Catching Up

Before I get back to everything that happened today, here are some links from Sunday's 6-3 win over the Corpus Christi IceRays:

Final Box Score

Game Sheet

My Story

Bryan Benway's Recap

Greg Rajan's Story

Rajan's Blog Post

In a later post, Rajan also supplies a link to a video of Brent Hughes' ejection on Sunday.

Sunday's loss ended Hughes' nine-game unbeaten streak against the Bucks, stemming back to his days with the Austin Ice Bats, and was also (obviously) the Bucks' first win over the IceRays this season.

The Bucks (9-4-3, 21 points) have now won two straight at home, and not even in shootouts, and will be back at the LEC on Saturday in the second half of a home-and-home against the league-leading Odessa Jackalopes (15-3-2, 32 points).

Today, the Bucks announced the signing of Curtis Billsten, the IR confinement of Lance Monych and the date of their second annual "Pink in the Rink" game, which will be held on Jan. 29.

Oh, and let's not forget they play the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees tomorrow night in Hidalgo.

I have a notebook running in tomorrow's paper that addresses each of those facts, complete with thoughts from Coach Ruskowski about everything and everyone.

I also spoke to Evan Schwabe about his new line, which combined for 10 points and a plus-6 on Sunday and was not surprisingly the line in the red jerseys at practice this morning.

As mentioned earlier, the power play was a focus this morning, and Ruskowski said he really doesn't think it's going to be possible to win games on the road this season unless that aspect of the team's game is clicking.

I also spoke to him about a few topics that will have to be blog-exclusive, including backup goaltender Kyle Gajewski, who Ruskowski said will be getting another start this weekend.

Though Gajewski's status with the team appears to be secure, other roster moves in the near future have not been ruled out. Nothing official as of yet, other than the two announced today, but I'll keep you posted.

I'll be back with quotes and more tomorrow, but in case I don't get around to it until later in the day, don't forget there is a watch party for tomorrow night's game at Hal's Landing at 7 p.m.