Game Day No. 29

The Bucks (13-9-6, 32 points) will try once again to snap their winless streak, which has grown to five games, tonight when they host the Corpus Christi IceRays (11-14-4, 26 points) in their annual New Year's Eve game.

This is the third of three games in a one-week span between these teams, and the Bucks have yet to win one, falling to 3-3-1 in the season series.

Pier-Olivier Pelletier will make his Bucks' debut tonight, and Coach Ruskowski is really counting on him to be able to keep this shorthanded team in the game.

We'll see if he can do as good a job as the other French goalie the Bucks had this season.

On the Jean-Philippe Levasseur front... he got another start last night, stopping 31 of 36 shots in a 5-3 loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack. He made six more saves than his counterpart, a former NHLer who even played games at the top level this season, and still lost. Obviously, that isn't the first time that has happened to him while playing with the Falcons.

Seems that having the Tulsa Oilers forward Rob Hisey called up to the Falcons has been a bit of a help for Levasseur, though, as Hisey has scored a goal in each of his games with the team so far and added an assist on Tuesday night.

But back to the Bucks, here are some excerpts from my notebook/preview that ran in today's Times:

Following Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the IceRays, Laredo was able to take its first full practice in weeks and analyze video from a game that made it look overmatched on every part of the scoresheet.
“We looked over the tape, and we didn’t play awfully bad, but we didn’t play awfully well, either,” Bucks Head Coach/General Manager Terry Ruskowski said. “(On Wednesday), we were able to practice without worrying about ice time and go over some things we needed to go over. Hopefully that will help.”
Something will need to be different for Laredo to get back to its winning ways against Corpus, which holds a 4-2-1 edge in the season series so far.
“Both teams know each other very well at this point,” Ruskowski said. “Bottom line, it’s going to come down to who wants it more.”

Prior to Tuesday’s loss, the Bucks added two players to their roster – forward Bear Trapp and goaltender Pier-Olivier Pelletier.
Trapp, a former Hobey Baker Award finalist, made his debut on Tuesday, while Pelletier stayed on the bench and will see his first action with Laredo tonight.
Ruskowski knows what he needs from his two newest additions, and he thinks that each one is capable of showing him what he wants to see.
“(Trapp) hadn’t played in a (few weeks), but he still made some big hits out there,” Ruskowski said. “I think once he gets the rust off and learns more about our systems, he’ll be making some plays and scoring goals. There’s a big upside to that kid; he’s smart, moves the puck well and is physical. I like that a lot.”
Pelletier, the third backup goalie to make the Bucks’ roster in the past week, was a second-round pick in the NHL Draft in 2005 and will start tonight to give second-year pro Kyle Gajewski a rest before a big weekend for Laredo.
“I think (signing him) was a great thing for us,” Ruskowski said. “I found out just before Christmas I was going to lose my goalie from the SPHL (Mark Sibbald), so I brought in (Kris) Tebbs for one or two games, but being able to get a guy like this on three-day notice was a miracle.”

We'll see how much of a miracle it was tonight as the Bucks try to prevent their first six-game winless streak in nearly five years.

You can read more on tonight's game in Bryan Benway's press release and more about the annual New Year's Eve "extravaganza" in his press release about tonight's special events.

Hopefully the special-edition jerseys won't be too difficult to read.

I'll be back to live blog the game tonight, or, as always, you can follow it on Pointstreak, watch on CHL-TV or listen on Imagen 94.1 FM.

Once warmups start tonight, I'll let you know if Curtis Billsten is out there, as he is still a daily game-day decision for the Bucks with a lower-body injury.

That should about cover it for now, but I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my dad, who coincidentally shares a birthday with Coach Ruskowski. Not sure if he'll see this, but it's worth a try!