First Period: As noted below, Serge Dube and Paul Elliott are out of the lineup tonight, and, thought it was known he'd miss all three games prior to the weekend, I guess I'll mention Igor Agarunov is also sitting out. Wonder if Justin Styffe, who is upstairs watching tonight, is upset to see someone else in his number or if that's a sign that he's done for the season. ... As shown in the starting lineup, the new guy is playing up on the top line with Bes and Smith for now. ... Desfosses got a big test about a minute and a half in as everyone piled into the crease to battle for a lose puck. On the following rush, Shaun Arvai took a penalty, tripping Maxime Lincourt to put the Bucks on the power play 1:31 into the game. ... Penalty killed. ... Bucks just hit a post. ... Another power play for the Bucks at 6:17, with David Nimmo going to the box for boarding. ... After a great defensive play by Arvai to break up a 2-on-1 for the Bucks, they kicked the puck out past the circle, where Dieude-Fauvel was waiting and rocketed a one-timer past Lohtander. He's scored three of the Bucks' goals in a row. Maybe tonight he'll get an actual hat trick, because even though the CHL counts shootout winners as goals on the box score and in season stats, getting two goals and a shootout winner should not really count as a hattie. Sorry, but I'm a stickler for real rules in situations like that. Todd Griffith is getting what is currently the lone assist. ... Smith just made a nice move while he had Ford skating nearby on a 2-on-2 but opted to take a bad-angle shot instead of passing, possibly trying to bank it into the net off Lohtander, but the goalie sticked it away. ... Bucks have been getting a lot of odd-man rushes but seem to be struggling getting shots off. They are down 6-5 in the shot department with about four minutes to play in the period after Smith got tangled up with a Gorillas player and had a shot attempt blocked as Lohtander sprawled out leaving a wide-open net with no one to shoot at it. ... MacRae just hit a crossbar for the Gorillas. ... Someone other than Dieude-Fauvel has scored for the Bucks for the first time in a while, though he was still on the ice for this one, as Bes just slipped a puck past Lohtander at ice level on his glove side. Bes faked Lohtander out with a bit of a windup before actually taking a very light shot on that one. Adam Rivet has what is currently the lone assist. Bucks lead 2-0 at 17:46 in the period. ... A fight has broken out, with Robin Richards and Smale duking it out right off a faceoff. Seems the two of them were prepared for that but no one else on the ice was as the other players seemed fully intent on actually, well, playing. Richards high-fived Jarred Mohr on his way off the ice. Both players are headed to the dressing room with only 1:23 left on the clock. That puts the Bucks down to 13 skaters for five minutes of play. ... Curtis Billsten out with Bes and Smith on the top line's last shift of the period. ... That line and the defensive pairing of Dieude-Fauvel and Looby put a heck of a lot of pressure on Lohtander, pelting him with shots for a good 30-second chunk there at the end of the period, but he actually withstood it all. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 2-0, down 11-8 on shots (though their number should really be a couple shots higher). ... Elliott just limped into the press box to do an intermission interview with Bryan Benway, which I assume means his injury is of the lower-body variety. ... The Corpus Christi IceRays are off tonight, which means they can't pull any closer to the Bucks in the standings, and the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees are down 1-0 to the Allen Americans after their first period. After tonight, the Bucks will still have a game in hand on both teams, who trail them by two and three points, respectively, and on the Texas Brahmas, who lead them by one right now and trail the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs 1-0 during the second period of their game. ... Just noticed Agarunov has been placed on the 14-day injured reserve, something Coach Ruskowski had said he did not plan to do, retroactive to Jan. 30. That means he will not be playing in Tuesday's Kid's Day Game but could be back in the lineup by Saturday. ... Tyler Skworchinski just tied the Brahmas' game with a shorthanded goal. The Brahmas, who often score that way against the Bucks, lead the league in shorties with 15.
Second Period: Bit of a confusing play early in this one, as Joe Guenther appeared to have scored but apparently really missed the net. Even Desfosses looked like he thought the puck was at least under him, if not behind him. Odd. ... The Americans just scored twice in 19 seconds then again a minute later to go up 4-0 on the Killer Bees. ... Arvai going to the box for the second time tonight to give the Bucks the first power play of the second period. Richards, whose five-minute major ended a little over a minute ago, is out there on the top unit. Arvai was called for tripping at 4:21. ... Griffith just ripped one that went right through Lohtander's glove then hit the post. ... The Gorillas are really going after Smith tonight, and now Obermayer is headed to the box for taking him down at 6:59 in the period. Some shoving ensued, and I'm pretty sure Obermayer hit Smith with his stick during all of that. Bucks back on the power play. Obermayer took a holding call. ... Lohtander couldn't quite get a handle on a puck that stayed loose in the crease so long there didn't seem to be any way the Bucks could avoid scoring if they tried, and they did not. Smith was the one who knocked it in, Bes gets the primary assist for his attempt, and Mohr gets the secondary for sending the puck toward the goal in the first place. Bucks lead 3-0 at 7:33 in the period. ... Dieude-Fauvel has taken the Bucks' first minor penalty of the game, hooking at 10:42, to put the Gorillas on their first power play. ... After the power play expired, David Nimmo has gotten the Gorillas on the board, going five-hole on Desfosses to make it 3-1 at 13:01 in the period. ... Okay, scratch that, I guess. They seem to be giving the goal to Jason Chafe, with the assists going to Nimmo and Bell. ... Bucks almost scored seconds after the following faceoff, but their overcommitment to that play let the Gorillas tack on another just 16 seconds later. Aaron Sutter scored that one, with Chafe setting him up. ... Couple more close chances for the Gorillas, who are up to 29 shots with a couple minutes left in the period. ... Lincourt just had a good chance but missed the net wide moving on on Lohtander. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 3-2, down 29-16 on shots. ... Killer Bees have tacked on a goal but go into their second intermission down 4-1, while the Brahmas now trail 2-1 in the third period.
