Wednesday Update

I'm just leaving practice, and I won't have time to write a full blog post until later, so I just wanted to give a brief update for now.

No one is hurt - at least not enough to sit out, no one new has arrived, and practice was about an hour of drills, mostly focused on defensive coverage and crashing the net.

I forgot to mention Brent Cullaton's gold stick last night, but seeing it again from a much closer vantage point reminded me. It is quite shiny, maybe even a bit distracting. Anyone else notice that last night?

Coach Ruskowski said last night he wasn't sure which goalie he would start Thursday, and Kevin Desfosses and Pier-Olivier Pelletier got equal practice time today to help him make a decision.

Lines at practice were the same as last night, leaving Neil Trimm and Robin Richards as the two guys without a definite spot to play and the possible scratches for tomorrow.

I talked to Ruskowski, Todd Griffith and Darryl Smith after practice and will share some of their thoughts on here later and the rest in my notebook in tomorrow's paper.

UPDATE: I got caught up pulling wire stories, formatting some stuff, editing swim results and writing my story, so I wasn't able to transcribe the leftover quotes from my interviews today just yet. I'll type everything up at home, but as I do not have Internet there, that means posting them will have to wait until I get to the arena tomorrow. In case anyone was wondering, Jean-Philippe Levasseur did dress tonight but did not get any playing time. Additionally, Ruskowski was looking to get in touch with the amateur defenseman he was looking at today, and I should have an update on that situation tomorrow. He is an American player, so if Ruskowski can get him down here, there should be no paperwork problems or anything like that.

Semifinal Game 3 - Bucks vs. Americans

Starters: Bucks - Jeff Bes (F), Brent Cullaton (F), Jarred Mohr (D), Pier-Olivier Pelletier (G), Adam Rivet (D), Darryl Smith (F); Americans - Erik Adams (D), Jordie Benn (D), Jarret Lukin (F), Tobias Whelan (F), Chris Whitley (G), Colton Yellow Horn (F).

First Period: As mentioned in the previous post, Robin Richards is the Bucks' scratch tonight. Not a very surprising starting lineup Coach Ruskowski chose. My only question is who Sylvain Deschatelets will be paired with now that Cullaton's return has knocked him off that top line. ... The answer to that question is that he is one of Evan Schwabe's wingers on the second line, along with Todd Griffith. Very sloppy passing by the latter two led to that line spending most of its time in the Bucks' defensive zone on its first shift. ... Paul Elliott has been called for the game's first penalty, hooking at 3:20. ... Americans have set up pretty well, and Adams just missed the net on a great chance from the circle. ... The Bucks were able to clear not long after that, and an offsides call against the Americans has set up a neutral-zone faceoff with 15 seconds left on the advantage. ... Penalty killed. ... Both teams creating some decent chances, but both goalies answering the call so far. ... I am such a jinx. Justin Bowers just deflected a shot by Nino Musitelli past Pelletier into the net to give the Americans a 1-0 lead at 7:37. Eric Giosa, in attempt to defend Bowers, might have been blocking Pelletier's sight of the puck a bit, but it took good coordination on Bowers's part to get his stick on it. ... Bruce Graham just went five-hole on Pelletier, and I'm pretty sure neither party knew he scored until Ryan Fairbarn reacted to seeing the puck trickle into the net. Americans lead 2-0 at 11:13. ... Smith somehow just flipped the puck off the faceoff right at Whitley, who calmly gloved it aside. ... Lukin to the box at 16:18 for holding to put the Bucks on their first power play of the game. ... Right after Lukin came out of the box, Mike Looby knocked the stick out of the hands of one of the Americans. The officials seemed willing to ignore it until said Americans player threw his hands up in the air looking for a call. Looby off for slashing at 18:30. The Americans will get 90 seconds of their power play now and 30 when the second period begins, unless they score before then. ... Smith just had a great shorthanded chance and got a shot off but was stopped by Whitley. ... End of the period, Americans lead 2-0, shots tied 11-11. ... The refs have taken Graham's goal away and given it to Fairbarn, who apparently touched it on the way into the net. Fairbarn also got the second assist on the goal by Bowers, and Bowers has what is now the second assist on the goal by Graham.

Second Period: Pelletier must not have liked those new pads because he is back in his old ones now. ... A lot of puck movement right in front of Whitley could not get the Bucks their first goal, as the closest chance went right behind Whitley across the crease, but ahead of the goal line. ... Both teams generating chances again early. ... Bowers just hit the post, then the puck bounced up to between Pelletier's legs, and one of the Americans tried to chase it, which resulted in a scrum over in the corner. Everyone has been broken up, and it appears no one will go to the box. ... Just as I was getting ready to type that the Bucks missed out on another opportunity, Griffith proved me wrong. The Bucks had Whitley down and out with the puck in the crease but couldn't knock it into the net, but then Griffith got it after Whitley had gotten back into position and whipped it right around the netminder at ice level. Deschatelets and Ryan Lehr get the assists. Americans lead 2-1 at 6:53. ... Griffith and Mike Salekin have been sent to their respective penalty boxes for unsportsmanlike conduct at 7:35. ... The puck just found its way inside the net behind Whitley, and the Americans were not very happy about it, resulting in some shoves after the fact. However, the refs decided soon thereafter that it was not a goal. For some reason, they showed footage of Kevin Desfosses beating the post in Corpus Christi after the goal was called off, and he looked rather shocked, and not in a good way, about it on the bench. ... Griffith and Salekin dropped the gloves right off the ensuing faceoff, and though Salekin landed the majority of the punches, Griffith made the crowd happy by landing the last two and getting Salekin down to the ice. They'll both serve five for fighting at 11:30. ... Deschatelets headed to the box at 14:56 for slashing to put the Bucks down two forwards and on the penalty kill. ... Agarunov now joining Deschatelets and Griffith in the sin bin after tripping Tyler Wooddisse at 16:42. The Bucks will be two men down for 14 seconds, then on a regular penalty kill for 1:46. ... Whitley just absolutely robbed Smith by reading a 2-on-1 play for him and Agarunov perfectly. ... Pelletier was not as lucky with his team giving up an even better scenario the other way, as Adams grabbed a pass from Lukin and got it behind Pelletier to put the Americans up 3-1. Adams tripped over Pelletier's leg after scoring and did a very excited little celebration on his back. That goal came with just 36 seconds left in the period, and you know what goals like that can do for momentum. ... End of the period, Americans lead 3-1, up 26-21 on shots.

Third Period: Bucks going on an early power play with Wooddisse headed to the box just 51 seconds into the period to serve two for hooking. ... No luck on that one. ... Bucks got called for too many men at 3:30, and Neil Trimm will serve that penalty, putting the Americans on their first advantage of the period. ... Penalty killed. ... Ten minutes left in regulation. ... Only two shots for each team so far this period, by the way. And this with nine minutes to go. ... Nathan O'Nabigon is headed to the box at 11:01 for roughing to put the Bucks on their second power play of the period. They are 0-for-2 on the advantage so far tonight. ... Pelletier just made the best play of the period by the Bucks so far stopping Musitelli on a breakaway. ... Deschatelets and Liam Huculak just did some shoving that landed them both in the penalty box. Scratch that, only Deschatelets is being penalized. The Bucks will be shorthanded for two minutes of the last 2:32 with Deschatelets serving two for cross-checking at 17:28. ... Appears that another goal for the Bucks will be called off, as this one never even made it onto the scoreboard. This time, the puck did not cross the line, but Curtis Billsten definitely thought it did. ... Not long after Pelletier left the ice, Bowers has scored an empty-netter to seal the win for the Americans with 32.8 left on the clock. Musitelli gets what is currently the lone assist. Obviously scoring on an empty net isn't a huge deal, but that top line sure gave the Bucks a lot of trouble tonight. ... The final whistle has been followed up by some very violent shoving over behind Whitley's net and a crowd cheer of, "Let them fight." Yeah, pretty sure the refs don't want to do anything like that knowing Wayne Bonney is in the building. Just a guess. ... The Americans are being showered with corn as they celebrate their second playoff win in franchise history.

Game Over: Bucks lose 4-1, fall into a 2-1 series deficit with Game 4 set to be played on Thursday night here at Laredo Energy Arena. Final shot total is 32-25 in favor of the Americans, which means the Bucks only took three in the final period. We'll see what Coach Ruskowski has to say about that.

Semifinal Game Day No. 3

Thanks to some very strong antibiotics, I am at Laredo Energy Arena for Game 3 of the Southern Conference Semifinal series between the Bucks and the Allen Americans tonight.

The series is tied 1-1 heading into tonight's matchup.

