and I met up with him for a little bit. He didn't say too much, but James is a competitor, and I'm sure he's going to want to win. I know he played for six years and loved it in Laredo, loves the people in Laredo, but he's with a new team now, and he's going to do what he has to do over there. That's his job now, and we'll see what happens, I guess."

Jeff Bes:

"Obviously, they're a great team. They're the defending champions. James Hiebert, as a person and as a hockey player, certainly helped this organization. He helped us win two championships, and he's a fan favorite here, so obviously fans will be here to see him play. But we have to go out there, and we have to look at the Brahmas as a team, as the defending champions, and be prepared to play against them - the team as a whole. We know what he can do on the ice, and obviously we have to be prepared because I'm sure he'll be excited to play against us and here in front of the crowd that he played in front of for six years. All in all, we have to be prepared to play and be able to shut them down because they're the defending champions. As we know, having been defending champions, every team wants to beat you, so that's what we have to go out there and do."

Coach Ruskowski:

"It really hasn't (been something I've thought about). He had the opportunity to play there, I gave him the opportunity to do that, gave him his free agency, and he wants to play, he's going to keep on playing. I just hope he doesn't burn me a whole lot with a game-winning goal. I hope he has a good game; I just hope we have a better one. I don't know if it is a draw for fans or not. I hope it is. I hope they all come. I hope we have 8,000 watching the game. If it is, come out; we enjoy it. The louder you cheer, the more people here, the better we play, so it would be a huge advantage for us."

And, last but not least, here's what Hiebert himself had to say about tonight:

"I'm definitely looking forward to it. Any time you play against a team you played for, you want to get a win. Obviously, it's important for our team to do that and get on the horse to get into the race for first place. That's our goal right now."

"I'm not too sure how the fans will react. Hopefully they'll receive me well."

Ruskowski also shared his thoughts on what he expects from the Brahmas and what kind of gauge this weekend is going to be for the Bucks.

"They're big, strong, they move the puck well, they're physical," he said. "I'll expect the same team as last year, which was a dominating hockey team. After this weekend, it will kind of tell me where I am with my team, what we have to do to get where we need to be."

Obviously, personnel changes are still a definite possibility, and tonight's game will do a lot as far as telling Ruskowski if anyone needs to go.

I would expect Jean-Philippe Levasseur to be in goal for the Bucks again tonight, as Ruskowski said he'd stick with him until "he lost a game," as in the kind that is decided in regulation or maybe even overtime.

I wasn't able to talk to Ruskowski last night because of the late finish to the game, so the most I can offer you as far as another opinion about starting goalies is this blurb from Bryan Benway's blog:

I'm not sure who we will see in goal for either team, but I would not be suprised to see Jaeger and Levasseuer.

Obviously, that wouldn't surprise me, either.

Anyway, for more on tonight, you can check out Benway's preview and the Pointstreak pre-game notes.

I'll be back to live blog in a bit. Cross your fingers that this one will be decided in regulation.