Monday Update

It seems that press release from the Evansville IceMen was a little overblown, as Ryan Ford is the only player from that team who has or will sign with the Bucks.

T.J. Schneider made the trip down to Laredo, but because the roster is already full with Serge Dube still on it, he was not signed and has already left town.

Ford, however, is still a part of the team and will be at least until Igor Agarunov comes off the IR, which should happen on Saturday.

Evan Schwabe took his first full-contact practice today and looked good, but Coach Ruskowski doesn't expect him to play tomorrow as a precaution. Schwabe will definitely be back by this weekend, though, which will make his IR stint a little shorter than expected.

Defenseman Paul Elliott is day-to-day with his lower-body injury, and Ruskowski hopes he will play tomorrow but is not sure about that. Elliott was in the arena today but did not practice, while Jeff Bes skipped practice today but will definitely be in the lineup tomorrow.

Injured forwards Mark O'Leary and Justin Styffe were in the stands at practice today, and neither is expected to be playing in the very near future.

Back to the topic of Dube, Ruskowski said he is still trying to work something out with his former captain and hopes to have him play at least a few more games during the remainder of the regular season.

Dube does have a full-time job, though, and there is no guarantee things will work out as the Bucks hope. Ruskowski said he hopes to have an answer by the end of the day, and the team should reveal what that answer is by tomorrow.

Kevin Desfosses is expected to start for the Bucks in net tomorrow as they host the Corpus Christi IceRays in their annual Kid's Day Game.

If the Bucks (21-15-8, 50 points) win, they will move ahead of the Texas Brahmas (23-17-5, 51 points) for third place in the Southern Conference with the Brahmas not playing until Friday, when they host the Bucks.

If the Bucks lose, as they have in their past six games against the IceRays (19-20-6, 44 points), they will stay in fourth place without a game in hand on the Brahmas and allow the IceRays to move closer to them in the race for that spot.

I know it's cliche to say every point for the rest of the season is crucial, but each one really could be, especially with so many conference matchups left on the schedule, and the Bucks really need to stop giving away points to their standings competition if they want to finish third, which seems to be their best hope at this point.

Just wanted to update on that stuff for now, but I'll try to post more - including quotes - later.