Players just skated onto the ice for warmups, and, as expected, Pier-Olivier Pelletier and Chris Whitley are the starting goaltenders.

Pelletier is wearing some new plain white pads that I suppose he may have debuted in Allen over the weekend.

Brent Cullaton is on the ice for warmups and will play in tonight's game, as promised.

I'll have to wait until we get lineup cards to see who tonight's scratch is for the Bucks.

You can get more info on tonight's game from Bryan Benway's press release and the Pointstreak pre-game notes.

The Bucks will also be hosting a charity event during tonight's game.

In other news, the Anaheim Ducks finally took Jean-Philippe Levassuer away from the Springfield Falcons, but not to send him back to the Bucks, as he will be with the NHL franchise in place of the injured Jonas Hiller.

The story is front-page news on the Ducks' site.

It isn't often that a player starts a season with a CHL team and ends up in the NHL later in the same campaign, so good for him.

I follow most NHL games anyway, so I'll be sure to note it on here if Levassuer gets a start while he's with the Ducks.

Back to the Bucks, you can follow tonight's game here or on Pointstreak, watch on CHL-TV or listen on Imagen 94.1 FM.

UPDATE: Robin Richards is tonight's scratch.

Semifinal Game 2 - Americans 3, Bucks 2

This is going to be brief because I've been working all day with a fever of about 105, but despite scoring first in Allen for the first time this season (and technically ever), the Bucks could not get past the Americans in Game 2 tonight, as they suffered a 3-2 loss.

The Bucks now return to Laredo with their series tied 1-1 and three straight home games to be played.

Todd Griffith and Ryan Lehr had the Bucks' goals tonight, while Pier-Olivier Pelletier stopped 21 of 24 shots faced to suffer the loss in net.

You can read more about tonight's loss in Bryan Benway's press release.

In the other Southern Conference Semifinal series, the Texas Brahmas jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Odessa Jackalopes with a 3-2 overtime win tonight.

I likely won't be able to post anything tomorrow, not that there will be much to post, but I will be at practice on Monday to report on any news that comes up by then.

Brent Cullaton will be heading to Laredo this week, but I'm not sure if he'll make it by Monday's practice.

Semifinal Game 1 - Bucks 4, Americans 3

The Bucks didn't do a lot of things they said they wanted to do tonight, but they did do the most important thing - win Game 1 of their Southern Conference Semifinal series against the Allen Americans.

The Bucks rallied to a 4-3 victory after being down 3-2 following two goals against in a matter of a minute early in the second period.

Neil Trimm scored the game-winner, Mike Looby knocked in two goals, and Darryl Smith had the Bucks' other tally.

Pier-Olivier Pelletier stopped 33 of 36 shots, including all 12 he faced in the decisive third period, so I imagine he will get the start again in Game 2 tomorrow night unless he decides he wants to sit.

This win is obviously huge for the Bucks, who will now have a chance to win the series at home regardless of what happens tomorrow night, but it's just the first step toward advancing through the postseason.

You can read more about tonight's game in Bryan Benway's press release.

Semifinal Game Day No. 3

The Bucks begin their Southern Conference Semifinal series against the Allen Americans tonight in Allen at 7:30 p.m.

The Bucks are making their eighth consecutive playoff appearance, while the Americans are looking to start a similar streak by making their first in their first season of play.

During the regular season, the Bucks went 1-2-2 against the Americans, who finished in second place in the Southern Conference, never losing by more than two goals and winning 6-1 in the most lopsided game of the season series.

The Bucks have had almost an entire week to rest up and get ready for the Americans, but the Americans have had the same to prepare for them, and I think everyone agrees the Bucks are going to have to play their best, most consistent hockey to have a chance in this series.

In order to win the series, the Bucks will obviously need to win at least one game on the road, as the Americans have home-ice advantage and will host four of the games in the series if it goes all seven.

Coach Ruskowski said he believes it's necessary to win one before coming home to make sure the team is on the right track when it gets back to Laredo Energy Arena, especially because the Americans have been a strong team on the road.

You can read more about the matchup in my preview in today's paper and Bryan Benway's preview for the series.

I'm not going to copy and paste all the quotes I used in my story this time, but here is what Ruskowski had to say about the team the Bucks are up against:

"They didn’t get to that position where they won over 40 games because they’re lucky; they’re a very good hockey team. They’re very talented, they move the puck, they have experience., they have great goaltending, really good defense and guys up front who can score. It’s going to be a handful, trust me when I say it’s going to be a handful, and I just hope that we can compete against them."

Ruskowski and his players seem to agree that if the Bucks are going to do that, they are going to need to play great defense and special teams, but Ruskowski said the series will likely come down to battles like the ones the Bucks lost during many of their problem stretches in the regular season.

"I really think it’s going to come down to the 1-on-1 battles in each of the zones," he said. "I really think it’s going to come down to that. Plus, like every series, it’s going to be the goaltending, and it’s going to be power play and penalty killing – those are going to be the factors. But I really think the 1-on-1 battles down low in our end and their end, whoever wins them is going to win the series."

As far as goaltending goes, Pier-Olivier Pelletier will get the call for the Bucks tonight and is likely to start most of these games as long as he is playing well and feeling well throughout the series.

The Americans will also be relying on a rookie netminder in Chris Whitley, who has been playing the way Pelletier has the past few weeks all season long.

The watch party for tonight's game begins in an hour and a half, and those of you not attending can follow the game on Pointstreak, watch on CHL-TV or listen on Imagen 94.1 FM.

Notebook Quotes

For those of you who aren't LMT subscribers, here are the quotes I used for my notebook that is in today's paper, with a few others I won't need for my preview thrown in:

Coach Ruskowski on preparation: The only thing I didn’t get too much involved with the video is if they change things up, then boom, all of a sudden we’re caught saying, ‘What’s going on here?’ We watched some of their tendencies, what they showed us in not just one game, but two or three games, and we put that in perspective and we tried to get to where we can neutralize their powers and jump on their weaknesses. I didn’t go one basic play. I watched tape, so I wanted to go after if they do it three or four times, then we kind of focused on that. We’re focused on that, we changed our practice up a little bit to go against their strengths, so I’m hoping that helps .The only thing is we have a tendency to, when we have a long rest time, we don’t have a tendency to come out sharp. We have to come out strong and hard and sharp right off the bat because we can’t let them come at us, we have to go after them.

Adam Rivet on getting this week to prepare: It’s obviously important to get the third spot and not play that extra series. I don’t think anybody in the league wants to play the extra series. It’s pretty demanding; you get a day off on Sunday, and then you’re right back at it, so it’s pretty important and the guys are pretty happy with where we are right now.

Jeff Bes on the week: It was a huge benefit, just to prepare and get set to play Allen, which is a very talented and strong team. We’ve taken advantage of that, and we’re in the right frame of mind.

Ruskowski on having 10 healthy forwards: That’ll be an ‘If you work hard, you stay in the lineup, if you don’t work hard, you’re out of the lineup’ kind of deal. It gets their attention a little bit more, the guys who aren’t playing very well, they’re saying, ‘Geez, I better pick up my game if I want to be playing next game,’ so it helps in that aspect. When Cullaton gets here, I think it will really move things around. If he plays the way I think he’s capable of playing, that I know he’s capable of playing, then I know he’s going to be a huge asset for us.

Ruskowski on his amateur search: There’s probably an amateur that I want to bring in here the next three or four days. Right now, I’m looking for a defenseman, a right-handed shot defenseman. We only have one on the team; if I can get another one, that would be a huge asset. I’m trying to go for that right now. I think I have one on the line, but we’ll see how his playoff performance goes as they’re playing up in Canada right now.

Ruskowski on the goalie situation: I’ll start with (Pier-Olivier) Pelletier because he’s wielding a hot hand right now, and we’ll just ride him until he gets cold. After every game, we’ll talk to him and before practice, we’ll talk to him; we’ll just keep in close contact with him and (Kevin) Desfosses, and we’ll decide the day before who’s going to play.

Ruskowski on the team's confidence in Pelletier: I think they’re very confident, and I think they’re confident with both guys. It’s just that Pelletier handles the puck a little bit better behind the net and sometimes ices the puck for us and passes the puck so we don’t have to work for it. So he’s good in that aspect, but I think they’re comfortable with both goalies, but Pelletier right now will hopefully continue to wield a hot hand for us.

Rivet on the goalies: I think the guys are feeling really good. He’s really settled in and kind of taken over the reigns there. He plays the puck really well, and the boys are playing for him, so that’s a big thing right now. Kevin’s working hard behind him, as well, so I think he’s ready for the challenge, too. We have two really good young goalies who are working hard and battling, trying to give us an opportunity to win.