Third Period: Pretty good pace for the first couple minutes, but only the Gorillas were able to take any shots. The Brahmas have tied their game at 2, by the way. ... Smith split the Gorillas' defense but couldn't get a shot off, then did get one a few seconds later and had it deflected over the cage. ... The Gorillas' first goal has finally been corrected to Nimmo, with Chafe and Chris Cloud getting the assists. ... Interesting ordeal just past the midway point as Guenther moved in on Desfosses and had his stick taken out of his hands by a Bucks player and tossed to the ice with no penalty called. ... They get one not much later, though, with Richards going to the box at 10:34 for boarding. ... Desfosses just managed to glove a shot from the point with Nimmo's rear end directly in his face. Pretty impressive that he could see through that kind of scene. ... A few players just went into the net, but it seems the puck did not, at least not before it came off its moorings to halt play. ... The Gorillas had so many chances on that power play, it's a wonder they didn't score. Blocked shots and saves galore kept them from tying the game. At least for now. They now hold a 41-19 shot lead, including 12-3 in the third period. ... The Brahmas just beat the Mudbugs on a goal by Jordan Cameron with 15 seconds to play. Killer Bees still down 4-1. ... Billsten just hit the crossbar on a great feed by Griffith after the two rushed in on a 2-on-1 break. ... The duo got another 2-on-1 not much later, and though they were a bit more sluggish on that one coming late in a shift, they were able to draw a penalty, with Smale headed to the box for high-sticking Billsten in the face, which prompts a video of Smale fighting Richards on the Jumbotron. Bucks on the power play at 14:13 in the final stanza. ... Been a lot more blocked shots in this game than most CHL contests; I wish they kept that stat. ... Penalty killed with far more shorthanded chances than ones for the Bucks. ... Immediately following the power play, Griffith got another chance and was taken down to obtain a penalty shot with 3:43 to play in regulation. ... Well, that was pretty anticlimactic. Griffith basically poked the puck right into Lohtander's right pad. Bucks still up 3-2, still 3:43 left on the clock. ... You know, if the Bucks get Elliott back before a forward, maybe they should consider moving Dieude-Fauvel up. He's always had some pretty nice moves, and he looks like a natural on breaks with forwards. Just had one with Smith that could have ended in a goal had Smith not overskated the pass. ... Another breakaway by Griffith, but this time the Gorillas trusted their goalie to stop it, and he did. ... Nimmo just missed the net on a slap shot. ... Lohtander is out with about 1:25 on the clock. ... A Gorillas player just tipped a clearing attempt by Looby, turning it into an empty-net goal and a 4-2 lead for the Bucks with 40 seconds to play in regulation. ... Gorillas controlled the puck for most of the final 40 seconds but couldn't put it in the net. ... Bucks finish down 43-24 in shots.
Game Over: Bucks win 4-2, taking five of six possible points from a big Southern Conference 3-in-3, and improving to 21-15-8 (50 points). They remain only one point behind the Brahmas (23-17-5, 51 points) for third place in the conference and move to five points ahead of the Killer Bees (19-19-7, 45 points) and six ahead of the IceRays (19-20-6, 44 points) for fourth place with a game in hand on all three teams. No time to go downstairs, and the team will be off tomorrow, but I'll be at practice on Monday, and I'll talk to Coach Ruskowski about last night and tonight's games, as well as all the injury situations. ... Apparently Ruskowski told Bryan Benway in his postgame interview that he wasn't happy with the effort tonight. Not terribly surprising.
3 comments:
That kid Ford looked fast, but coach said he was all over the ice tonight with no idea what was going on. Where did he come from and who is the other player signing? According to "Bones", 2 players were probably going to sign before tonight's game, and now we know Ford was one of them
Ford was playing for the Evansville IceMen of the All-American Hockey League, which is at least a level below the CHL, but had been called up for two games with the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones earlier this season.
I know Benway's blog mentioned the possibility of two new players tonight, but I was only ever told about one, so I'll see what I can find out about the other on Tuesday.
Found it Joy. It's TJ Schneider, who was also a teammate of Ford at Evansville. (see CHLforums.com)That kid is 6'4". Hope both play well and help the team.
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