First Period: Just as the teams are setting up for the opening faceoff, I've received an e-mail notification about this week's Performance of the Week award, which was apparently won by Desfosses with his 37-save performance in a 3-1 win over the Texas Brahmas on Jan 29. ... Just 1:09 into the game, Jarred Mohr is headed to the box to serve a holding penalty, giving the IceRays the first power play of the day. ... Bucks got more chances in the first minute of that than the IceRays did, and then Chad Woollard took a hooking penalty at 2:17 to make this 4-on-4 for almost a minute then a power play for the Bucks. ... A blocked shot by the IceRays somehow resulted in Giosa being set up on the doorstep, but he shot the puck right into Beech's chest. ... Penalties killed. ... Ryan Ford is out on the top line with Jeff Bes and Darryl Smith. Smith was the only one of those three who was in a red jersey for practice yesterday. ... Chris Richards just took a shot from the slot that Desfosses deflected off the glass, then it bounced back in front of the net and off a player into the net. Garbutt was the last IceRay to touch it, so he will get the goal, while Richards and Bennett get assists. That was about as flukey a goal as you'll ever see; not even the IceRays who were out there for it seemed to know they had scored at first. IceRays lead 1-0 at 7:50 in the game. ... Garbutt just went flying into Desfosses and seemed to hurt himself, then Elliott skated over to get him away from the net, and an IceRays player skated in and started throwing punches. That drew Robin Richards, and he and Chris Richards will both head to the box now at 8:04 to serve incidental roughing penalties. Like having a Richards on each team needed to get more confusing. ... It seems Pointstreak is finally up. That's good. ... This game has been pretty much non-stop whistles so far. Justin Greene is keeping busy. ... Griffith just took a high sticking penalty to give the IceRays a 4-on-3 power play. He's in the box at 8:22, so this'll be 4-on-3 for 1:46, then a 5-on-4 for 14 seconds. ... An IceRays player just missed the net wide on a shot from the goal line that would have gotten around Desfosses easily. ... Chris Richards and Robin Richards are out of the box, and they are already shoving each other around again. ... And this game is tied, as Billsten has scored a shorthanded goal with nothing flukey about it. He broke away and beat Kurtis Dille to get a shot, which he wristed right over Beech, a very tall guy, blocker side. Game tied 1-1 at 10:21 in the period. That broke an 8-8 shot tie to put the Bucks back on top in that category. ... And now Billsten is headed to the box for tripping at 11:11 to put the IceRays on another power play. ... They are posting word definitions on the Jumbotron for the supposed benefit of the children in attendance, but they are defining adjectives as nouns, nouns as verbs, etc... This is probably annoying me more than it should. Chris Richards has gone back to the box on a hooking call at 12:37 to make this 4-on-4 for 24 seconds, then a power play for the Bucks. ... Not long after Billsten got out of the box, the Bucks scored the first power play goal of the game. Giosa netted that one, and Griffith has what is currently the lone assist. Bucks lead 2-1 at 13:22 in the period. ... Second assist goes to Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel on that Giosa goal. Billsten's was unassisted. ... Bucks get another power play as the period winds down, with Garbutt in the box for hooking at 16:07. ... Oh my gosh, now they're even spelling the words wrong. This is going to make me insane. ... Bes headed to the box at 17:07, whoch according to the clock somehow makes this an even minute of 4-on-4, then a power play for the IceRays. He got called for goaltender interference. ... Adam Powell was skating in on Desfosses just after his team's power play expired, and Mohr broke his stick while skating behind, so he will head to the box to serve a slashing penalty with 45.6 seconds left in the period. If the IceRays don't score or take a penalty here, they'll get over a minute on the man advantage with a fresh sheet of ice once the second period begins. ... Smith just appeared to "lose an edge" and went flying into Beech, then just stayed there for a while. Random. ... Adam Rivet has been called for boarding Later with just 1.7 seconds left in the period, so it seems the IceRays will actually start the second with over a minute of a 5-on-3 advantage. Later is being helped off the ice by Dulle and his team's trainer. ... The IceRays did get a shot off before the period ended, but Desfosses made a kick save as time expired. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 2-1, down 15-13 on shots.