I'll post more of their quotes tomorrow after my preview for the game/series comes out in the paper, and I'll be back later today if there is any news to report.

Getting Ready

Nothing new to report from practice today other than the return of Robin Richards, which means the Bucks will have 18 players in the lineup when they face off against the Allen Americans in Game 1 of their Southern Conference Semifinal series on Friday.

I talked to Coach Ruskowski, player/assistant coach Jeff Bes and captain Adam Rivet after practice today, but a large majority of the quotes I got will be used in either my notebook running in tomorrow's paper or the preview to run on Friday, so I'm going to hold off on posting them here.

The Bucks are already up in Allen after departing immediately following an early practice this morning, so they'll be well-rested and ready when it comes time to play.

Coach Ruskowski skated them a bit extra at the end of practice just to loosen them up and get the blood flowing, as they say, before the long bus ride.

The Bucks and Americans now know that the winner of their series will face the winner of one between the Odessa Jackalopes and Texas Brahmas, as the Brahmas earned a series-clinching 2-0 win over the Corpus Christi IceRays tonight.

I doubt either team is looking ahead to that quite yet, though, but if the Bucks do make it out of Round 1, odds are there will be an amateur defenseman on their roster before then.

Ruskowski is looking into one junior player in particular, but he is still playing with his other team.

You can read more about that in my notebook tomorrow, along with some info about what the team has been focusing on this week and how they feel about their current goalie situation.

I need to finish up some office work now, and without practice tomorrow, there won't be much new news to post, but I'll set up my account to auto post the quotes from my notebook and be sure to update if any news breaks.

Tuesday Update

After attending practice this morning, I can safely answer a question asked yesterday by letting you know Brent Cullaton is not in Laredo.

Turns out the loss the Buffalo Jr. Bison suffered last week was not of the season-ending variety, so Cullaton's team is competing at the Junior-A Nationals in Massachusetts this weekend.

Coach Ruskowski said Cullaton will be here "shortly" and that he is excited about what the veteran forward can bring to his team.

"Brent has a different perspective of the game now," Ruskowski said. "Just by him coaching in the juniors in Colorado, we talked a lot during the summer and the winter time, and we threw different ideas at each other, and I think he has a different perspective of the game now as a coach, and I'm excited for that because when Brent Cullaton wants to play like Brent Cullaton can, he's a dynamite hockey player. Any line he plays on is going to be a whole lot better."

Lines are something I was wondering about with Cullaton rejoining the team, as playing him on the top line would require breaking up the Jeff Bes-Darryl Smith-Sylvain Deschatelets trio that has been doing fairly well since Deschatelets arrived.

The three of them are still together in practice, but Ruskowski said he's not sure what he'll do when Cullaton gets here.

"I don't know," he said. "I'm going to have two games to decide who's playing well with who and do I change things around. Obviously, if we're winning, I don't know if I'll do anything, to tell you the truth. But if we're not playing as well as we should, then obviously the changes will be effective."

Robin Richards was also not at practice, but Ruskowski said he will be arriving in Laredo this afternoon after flying into San Antonio earlier and practicing tomorrow.

As far as adding amateurs goes, Ruskowski has a few specific players he is looking into, but they are still playing for their respective collegiate and junior teams at this point.

The Bucks considered themselves lucky to capture the third seed for two reasons - to rest injured players and to get extra time to prepare for the Allen Americans.

As far as injuries go, Ruskowski says things are looking better than they have in a long time.

"Some guys still have sore groins or whatever from playing so many games in a short period of time, but in general, we're not bad," he said. "It's one of the better scenarios we've had. Hopefully the good Lord doesn't say, 'Okay, time for Wave 15 to come in of injuries.' But we're also looking at a couple junior players, amateur players to maybe come in and help us out. But they're still in the playoffs, the guys that I'm interested in, so we'll find out probably within the next week or so if they're available. If they are, I'll probably like to bring them down to start getting them familiar with our systems so if they do get a chance to play, they're familiar with what we do and can step to the plate for us."

Preparation is something he believes they'll need a lot of after allowing four goals to the league's worst team in that 7-4 win over the Wichita Thunder in Saturday's regular season finale.

"Nothing away from Wichita, but they didn't really want it, and we didn't play our best hockey," he said. "Sometimes we have some bad habits, and that's the part I didn't like a whole lot. We scored seven goals, which is nice, but these last couple days, it hasn't been a really hard practice, but it's a scenario where we went over a lot of things that we need to go over and changed a couple things up. Any little advantage that we can get, we'll take, and at this point, getting seven goals and winning the game was great, but I don't think we should have allowed four goals. I'm hoping that we can prevent the other team from doing that. They struggled a little bit in Wichita the whole season, so allowing them to four goals was something that I didn't want to happen. But it did, so we have to rectify that problem."

Those problems stem from defensive coverage, which Ruskowski has had an issue with all season long.

"We're working on our defensive coverage, what our third guy high does, having more patience with the puck," he said. "Sometimes we're so regimental with what we do that we don't play the game by feeling and by seeing and adjusting to it. Just, 'This is what we have to do, and we can't get away from that.' But if they take it away, we have to have options. We're trying to get more options for the puck carriers, for them to move the puck and create more chances to score."

Conversely, Ruskowski liked a lot of what he saw the night before in a 4-3 overtime loss to the league-best Odessa Jackalopes on the road.

"I saw character in Odessa," he said. "We were down 3-1, and obviously the game didn't really mean anything, but we came back to tie it and lost in overtime. We took a penalty, and obviously we have to be more regimental and conscientious about taking penalties, especially in the playoff scenario, because any goal could be the game-winning goal against you. I thought they showed character there."

The team was on the ice for an hour and a half today, and Ruskowski was immediately looking over notes as soon as they came off. They have been watching tape every day and will continue to do so for the rest of the week.

"We're watching video more than we ever have before, especially against this team," Ruskowski said. "Today, we'll watch more of it, to make sure we're prepared and know exactly what they do, or what they have done, against us. They may change it, but if they didn't, then we're hopefully going to be prepared to see what they have."

One thing the Americans have is a great transition game, and Ruskowski wants his players to be able to take that away during this series.

"They flood the one side, and we have to be conscientious about that," he said. "Their transition from defense to offense is terrific, it's terrific. As soon as they get the puck, when it's turned over between the blue line and the red line, they're on the offense right away. We have to make sure of our changes, make sure that there are no turnovers and be prepared, if there is a turnover, to jump on defense as quickly as possible because these guys are dynamite from defense to offense. They have talent, they pass the puck well, they're strong in the corners, and we just have to be stronger or outnumber them in the corners to get possession of the puck."

Tomorrow's practice will be the last one at the LEC before the series against the Americans begins on Friday, as the team will depart for Allen tomorrow afternoon.

There will be a watch party for Friday's game at Hal's.

The two first-round series began last night, with the Texas Brahmas getting a 5-4 overtime win over the Corpus Christi IceRays and the Missouri Mavericks earning a 4-2 win over the Mississippi RiverKings.

Former Buck James Hiebert scored the game-winner for the Brahmas, who now only need to win one of two straight home games to close out the IceRays.

Back to the current Bucks, goaltender Pier-Olivier Pelletier earned the Performance of the Week award for his efforts in the Bucks' all-important 3-2 shootout win over the Brahmas on March 14.

Speaking of awards, here are the links to the other CHL honors that have been announced recently:

Most Outstanding Defenseman

Most Outstanding Goaltender

Most Valuable Player

Bucks Announce Playoff Roster

The Bucks announced their playoff roster earlier today, making the return of former captain Brent Cullaton official and releasing Maxime Lincourt.

Cullaton's return was fairly expectable, and obviously something everyone wanted, but do you agree Lincourt was the guy who needed to go?

The roster at this point is as follows:

No. 3 Igor Agarunov (Forward/Defenseman)
No. 6 Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel (Defenseman)
No. 9 Neil Trimm (Forward)
No. 10 Brent Cullaton (Forward)
No. 11 Jeff Bes (Forward)
No. 12 Curtis Billstem (Forward)
No. 15 Evan Schwabe(Forward)
No. 18 Darryl Smith (Forward)
No. 19 Ryan Lehr (Defenseman)
No. 21 Todd Griffith (Forward)
No. 22 Paul Elliott (Defenseman)
No. 23 Eric Giosa (Forward)
No. 27 Jarred Mohr (Defenseman)
No. 28 Adam Rivet (Defenseman)
No. 33 Pier-Olivier Pelletier (Goaltender)
No. 35 Kevin Desfosses (Goaltender)
No. 39 Mike Looby (Defenseman)
No. 41 Sylvain Deschatelets (Forward)
No. 52 Robin Richards (Forward)

Mark O'Leary was moved to the season-ending IR with the roster needing to be cut, making him the fourth Bucks player to go that route this season.

