Yesterday

Though the Bucks were, and probably still are, more than thrilled with their 4-3 shootout win over the Corpus Christi IceRays last night, not everyone feels the same way.

Greg Rajan noted that Jeff Bes's controversial tying goal in the third period was the talk of the IceRays' locker room after the game in his postgame blog, and today he spoke to Central Hockey League Commissioner Duane Lewis about it.

You can read what Lewis had to say in Rajan's blog post about the conversation.

Obviously, none of that can change the fact that the Bucks (22-15-8, 52 points) got two points out of yesterday's game and are now alone in third place in the Southern Conference, one point ahead of the Texas Brahmas (23-17-5, 61 points), who the Bucks will play on Friday in North Richland Hills.

The Bucks had today off entirely due to the Foreigner concert at the LEC, and they will leave Laredo tomorrow around 10 a.m. so they can get to the Fort Worth area in time to practice before the end of the day.

Friday's game will be the first of another 3-in-3, as the Bucks drive all the way down to Hidalgo after it ends to play the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (19-19-7, 45 points), then come back to Laredo to host the Killer Bees on Sunday.

But back to yesterday... you can read the reaction from the Bucks' side of things in my story, which sadly had to be cut at deadline to make more room for high school basketball. You can also check out Bryan Benway's press release and Rajan's story for the Caller-Times.

Rajan's notes on the Caller-Times Web site offer some interesting information about the hit Adam Rivet laid on Steven Later and what ensued.

As Benway's headline notes, yesterday's win broke the "curse" that was the Bucks' six-game winless streak against the IceRays, also snapping the skid goaltender Kevin Desfosses had going against his former team.

Of course, the main reason I am here is to finally post those quotes I got yesterday. I was able to do more interviews than usual because of the early game time, so you'll get more than one take on the win, including what Desfosses had to say.

Here goes:

Coach Ruskowski

On getting the win: It proves a couple points. We're in the third-place spot, which is a nice place to be, and it proves that we can beat Corpus. That was the big thing. We already had this in our minds, that we were having a hard time against them to win, and to come up with a win, I think that kind of helps us mentally, also.

On the third goal: From the bench, we thought it was in, then the play kept on going. So I was hoping it was in, then when it was official, obviously the guys on the bench really caught fire from that. I know the power play at the end didn't work out really well, but what we were doing was making sure we didn't get blocked. These guys are so talented that if they block the shot they're going to be coming back at you 2-on-1. We just wanted to make sure that we got the point first of all and worked something out, and hopefully like we did in a shootout, win. But it was nip and tuck there for a while.

On what finally clicked: I think when our defense stands up on their forwards. When we let them come at with speed and with their ability, they're going to beat us and go hard, drive to the net, and they're going to have a chance to score. I think our penalty killing did a pretty good job today, even though they scored twice on it, they had a lot of chances. Way too many chances. So that part was good. Our goaltending did a really good job today. Desfosses played great today, again. Did he not get Performance of the Week today? So he was huge for us. We're still missing guys. Obviously when we get some guys back, get three lines that can come at you, it will maybe take a little stress off our defense and our goalies, and it will then maybe help us play better and not have to go into shootouts.

On those guys coming back: I talked to the doctor today, and he said that he (Evan Schwabe) should be able to play this weekend, then (Igor) Agarunov will be able to play Saturday, he's coming off the IR. So those are two important guys to get back into their spots, then we'll just have to wait and see about other guys coming back, see if we can get somebody in from Europe... there are just a lot of things going on.

On the penalties yesterday: We're certainly not playing very smart. There's no question about that. Everybody knows that they're calling it tight, and we have to be a smarter hockey team. I thought we learned our lesson when I really chastised a couple guys after the game in Odessa about taking unnecessary penalties, but they just take them again. They have to know that anything close, he's going to call, so we have to be regimental in our minds not to take those penalties. I don't mind the hard hits penalties; we'll try to kill them off. But it's the hooking, tripping, those chintzy penalties that cost us. And they do end up costing us, those penalties, so the big hits I don't mind, but the unnecessary stuff, I don't like at all. We have to play smarter.