Second Period: In case you've forgotten, the IceRays start this middle stanza with a 5-on-3 for 1:14, or until they score or take a penalty themselves. ... Peto one-timed a pass from Jason Tessier past Desfosses from just outside the crease to tie the game just 23 seconds into the game. Chris Richards gets the second assist. ... Greg Rajan just informed me that goal ended an 0-for-29 power play drought for the IceRays. Seems the Bucks always help them snap those kinds of skids. ... Neil Trimm just hooked Garbutt to prevent a breakaway and will head to the box to serve two minutes for that at 5:54 in the period. ... If the IceRays hadn't snapped that skid then, they would have snapped it now, as Woollard wristed a beauty past Desfosses from the left circle to give the IceRays a 3-2 lead at 6:40. Chad Costello has what is currently the lone assist. It's worth noting the Bucks have yet to take a shot this period. ... Of course, not long after I typed that, they got one. Then they hit a post. ... Ford is a pretty speedy little guy. ... Jereme Tendler just came close to making it 4-2, but Desfosses was able to top the shot and direct the rebound away from him. ... Tessier just nailed his own teammate, Bennett, with a slap shot from the point. Didn't seem to hurt him too badly, though. ... A shot from the point was just deflected through the crease while Desfosses was tied up in another play. ... Elliott just fell on a puck behind his goalie's net and seemed to be hoping for a whistle to get a faceoff but didn't get one and eventually had to get off the ice and push the puck back into play. ... Ford's speed just almost got the Bucks a goal, and though the eventual shot was stopped, a penalty was drawn. Garbutt to the box for interference at 14:22 to put the Bucks on their first power play of the period. ... The IceRays blocked a lot of shots in the last 30 or so seconds of that power play but weren't able to clear the puck, and a wraparound attempt by Mike Looby was stopped by Beech with a few seconds left on the advantage to finally halt play. ... Penalty killed. ... Rivet just stopped the puck right on his goalie's doorstep, then sent a long lead pass to Smith, who would have had a great chance if he could have gotten around the only IceRay in his vicinity. He didn't, though, and then Mohr took his third minor penalty of the game, this one for slashing, at 17:32 to give the IceRays their eighth power play. They are 2-for-7 so far. ... Penalty killed. ... End of the period, Bucks trail 3-2, down 24-20 on shots.
Third Period: Billsten is headed to the box for charging just 49 seconds into the period. Apparently some of the Bucks did not get the memo about their coach wanting them to play smarter. ... Billsten got the puck right out of the box on a break but could not replicate his shooting efforts from that shorthanded goal earlier and was stopped by Beech. ... Bucks just managed to set up better than they ever do on the power play and fire a few shots at Beech, but he withstood the challenge. ... Looby just got shaken up on a play and went back to the bench pretty slowly. He seemed mad, too. ... Rivet nearly deflected a shot into his own net but was lucky enough to have it miss wide. ... Beech just had to make quite the sprawling effort to keep a loose puck out of his net. ... The third IceRays goal has been changed, with Woollard getting credit for scoring on an assists from Peto and Quenneville. Kinda random that they mixed No. 5 up with No. 61. ... Griffith is out there with the top line now, and he just did some nifty work to get the puck to Bes in between the circles, but Bes was tied up with Chris Richards and couldn't get a shot off. ... Pretty nutty series of events as a shot Beech did not see missed the net, then Bes got the puck and hit a crossbar, setting off the goal light but obviously not stopping play. ... Bucks are questioning that no-goal call, fairly enough, resulting in a bit of a delay. ... Officials are talking to everyone from the players to the coaches to the goal judge who lit the lamp. I did think the puck caught the net, but I am pretty blind. ... Okay, maybe Im' not. That was a goal, and the Bucks have tied the game with 11:52 left in regulation. The IceRays are not entirely happy campers right now. Smith is getting the goal for some reason, but I really could have sworn Bes took that shot. ... Yep, tempers do seem to be flaring, and