Two amateur players can be added to the roster if and when Coach Ruskowski finds them.

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but I didn't have Internet access earlier in the day.

I was unable to attend practice this morning for personal reasons, but I will be there tomorrow and will post on here as soon as I leave the arena.

In the meantime, you can read Bryan Benway's blog for some info on today's practice and more on the roster situation.

The two first-round playoff series begin tonight, with the Corpus Christi IceRays hosting the Texas Brahmas and the Missouri Mavericks hosting the Mississippi RiverKings.

You can follow those games on Pointstreak or watch on CHL-TV.

Game No. 64 - Bucks vs. Thunder

Starters: Bucks - Curtis Billsten (F), Kevin Desfosses (G), Paul Elliott (D), Eric Giosa (F), Maxime Lincourt (F), Mike Looby (D); Thunder - Kevin Cooper (F), Joel Hanson (F), Bobby Hughes (F), Ian Keserich (G), Tomas Klempa (F), Jason Woll (D).

First Period: Sorry for the lack of game day post; I got stuck at the office until a lot later than expected. ... Desfosses will start tonight, though there is a checkmark scratched out next to Pier-Olivier Pelletier's name on the lineup card. ... Well, it took them a whole 80 seconds, but the Bucks have jumped out to a 1-0 lead over the worst team in the league on a goal by team goal-scoring leader Darryl Smith. Completely individual effort to beat Brent Ottman and then snap the puck over Keserich's right shoulder for his 35th of the season. It's listed as unassisted now, but I'm guessing an assist or two will be added later. ... Now that I'm done typing that, make it 2-0 Bucks at 2:24 in the period. Neil Trimm knocked that one in on a slapshot-esque one-timer from right outside the crease. Todd Griffith drew Keserich to the other side of the crease and passed the puck to Trimm, who basically had an empty net to shoot into for the goal. I think Evan Schwabe is getting the secondary helper on that. ... That's two goals on two shots for the Bucks, by the way. ... Bucks going on the penalty kill now with Looby in the box for holding at the 3-minute mark. ... The Thunder kept the puck in the Bucks' zone for most of that but did not take a single shot. Penalty killed. ... A disappointing five minutes between goals later (joking), the Bucks are up 3-0 on a wicked shot by Lincourt, giving each line one goal tonight. He was wide open in Keserich's right circle and got a nice clean pass from Billsten that he whipped past the goaltender. That shot is the reason Ruskowski wanted Lincourt here, but not something we've seen a whole heck of a lot of this season. That was the third shot on goal, making it a perfect 3-for-3 for the Bucks tonight. Goal scored at 7:27, with the second assist apparently going to Adam Rivet. Could've sworn Giosa was involved there somewhere. ... Thunder just took their second shot of the game, which was deflected away by Desfosses. ... Keserich's first save of the night was a beauty, robbing Jeff Bes on a great chance. ... Second one wasn't bad, either, stopping a point-blank shot by Griffith, who was left all alone in front of Keserich with the puck after a defensive-zone turnover by the Thunder. ... Now he's made five in a row. Bucks are controlling play, in case you couldn't guess. ... Bucks get their first power play at 11:19 with Woll headed to the box for tripping Smith. ... Looks like the Bucks are testing out a new power play setup. Guess this as good a team to experiment against as any. ... Just as I was thinking the Bucks are still missing a lot of their passes, Giosa came on the ice for Schwabe on a change, went straight to the net and banged a pass from Trimm over Keserich's left shoulder into the net. Griffith gets the second assist for his pass to Trimm, which was pretty nice itself. Bucks lead 4-0 at 14:56. ... As I expected, an assist for Bes has been added to Smith's goal. ... Giosa's goal broke a streak of seven straight saves for Keserich. Bucks are up 11-4 on shots. ... Looby back in the box at 19:10 on a tripping call. ... Schwabe just left the puck behind for Trimm on a shorthanded chance, but Trimm couldn't quite get it under control. That was an odd play. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 4-0, up 14-6 on shots. ... I'm not sure who is doing plus/minus tonight, but it seems a bit off that someone who assisted on an even-strength goal in a game in which his team has not allowed its opponent to score would be a 0.

Second Period: Thunder took a shot on the tail end of that power play, but it was stopped. ... One of the Bucks just took a shot that appeared to bounce off the post into Keserich's glove, where he was barely able to hold onto it and keep it out of the net. ... The Bucks were just stopped on a couple chances, but it is worth noting how well Smith and Deschatelets can work together. The latter just dropped a beauty of a pass to the former, who got the puck up to Looby crashing the net. Looby's shot bounced over Keserich to the other side of the crease, though, and the following shot was gloved out of the air. ... Bucks have had to play a bit of defense in the past few minutes after not scoring for more than 10, but they have held the Thunder off the board. ... Bucks get their second power play of the game at 8:31 with Jason Reese going to the box for tripping. ... Things will even up for a bit with Giosa going to the box for hooking at 9:38. Amusingly, the game live box has him taking a shot several seconds later. ... Bucks on the PK now. ... Penalty killed. ... Keserich just made two saves in less than half of a minute that each almost bounced off him into the net. ... Bucks have broken through again on their 11th shot of the period, as Griffith got a loose puck past Keserich at ice level. It's funny how excited he was by the goal compared to how lethargic the guys on the ice with him were in congratulating him. Smith had to make some nice moves to get off an initial shot that Keserich gave right over to Griffith for the goal. Bucks lead 5-0 at 16:51 in the period. ... Igor Agarunov is going to the box for tripping at 17:51 to put the Thunder on the power play. ... Billsten escaped on a good shorthanded chance then lost the puck, then shot it when he got it back and missed the net. He's definitely playing like this game means something, even if he can't quite find the net. ... Anders Strome did, though, at 19:07 to cut the Bucs' lead to 5-1. I imagine this was supposed to be a confidence builder for Desfosses, but not shutting a team that can't even win 10 games out might not help much. ... Allowing two goals can't help any more helpful, but the Thunder will end the game with at least two now that Ryan Campbell has knocked one home with less than 10 seconds in the period. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 5-2, up 26-18 on shots. They were outscored 2-1 in that period, though, and only outshot the Thunder 13-12.

Third Period: No whistles through the first 4:30 of the period despite several chances for Keserich to cover the puck or hang onto it. ... Desfosses ended up being the one to cover it first, and the Thunder get a faceoff in front of him at 4:47. ... Ryan Lehr has just added to the Bucks' lead, and not with a booming shot from the point. He was trailing Lincourt, who gained the zone and tried to stickhandle around a couple Thunder players only to lose the puck right in front of Keserich and have Lehr pick it up and shoot it into the net. That was actually really neat to watch, and poor Keserich had no chance. Bucks up 6-2 at 12:08. ... Billsten finally found the net, on a loose puck right in the crease, to make the Bucks' lead 7-2 at 8:38. ... The Thunder just added two more goals, but I am sadly being forced to handle something that is not being taken care of at the office, so I'll just tell you Hughes and Cooper scored them.

Game Over: Bucks win 7-4, end the season 32-20-12 (76 points) and get nearly a week off before they begin their playoff series against the Allen Americans. The Thunder have tied the record for fewest wins in a Central Hockey League season with nine. The Bucks stayed on the ice to salute the fans after the game, and Coach Ruskowski thanked them for their support.

Game No. 63 - Jackalopes 4, Bucks 3, OT

The Bucks rallied with two goals in a span of a minute in the third period but eventually suffered a 4-3 overtime loss to the Governor's Cup champion Odessa Jackalopes.

It's worth noting that Sylvain Deschatelets scored his eighth goal in 12 games with the Bucks, making it five in a row with a goal, Darryl Smith notched his team-leading 34th, and Todd Griffith scored the game-tying tally shorthanded.

Kevin Desfosses suffered a loss in his first start in a while, but he stopped 43 shots, so it seems he probably did a pretty good job.

You can read more about the game in Bryan Benway's press release.

In other news, the Corpus Christi IceRays wrapped up the Southern Conference's fifth and final playoff spot with a 5-2 win over the Allen Americans tonight.

That just give the Bucks one more reason to be happy they're the third seed.

The Bucks will close out the regular season tomorrow night with a 7:30 game against the league-worst Wichita Thunder at Laredo Energy Arena.