On the Serge Dube situation: It's still way up in the air. I don't know what to do with him. He has to commit one way or the other.

Kevin Desfosses

On getting a win over the IceRays: It's really nice to finally get that curse, as some people were calling it, out of the way, but it was a hard battle, and that shows that the division is really tight right now, that shows in the standing. No matter who we're playing, no matter when we're playing, we have to be ready.

On what helped snap the skid: I don't know, we maybe caught a break or two. I don't know if the puck went in on the third goal, but on the first goal they scored, I didn't think that was a real goal. So to get that bounce back and work together and believe in ourselves. That's our motive, believe, and we did believe in ourselves and play 60 minutes no matter what, and we all stuck together, and we finally got that win.

On what lies ahead: It's huge, it's a huge game, and now we've played as many games as Texas with one more point than them. So right now, we have to enjoy our day. It's nice to play in the morning so you can enjoy your day. Tomorrow, we get a nice day off; so many guys have injuries and stuff, so we're all going to relax then get back to work on Thursday and get ready for Friday because you have to play every game like it's your last. The standing is so tight right now. You have to play every game like it's your last game and give it your all.

Curtis Billsten

On getting the win: It was huge, not only because of the team having our number, but because points are so important right now that we can't let games at home slide anymore. The room has a bright feel to it right now, but we have to get ready for the weekend.

On what the team needs: I think just consistency. I think we all know we've been pretty banged up this year with a lot of injuries and stuff, but we definitely have to make sure we keep things simple and really stay out of the penalty box. Today, we played pretty well, but we got ourselves into a lot of trouble there, and some penalties that almost cost us the game. So I think going into this weekend, discipline's going to be No. 1 on our chart.

On getting some forwards back in the lineup: It would be absolutely huge (to get Schwabe and Agarunov back). Those guys are just awesome character guys to have in the dressing room, let alone on the ice with their game. So we're all definitely very excited to have them back, hopefully both this weekend, and we'll just have to move on from there.

Jeff Bes

On the win: Just for the mental aspect of it, to come out here, I think we lost four of five straight against them. Suffice it to say, we were due to win against them. We’ve been playing shorthanded, and you have to give the guys a lot of credit for coming out and working hard the way they did. And how about that crowd? I tell you, all those school kids out there cheering us on gave us a little extra motivation and energy for the morning game, so that was a lot of fun to play in.

On what the team needs to take from the game: Great goaltending, again. You know, Kevin's playing phenomenal, and Pelly (Pier-Olivier Pelletier) has been playing well, too, when he's been in there. We have to take away sticking to the game plan. It seems like we've been talking about it all along, but when we do the game plan and execute the game plan, we're victorious, we're very successful. So we really have to concentrate on that. Getting up into third place right now, it's a dog fight. It's going to be that way for the next 19 games. We have to be prepared, we have to go into Fort Worth, we're playing in their building, and we have to execute our game plan and be ready. We have to get the guys rested up, heal up some of the bumps and bruises and go get 'em.

On battling back for the victory: You know what, that just shows the character of the team and the players, believing in the system and believing in themselves. Going out there with the will to win, that's something that we've been battling to get and to learn - the will to win. And that's something that the past two games we've shown to battle back and do this. Now let's just win one in regulation.

On the mental effect of the win: It was absolutely a morale boost. When you haven't beaten a team in six games, it's definitely a morale boost. It pulls the team together when you have a win like this, guys sticking together, guys pulling for each other and rooting for each other on the bench. That's something that builds a team even stronger, and I'm really looking forward to Friday's game.

On getting guys back into the lineup: Schwabie coming back, he's a centerman, great on draws, veteran guy, he's leadership in there, very calm, cool, collected. He'll really help. And of course, Iggy, he's really strong in the corners, it's hard to get the puck off him. So getting some veteran players back in there and settling down the younger guys, and even some of the older guys sometimes, just bringing them back, the experience they have and the competitiveness they bring to the team, is only going to help us in the run to the playoffs.