there is plenty of shoving going on behind the net after the first stoppage since that goal announcement. Shots are even at 29 now, by the way. ... Seems that shoving has resulted in a couple more incidental penalties, with Matt Smyth and Dieude-Fauvel heading to the box for roughing at 8:30. ... Bucks get a power play as the IceRays touch up on a delayed call at 9:42. Chris Richards will be giving Smyth some company in the box to make this a 4-0n-3 for 48 seconds, then a 5-on-4 for 1:12. Richards was called for goaltender interference. Lots of offensive-zone penalties today. ... Took the Bucks a long time to get set up on that one, and once they did, they just did a lot of passing until Griffith gave the puck away. ... Bes has the primary assist on that tying goal on Pointstreak, but I'm still lost as to how Smith could have been the one who scored if a shot left Bes's stick and hit the net. ... Okay, seems the very confused off-ice officials are being told to change that. Should be corrected momentarily. ... Griffith just got what should have been a perfect breakaway chance but tried to get too fancy and let two IceRays players surround him and get the puck away. ... Bes and Smith just did some work to get a nice feed on Griffith's stick, but it hit too late, and he couldn't manage a clean shot. Faceoff in Beech's right circle to follow. ... Bucks get a power play with 2:40 left in regulation as Giosa drew a tripping penalty against Quenneville in the corner. Bucks are 1-for-5 on their chances so far, with the lone goal coming on a very even-strength-style play. ... Just after they killed that penalty, the IceRays took another one, with Garbutt slashing Rivet away from the play to put the Bucks on a power play with 24.9 seconds in regulation, which could result in about 48 seconds of a power play if this game should go into overtime. ... Uhhh, just kidding, Garbutt got four minutes for spearing. So that'll be 1:48 on the power play for the Bucks to start the overtime if it occurs. ... End of the period, game tied 3-3, Bucks up 33-31 on shots.
Overtime: As previously noted, the Bucks get 1:48 of a 4-on-3 advantage to start the OT period. ... Bucks called offsides on their first attempt to clear the neutral zone. ... With the one point they are guaranteed, the Bucks will at least tie the Brahmas for third place in the Southern Conference. ... Bucks' best chances on that missed the net wide, but they did at least try taking shots. Penalty killed. ... There is a balloon on the ice, and for some reason, they're just leaving it there. ... IceRays getting their chances now, and Desfosses just broke up the centering pass on what would probably have been a pretty good one. ... With 1:18 left in the OT period, the IceRays are going on a 60-second power play, with Mohr headed to the box again, this time for hooking. Bes, Elliott and Rivet out there for the Bucks. ... Dieude-Fauvel just laid a nice hit on Chris Richards; he's had a few of those tonight. ... Penalty killed. ... End of the OT period, game tied 3-3, Bucks up 38-36 on shots. Shootout time. Guess I won't be getting back to the office as early as I'd hoped.
Shootout: Bucks choose to shoot second. ... Smyth up first for the IceRays. ... Pad save by Desfosses. ... Griffith first for the Bucks. ... He faked himself out then tripped over a sprawled-out Beech. ... Chris Richards next. ... Stick save by Desfosses. ... Smith now. ... Very well-aimed shot beat Beech, who had fallen into a butterfly, right above his right pat. ... Woollard now. ... Pad save by Desfosses. ... Looby can win it. ... He went with his usual shot but hit the post to keep this thing going. ... Costello next. ... Kick save by Desfosses. ... Oh, wait, guess Looby couldn't have won it? Dieude-Fauvel can, though. ... And he did. Nice stick handling got the puck under Beech, and it dribbled through. Desfosses and Dieude-Fauvel are two very happy dudes right now.
Game Over: Bucks win 4-3 in the shootout, snapping what Bryan Benway had deemed the "Curse of Corpus," and improving to 22-15-8 (52 points) to take over third place in the Southern Conference. On-ice three stars: Billsten (3), Smith (2) and Dieude-Fauvel (1). I'm guessing Dieude-Fauvel will be a fixture in shootouts now. Time to head downstairs, then I'll be driving over to the office, so I will try to post more from there later.
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