Playoff Series Set

We already knew the first few dates for the Bucks' upcoming playoff series against the Allen Americans, but now all of the games have been finalized.

The schedule will be as follows:

Game 1: Laredo at Allen on Friday, March 26, at 7:30 p.m.
Game 2: Laredo at Allen on Saturday, March 27, at 7:30 p.m.
Game 3: Allen at Laredo on Tuesday, March 30, at 7 p.m.
Game 4: Allen at Laredo on Thursday, April 1, at 7 p.m.
Game 5: Allen at Laredo on Saturday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 6: Laredo at Allen on Tuesday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 7: Laredo at Allen on Wednesday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. (if necessary)

The games in italics are, of course, the ones to be played at Laredo Energy Arena.

Playoff tickets are on sale now.

Updates and Links

Since there seem to still be some questions about injuries and things of that nature, here is the update on the roster situation I had in the notes for my notebook in yesterday's Times:

Forward Eric Giosa missed practice on Tuesday but is expected to play tonight.

Defenseman Mike Looby is also expected to return to the lineup after suffering a setback in his recovery from an upper-body injury and missing Sunday’s game.

Defenseman Jarred Mohr is day-to-day with his own upper-body ailment.

Forward Neil Trimm, who has been on the 14-day IR since was back on the ice for Tuesday’s practice and is expected to play Saturday, as is forward Robin Richards, who has been on leave from the league since before the weekend’s games.

Forwards Justin Styffe and Tyler Fletcher were placed on the season-ending IR on Tuesday retroactive to the games in which each suffered injuries.

Styffe broke his leg on Jan. 16, and Fletcher broke his wrist in his lone game with Laredo, a 3-2 shootout win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on Friday.

Obviously, some of that is no longer applicable, but I wanted to note that Fletcher's injury was a broken wrist because there seemed to be some questions about that.

Trimm is now expected to play tomorrow night, while according to what Coach Ruskowski said last night, Richards will not be back with the team "until after the weekend, if at all."

Mohr will sit out this weekend, so Igor Agarunov will move back on defense with Trimm back in the lineup.

Meanwhile, you can check out my story in today's Times or Bryan Benway's press release for more on last night's win.

The playoff series against the Allen Americans will obviously start in Allen, with the first two games being played next Friday and Saturday, then move to Laredo for Game 3.

For more on the other Bucks news yesterday, you can read my hockey-focused story and Joe Rutland's business-focused story from today's Times.

And, since I had previously failed to link to any of the awards being given out, here those are:

CHL Man of the Year

All-Rookie Team

All-CHL Team

Rookie of the Year

Coach of the Year

UPDATE: Comments aren't publishing for some reason, but one that was left reminded me that I forgot to mention the Bucks left for Odessa at 9 this morning and will be spending the night there before playing tomorrow. Kevin Desfosses is expected to get his first start since last Wednesday. And Mohr should be ready to play once the series against the Americans begins.

Game No. 62- Bucks vs. Jackalopes

Starters: Bucks - Igor Agarunov (F), Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel (D), Todd Griffith (F), Ryan Lehr (D), Pier-Olivier Pelletier (G), Evan Schwabe (F); Jackalopes - Kenny Bernard (F), Alex Dunn (D), Garrett Gruenke (D), Joel Martin (G), Troy Ofukany (F), Mike Ramsay (F).

First Period: The Bucks are playing their fifth game in seven days and going with 14 skaters. At least that's better than 13, I guess. ... Bucks actually got a chance on the first shift, but Agarunov couldn't get his stick on a backhand attempt of a rebound quite hard enough. For some reason, the first shot hasn't been registered yet. ... Jackalopes just got a 2-on-0 chance on Pelletier, but the shot went wide. ... A Bucks player, I believe Lehr, was just down on the ice for a minute and had to be checked on by Bobby Moore before heading over to the bench. He seems to be okay. ... Pelletier just made a couple quick saves on the Jacks. ... After a couple more quick saves by Pelletier, Philippe Plante gave the Jackalopes an early lead with a wrist shot from the top of the circle through a lot of bodies that went top shelf on Pelletier. Dave Van Drunen and Dominic Leveille get the assists. Jackalopes lead 1-0 at 4:02. ... Bucks just got a chance and were able to get Martin out of the net chasing a puck but couldn't capitalize. They will go on the power play now, though, with Collin Circelli going to the box for roughing at 4:45. ... Bucks will get a very brief 5-on-3 now with a tripping call against Plante at 6:38. They've only managed one shot in 1:52 of power play time so far. ... Sylvain Deschatelets a way of being in the right place at the right time to one-time the puck past pretty much any goalie, and he just did it again, beating Martin top shelf from right outside the crease. Jeff Bes made a nice pass from the opposite circle to set that one up. Game tied 1-1 at 7:37. ... Lehr just took a mighty slap shot from the point during a nice 5-on-5 rush by the Bucks, but Martin made a glove stop on it. Eric Giosa was the one who got the puck in the zone for the Bucks, taking on three Jackalopes fearlessly despite the injury he's been nursing. Reminds me that I forgot to mention Coach Ruskowski calling Giosa a "character kid" and saying he'd be playing today no matter how much pain he was in, not always the case for some players. ... Griffith just missed the puck on a shot attempt on a 2-on-1. Schwabe tried to follow in and take the shot but couldn't quite do that. ... Martin just made a great save on a point-blank shot by Maxime Lincourt. ... Billsten just backhanded the puck on a wraparound attempt and flipped it over the net rather than into it. Very close chance there. ... And now Billsten has drawn a penalty, and the Bucks will go on the power play with Van Drunen in the box for hooking at 16:42. ... Lincourt just stopped the puck with his skate and tried to take a heavy shot but had it blocked. ... Right after that power play ended, the Bucks have jumped out to their first lead of the game on a great garbage goal by Agarunov, who was one of a couple players hanging around the net with Martin practically doing the splits on a save attempt. Giosa and Billsten get the assists. Dieude-Fauvel was the other player in Martin's face and probably helped out a bit on keeping him from stopping that puck. ... Pointstreak has the assists on Deschatelets' goal as Mike Looby and Bes, in that order, so I may have been wrong about Bes making the pass to Deschatelets. I really wish they were consistent about showing goal replays here. ... Lincourt and Schwabe just got a bit of a break, but Schwabe could not settle down Lincourt's pass to take a shot. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 2-1, up 13-7 on shots. That was a pretty fast-paced period, and the Bucks have been pretty lively for a team in their current situation. We'll see if they can keep it up.

Second Period: Lincourt made a great play early to get the puck away from Dunn and race in on Martin, but Martin made the poke check, and Schwabe, the man trailing Lincourt, couldn't quite get his stick on the puck. ... The Bucks have done a decent job keeping the puck away from their goalie since early in the first, and Pelletier has done a good job stopping it when it does make it to him. ... Looby is headed to the box for slashing at 2:38 to put the Jackalopes on their first power play. This unit was not something Ruskowski wanted to see tonight, but a kill here could be big for his team. ... Great sprawling save by Pelletier to keep the Bucks in the lead. ... Penalty killed. ... Nice defensive play by Darryl Smith to keep one of the Jacks from taking a shot on a nice tic-tac-toe play. ... Martin just made a beautiful save on a shot by Bes on a 2-on-1 with Smith. ... Pelletier just made a pad save on Brian Swiniarski only to have Swiniarski grab the puck and slip it behind him to tie the game. Game tied 2-2 at 9:34. ... And now the Jacks are going on a power play, with Adam Rivet headed to the box for hooking at 10:15. I'd say this might be a crucial two minutes. ... Smith just got a shorthanded chance and whipped the puck high and wide. ... Jackalopes back in the shot lead at 20-19. ... Billsten and Giosa are working hard down in the Jackalopes' zone, and Giosa just took a shot that got caught on the outside of the net. A lot of people thought that was a goal, but no such luck. ... Well, that was. Griffith just snapped a shot past Martin, who was being screened, right off the power play to give the Bucks back their lead. Giosa getting what is currently the lone assist. Bucks lead 3-2 at 12:43. ... The Brahmas and Rush are in a scoreless tie at their first intermission, by the way. ... Jackalopes getting another power play with Dieude-Fauvel headed to the box for hooking at 15:57. ... Bucks just missed out on a big opportunity with Martin out of the net and Billsten and Smith rushing the zone. Smith held the puck just a little too long deciding whether to pass or shoot and eventually passed only to have it intercepted. ... Everyone wants a tripping call on the Jackalopes for a play out front of Martin, but no such luck. ... Pelletier just made another great save. He has now faced 24 shots tonight. ... Circelli just wrestled the puck away from Schwabe on what looked to be turning into a great shorthanded chance. ... Penalty killed. ... The Bucks just benefitted from some odd bounces and a bad clearing attempt by one of the Jackalopes but could not get the puck home. ... Shot attempt broken up on a late scoring chance for the Bucks. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 3-2, down 26-22 on shots.

Third Period: Laredo Energy Arena is not full by any means, but it is very loud tonight. ... Just got a little quieter, as the game is tied again on a deflection by Swiniarski. Ramsay and Bernard get the assists. Game tied 3-3 at 2:13. ... Bucks get a power play at 4:17 after Kory Karlander hooked Bes in front of the net. ... Give the Bucks credit for actually setting up and keeping the puck in the offensive zone for most of that power play, but only getting a couple shots and failing to score probably doesn't make them feel so great about it. The Jackalopes got a big break when Korlander got out of the box, but Pelletier made a great save to keep it tied. ... Bucks get another power play now with Van Drunen headed to the box for for hooking at 7:59. ... Penalty killed. ... After being badly outshot early in the period, the Bucks are finally putting some on Martin. ... Looby headed to the box for slashing at 14:32 to give the Jackalopes another power play. ... Pelletier made a big save to start that one out. ... And another big stop not much later. The Bucks might want to try clearing the puck eventually. ... Lucky break for the Bucks as Pierce whiffed on what would have almost definitely been a goal for the Jackalopes right outside the crease. ... Pelletier just gloved the puck and tossed it out to Deschatelets, who couldn't quite win a battle along to boards to get a breakaway, but did get the puck out of the zone. ... Penalty killed. ... One minute left in regulation. ... Brahmas are leading the Rush 1-0. ... Leveille was just all alone with the puck in front of Pelletier and somehow did not get a shot before one of the Bucks took the play away from him. ... End of the period, game tied 3-3, Jackalopes up 39-27 on shots. They outshot the Bucks 13-5 in the third.

Overtime: Pretty crazy play halfway through the OT period with Pelletier stopping multiple shots only to have one of his teammates come close to putting the puck behind him. No such luck for the Jackalopes, though. They are now up to 43 shots. ... Deschatelets just hit the crossbar on a backhand attempt off a rebound on a shot by Rivet, and he thought he had ended the game. Very close. The Jacks returned with a chance of their own, but Pelletier got the puck under control, setting up a faceoff to his left with 34.9 seconds left in OT. ... Icing on the Bucks brings the faceoff back in front of Pelletier with 13.2 on the clock. ... Ruskowski has taken his timeout. ... The puck got caught up on the back of the net to give the Jacks yet another offensive-zone faceoff with 6.1 to go. ... Bucks got control off the faceoff, and Rivet tried to take a last-second shot but missed the net way wide. ... End of OT, game tied 3-3, Jackalopes up 44-30 on shots.

Shootout: The Bucks will shoot second. ... Leveille up first. ... And he snapped the puck past Pelletier to score the first shootout goal against Pelletier in at least eight tries. ... Griffith tried a backhand that was gloved by Martin. ... Ramsay whipped a wrister, and Pelletier made a nice glove save. ... Bes hit the corner of the left post. ... Swiniarski either missed wide or had his shot deflected into the boards. ... Deschatelets couldn't get the shot he wanted as Martin held him off and shot it into the back of the net. ... Pierce lost the puck over the Bucks' bench, then hit the left post with his shot. ... Smith faked Martin out but missed the net on his backhand. ... Sebastien Thinel can win it. ... And he did, beating Pelletier on almost a mirror-image shot of the one taken by Leveille. Jackalopes are the Governor's Cup champs, and the Bucks will have to wait until the game between the Brahmas and Rush is over to see if they have clinched the third seed. ... As if on cue, the Rush just took a 2-1 lead on two consecutive goals. ... The Bucks have clinched thanks to a 4-1 win by the Rush.

Game Day No. 62

The Bucks will face the Odessa Jackalopes at 7 p.m. with an opportunity to clinch the third seed for the Southern Conference in the upcoming Central Hockey League playoffs.

The Bucks (31-20-10, 72 points) can clinch with a win, a loss by the Texas Brahmas (31-24-7, 69 points) or an overtime loss and an overtime loss by the Brahmas.

The Jackalopes (45-11-5, 95 points) are fighting to clinch the Governor's Cup ahead of the Rapid City Rush (42-13-6, 90 points), who host the Brahmas tonight.

There are plenty of benefits to getting the third seed for any team, but for the Bucks, that extra week off and a chance to avoid a possible matchup with the Corpus Christi IceRays is even more appealing.

You can read more about the importance of finishing third and the weekend that got them where they are now in my notebook in today's Times.

Teams just came out for warmups, and Eric Giosa and Mike Looby are both out there, so it looks like they should play tonight. Jarred Mohr is not on the ice, so it seems he will miss his third straight game. Pier-Olivier Pelletier (9-4-2) will get his fourth straight start in goal.

The Bucks are wearing special St. Patrick's Day jerseys for the final jersey auction of the season, so we'll see how well the off-ice officials can keep up with the numbers tonight.

As Joe Rutland reported in Tuesday's Times, today's press conference was held to announce the purchase of the naming rights of the LEC, which will now be known as Laredo Energy Arena.

Laredo Energy CEO Glenn Hart, also the majority owner of the Bucks, made a point of the fact that this investment is solid proof that the Bucks are here and not planning on leaving anytime soon.

Back to tonight, though, you can read more in Bryan Benway's preview or the Pointstreak pre-game notes.

You can follow the game here or on Pointstreak, watch on CHL-TV or listen on Imagen 94.1 FM.

Note: Sorry for the delay in this being posted; the Internet at Laredo Energy Arena went out for a while.

Ruskowski's Thoughts on the Weekend

Just in case I get caught up answering high school calls by the time I finish transcribing later, I'll post some quotes from Coach Ruskowski about this weekend first.

I talked to him about the games in reverse order of occurrence, because I wanted to ask about the way things went against the Texas Brahmas first, so bear with that as you read:

On winning all three games over the weekend: Especially after the way we played against Corpus on Wednesday – it was just kind of disgraceful how we played then – the guys just bounced back. It seems the more adversity we get, the better they play. It’s just amazing because we played really shorthanded against Arizona and really shorthanded against Texas, in their own building, and I thought they played really well. They played smart, moved the puck well, they conserved their energy; it was one of those times they skated a mile and got 100 things done so they didn’t have to skate 100 miles to get one thing done. They played a little bit smarter, they moved the puck, we had great goaltending and timely goals. It was just a good combination.

On the play of goaltender Pier-Olivier Pelletier in the wins: I was really impressed. The accolades he got, being Goalie of the Week, I think he totally deserves that. He’s been playing really solid hockey for us, game in and game out as of late. He’ll start tomorrow, we’ll give him two days off, then he’ll come back against Wichita. I don’t want to kill him, but I still want him to stay sharp.

On Sunday's 3-2 shootout win over the Brahmas: It was incredible. We had big saves to start, and we just played one of those solid, smart games. It’s a game of mistakes, and when we made a mistake, we had Pelletier bailing us out or the defense making a good play. When they made a mistake, a couple of them, we capitalized on them. It was nice to see that one because I really didn’t think on the better end of the stick, especially with nine forwards and four defense playing against a team as good as Texas. That was a tough, tough game, and the guys came through. I’m very proud of them.

On the play of the Curtis Billsten-Eric Giosa-Maxime Lincourt line in Saturday's 5-3 win over the Arizona Sundogs: It’s pressure off me, but it’s also pressure off other lines when a line can do that when it’s maybe more pronounced as a checking line. For them to score four goals, it’s a huge asset. Any time you go into playoffs, you find one line or one guy who people usually don’t look to to be a hero come up as a hero, and we’re hoping we have two or three of those people going into the playoffs who step up and be heroes for us. It’s huge to have three lines that are capable of scoring but also capable of playing good defense. They have to play good defense, then the other end will take care of the goal-scoring opportunities. I thought they played very well, and I was proud of that line.

On Friday's 3-2 shootout win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees: It was kind of a chippy game. We had that Fletcher kid out there, and he was hitting everybody. Actually, he hit Bennefield, and I think he hurt him again. But he kind of got them off their game a little bit; they were more trying to get after him, get after that physical part instead of playing the game the way they should. Then (Jeff) Bes just made a nice play, passed across to Smitty in the goal mouth with a wide-open net, and Sylvain (Deschatelets) made a nice play behind the net, it was just a nice bam-bam goal. Then we just hung on from there. The amazing thing is, we scored three shots, three times in a row against (Andy) Franck (in the shootout), which is kind of unheard of. It was nice to see that happen; we hadn’t had that happen in a long time. Then, going into Texas and doing the same thing, scoring in the shootout, it was a good week. It was a fun week, it was a nerve-racking week for a coach to see what’s going on, but I’m proud of the guys. They played pretty well, I just hope that now they don’t think that the season is over. We still have three more games left, and so does Texas, so we’re going to have to make sure we win at least two of these games out of three to make sure we stay in the third spot.

Pelletier Named Goalie of the Week

For his rather remarkable efforts in leading the Bucks to a 3-0 weekend when they needed it most, rookie Pier-Olivier Pelletier has been named the Central Hockey League's Goaltender of the Week for games played March 9-14.

Pelletier, who missed practice time earlier in the week while battling a cold and flu symptoms, started three straight games in less than 70 hours and won them all.

He made 37 saves on 39 shots in regulation and overtime and stopped all three Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees he faced in the shootout for a 3-2 win on Friday, stopped 26 of 29 shots faced in a 5-3 win over the Arizona Sundogs on Saturday and stopped 34 of 36 shots plus in regulation and OT and all four he faced in the shootout for a 3-2 win over the Texas Brahmas yesterday.

In total, that is 97 saves on 104 regulation and overtime shots for a save percentage of 0.933 and seven saves on seven shootout attempts for a perfect 1.000 save percentage in those situations.

Considering how few games Pelletier was playing just a month ago, those numbers are pretty staggering, as is the fact that he is 9-0-1 in his last 10 starts. I don't think anyone could argue this honor isn't well-deserved.

Pelletier and his teammates got a much-needed day off today, but they'll be back on the ice tomorrow to prepare for the first of their final three games in the regular season, a Wednesday matchup with the Odessa Jackalopes.

Game No. 61 - Bucks 3, Brahmas 2, SO

Somehow, despite playing three men down on less than 17 hours of rest in a building they had not won in previously this season, the Bucks pulled off a 3-2 shootout win over the Texas Brahmas today.

Though giving up a point was not ideal, being able to take two was quite a feat for the Bucks playing against a Brahmas team that had all 16 skaters and a full day of rest heading into the game.

Sylvain Deschatelets scored for the Bucks for the second straight night, Eric Giosa got one for the line he centers that did a lot of damage last night, and Jeff Bes scored the game-winner in the shootout. Deschatelets also scored in the shootout, but Bes's goal decided the game.

Maxime Lincourt followed up his two-goal performance last night with two assists today, and Paul Elliott and Adam Rivet picked up a helper apiece.

Pier-Olivier Pelletier, making his third straight start on very limited rest after battling a cold this week, stopped 34 of 36 shots he faced in regulation and overtime and all four shooters the Brahmas sent his way in the shootout.

There were plenty of penalties in this one, with 21 minors called between regulation and overtime, but neither team scored on the power play.

The Bucks were 0-for-9 on the advantage and held the Brahmas 0-for-6.

Of course, the most important thing about all of this is that the Bucks (31-20-10, 62 points) are now three points ahead of the Brahmas (31-23-7, 69 points) for the Southern Conference's third seed with three games left on the regular season schedule.

The Bucks have to play the best team in the league, at least record-wise, in the Odessa Jackalopes (45-11-5, 95 points) twice, at home Wednesday, on the road Friday, but close out the regular season against the league's worst, the Wichita Thunder (9-27-5, 23 points), at home on Saturday.

The Brahmas play the Northern Conference's top team, the Rapid City Rush (41-13-6, 88 points), on the road on Tuesday and Wednesday and host the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (35-21-4, 74 points) on Saturday.

If the Rush can beat the Brahmas in both of their games and the Bucks can get a point against the Jackalopes on Wednesday, they should have the third seed to themselves by that night after finishing the season series with the Brahmas with a 4-3-0 record.

Anyway, you can read more about the game in Bryan Benway's press release.

The team will take a well-deserved day off tomorrow after getting home from North Richland Hills, but they'll practice on Thursday, so I'll be there to get updates on the status of injured players and everything else.

Game No. 60 - Bucks vs. Sundogs

Starters: Bucks - Jeff Bes (F), Sylvain Deschatelets (F), Ryan Lehr (D), Pier-Olivier Pelletier (G), Adam Rivet (D), Darryl Smith (F); Sundogs - Marc Belanger (F), Torren DelForte (F), Linus Fagemo (F), J. F. Perras (G), Evan Shaw (D), Andrew Winnik (D).

First Period: First shot of the game on Pelletier taken just seven seconds in and calmly set aside. ... Igor Agarunov is playing as a forward tonight despite the missing defenseman and just took the Bucks' first shot on net. ... Pelletier just made a nice glove save on a backhander from a Sundogs player all alone in front. I believe it was Joey Sides, but I'm not sure I caught the right number. ... Another turnover in the Bucks' zone gave Fagemo the puck all alone, but his shot missed the net high. ... Maxime Lincourt just chipped the puck up to Curtis Billsten, who got it as he gained the zone and skated past the Sundogs' defense to put the puck five-hole on Perras. The goal light didn't go off immediately, and it took a split second for both players to react, so I wasn't sure that was a goal right away, but it definitely was. Bucks lead 1-0 at 4:57 in the period. ... Darryl Smith, who gave the puck to Lincourt on the half-wall, got the second assist on that goal. ... Another great save by Pelletier on a fast play out front his net keeps the Sundogs off the board with about seven minutes down. ... After Perras fell down making a save and lost the puck, Billsten shoved Kevin Jarman to the ice right beside his goaltender. The Bucks weren't able to recover the puck on that play, though, and the score stays 1-0. ... Close call for the Bucks as another chance for the Sundogs trickled through Pelletier's pads. Luckily for him, it went to the outside of the net. ... Sundogs get the game's first power play at 8:33 with Paul Elliott in the box for two minutes for high sticking. ... Only one shot was taken by the Sundogs as that penalty was killed. ... The Bucks got a break right as Elliott came out of the box and seemed assured to go up 2-0 but the player who went to take the shot on the loose puck out front missed, and that gave the Sundogs a breakaway, on which Pelletier made another great save. ... A shot just hit Pelletier's left post on a very close call for the Bucks. ... Sundogs back on the power play at 14:58 with Lehr in the box for holding. ... Penalty killed. ... Deschatelets has made this a 2-0 game with just 1:24 to play in the period on a point-blank one-timer that beat Perras glove side. Smith passed the puck to him from just behind the goal line to Perras's right. Not sure if they're giving a second assist. ... First power play for the Bucks comes with just 44 seconds on the clock with Shaw headed to the box for holding. ... That will carry over to the second period, as the Bucks did not score in the first 44 seconds of their advantage. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 2-0, up 11-10 on shots. That is their first shot lead of the game.

Second Period: The Bucks were not able to set up very well on that carried-over power play, only taking one shot before it was killed. ... A couple big hits have been handed out along the boards in the first couple minutes of this middle period. ... The Sundogs have taken back the shot lead at 13-12. ... A little bit of a scrap ensued behind then net after they took their 14th, but no penalties are being assessed. ... Not much later, Adam Smyth is headed to the box to give the Bucks their second power play of the game. He'll serve two for interference at 5:19. ... Lehr rang a slap shot off the crossbar with not much time left on that one, but the Bucks were unable to get a shot on goal. Penalty killed. .... Another penalty has been called against the Sundogs after a bit of a delay, and now there is some shoving going on around the net. Matt Hanson will go to the box for this one, slashing at 8:07. ... The Bucks just missed a series of chanced with Perras down and out, as they couldn't seem to get a stick on the puck in close, then Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel missed the net wide on a slap shot, then Deschatelets missed a loose puck right out front. Penalty killed. ... An interesting series of events as Kevin Jarman crushed Agarunov into the boards, then started shoving him while he was down. Shoving ensued, and Dieude-Fauvel eventually dropped the gloves with Smyth. ... Dieude-Fauvel and Smyth will each serve five for fighting, and play will be 4-on-4 with Agarunov in for holding and Jarman for boarding. ... Lead cut to 2-1 as the Sundogs scored on their 18th shot of the game. Defenseman Nick Biond0, who was trailing on the play, scored it after getting a drop pass from Kyle Hood. That goal came at 12:37. ... And, just like that, the Bucks have their two-goal advantage back. Billsten scored his second of the night, 10th of the season, from between the circles. Eric Giosa nearly tackled him in celebration. Giosa gets an assist for his pass out to Billsten, but I think Rivet touched the puck, so he might get one, too. Bucks lead 3-1 at 13:18. ... With 3:39 left on the clock, the Sundogs have cut the lead to one again on a goal by Belanger. Bucks lead 3-2. ... And the Bucks have answered once again, this time on Lincourt's first goal since Dec. 8, a flukey wrister that beat Perras stick side. Bucks lead 4-2 with 2:43 to play in the period. ... Pelletier has much of the crowd on its feet after making an unbelievable behind-the-back save on a second-chance attempt by the Sundogs. Keeping them from getting within one with so little time left in the period could be crucial for the Bucks, and doing it in dramatic fashion just gets the fans that much more involved. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 4-2, up 23-22 on shots.

Third Period: The final period has started a little slow, with far less hitting and shooting than the opening minutes of the first two. ... Jeff Bes just missed the net wide on a 2-on-1 chance with Deschatelets. Deschatelets carried the puck up the ice, then sent a long pass across to Bes, who couldn't quite get his shot on net. ... And now Lincourt has his second goal of the night, and he looked awfully happy to get it. He has given the Bucks a 5-2 lead at 4:17 by knocking a loose puck past Perras stick side while the goalie was a bit out of position. Billsten has what is currently the lone assist. The Bucks have picked up the shooting a bit in the past couple minutes and now lead 27-22 in shots, having held the Sundogs to zero in that category so far this period. ... Bucks going on the power play at 6:15 after Mike Nesdill interfered with Smith. ... Penalty killed. ... Bucks going on another power play at 10:58. Well, they were going to be, but now that Rivet and Smyth got tangled up and Rivet held Smith face-down to the ice, maybe they won't. Nope, they still are, with Jarman in the box for high-sticking. Of course, the Rivet-Smyth thing happened on the one part of the ice I can't see over my laptop, so I'm not sure exactly what went on there, but I guess nothing the refs think was worth penalizing. ... Belanger just hit the crossbar on a shorthanded chance. ... Checking has picked up again, and Billsten was just shoved to the ice trying to get in position in front of Perras. ... Penalty killed. ... The Sundogs just got the puck into the net behind Pelletier, but the net came off its moorings before it crossed the goal line, so the score remains 5-2. ... Deschatelets is headed to the box for tripping to give the Sundogs their first power play in quite some time at 16:46. ... It's interesting how physical parts of this game have been considering how infrequently these teams see each other. Another tussle has Sides going to the box. Wait, his number was just taken off the board, while Dieude-Fauvel has joined Deschatelets in the Bucks' box. Okay, now Sides' penalty is back up, but as a five-minute major. That is for spearing, while Dieude-Fauvel has been called for roughing. ... Ouch. Just as he made a stunning save with his back earlier in the game, Pelletier just allowed a goal that has stunned the crowd by bouncing off his back into the net. Only 15.6 seconds left on the clock, so the Sundogs' chances of tying this up are basically nonexistent, but that still stings. ... They're giving that goal to Fagemo, by the way. ... Pelletier had to make one more save, but this one is done.

Game Over: Bucks win 5-3, improve to 30-20-10 (70 points) and take over third place in the Southern Conference with a huge game against the Texas Brahmas just 17 hours away. That Billsten-Giosa-Lincourt line really came through tonight. Arena stars are Deschatelets (3), Lincourt (2) and Billsten (1).

Game Day No. 60

The Bucks are about to take on the Arizona Sundogs in their second of three games this weekend.

Coming off a 3-2 shootout win that definitely seems to have had them playing their best hockey in the third period, the Bucks (29-20-10, 68 points) will try to win tonight to take over third place heading into a matchup with the Texas Brahmas (31-23-6, 68 points) tomorrow.

The Bucks can also move ahead of the Brahmas with an overtime loss.

Pier-Olivier Pelletier (7-4-2) will make his second straight start for the Bucks, while J.F. Perras (7-7-2) is starting for the Sundogs for the first time since suffering an injury on Dec. 13.

Jarred Mohr is a scratch for the Bucks, with his name literally crossed off the lineup card. Mike Looby is finally back in the lineup, but the Bucks will be two men down tonight.

You can read more about the matchup in Bryan Benway's preview and the Pointstreak pre-game notes.

You can follow the game here or on Pointstreak, watch on CHL-TV or listen on Imagen 94.1 FM.

Game No. 59 - Bucks 3, Killer Bees 2, SO

The Bucks were able to rally from a third-period deficit to get a 3-2 shootout win tonight, and apparently they only needed a victory, not one in regulation, to clinch a playoff spot, because they have.

That answers the question as to whether or not they'll make the playoffs, now we'll see if they can get past the Texas Brahmas, with whom they are again tied, for the third seed.

More on everything tomorrow.

Game No. 59 - Bucks 3, Killer Bees 2, SO

The first game of the Bucks' seventh straight 3-in-3 weekend is about to begin as they are set to face the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees in Hidalgo.

You can follow the game on Brian Sandalow's blog or Pointstreak, watch on CHL-TV or listen on Imagen 94.1 FM.

The Bucks can clinch a playoff spot with a regulation win tonight and move back into a tie for third place in the Southern Conference with a win and a regulation loss by the Texas Brahmas, who are playing the Mississippi RiverKings.

Bucks Ink Fletcher

The Bucks have signed 24-year-old rookie forward Tyler Fletcher to help out during yet another shorthanded period.

Fletcher has been at the University of Wisconsin-Superior for the past three seasons and finished his college career on Feb. 20.

You can view his college profile here, college stats here and find his junior stats on his Hockey DB page.

Fletcher has been in Laredo since Wednesday, but Coach Ruskowski wasn't sure he'd be getting signed because there's no guarantee the Bucks will want to keep him around once injured guys come back and Fletcher was exploring other options.

I guess he decided this was his best bet, though, and he will be in the lineup tonight against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

UPDATE: I wrote this post yesterday, so I did not read Bryan Benway's press release before I published it, so the comment on the previous post was the first I heard about Robin Richards going on leave. I'm honestly not sure why he has done that because usually leave is granted to players dealing with family tragedies and things like that, but Richards was in the stands at practice yesterday and seemed fine. I'll let you know if I hear anything about that.

Quotes and Notes

This is a bit belated because I had assignments most of the day, but as promised, here are Coach Ruskowski's quotes on last night's 4-1 loss to the Corpus Christi IceRays from my story in today's paper:

On the Bucks' effort: I think somebody put it pretty well in the dressing room, that nobody showed up tonight. I just don’t understand why. If they can’t get up for such an important game like tonight, then I’ve got major problems. How do you not get motivated for a game like this? It’s an important game for both teams. This was our building, our fans, and we didn’t give them anything to cheer for. It was very disappointing to have that kind of result.

On the IceRays scoring first: I think the first goal took us out of it. We’ve had a hard time scoring against this team, and when they scored that first goal, I felt it was a big goal for them. Of course, when they scored the second goal, it was a huge one to really take the air out of our balloon.

On the 3-on-5 goal: We didn’t get many chances to score, and when we did we shot it right into the goalie’s belly, we didn’t make him work for it at all. It was nice to see that goal go in, don’t get me wrong, but it was just too little, too late.

On the power play: Our power play was nonexistent today. We tried changing it around a little bit, but the guys didn’t seem like they wanted to. We changed it up after the second period, but they didn’t do it. That was disappointing. They didn’t do the job overall.

On the performance of Kevin Desfosses: I don’t think he played badly at all. I can’t put the blame on him at all; I put the blame on defensive coverage, picking up guys and not doing their job properly. We just didn’t have anybody attacking. We didn’t have anybody winning those battles along the boards to make plays. It was very frustrating to watch the team play the way they did.

I asked Ruskowski about Desfosses again today, as far as whether or not he believed his confidence could be wavering after losing four straight decisions, and he said he doesn't see that as the case.

Pier-Olivier Pelletier was back on the ice for practice, but he was coughing through most of it, so he might need to stay on the bench for another game or two.

Ruskowski said that decision will be made tomorrow.

As mentioned in response to a prior comment, defenseman Jarred Mohr and forward Robin Richards sat out of today's practice to rest nagging injuries.

Mohr's is an upper-body affliction, but I'm not all too sure what's wrong with Richards.

They are both expected to play tomorrow, while defenseman Mike Looby, who has missed the past two games, is still day-to-day.

Igor Agarunov, who moved back to defense late in last night's game, was suited up as a d-man for practice today and may have to play on the blue line tomorrow against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

The Bucks' next two opponents faced off this morning, and Killer Bees picked up a 6-2 win over the Arizona Sundogs to keep themselves in a hunt for a playoff spot.

The Bucks (28-20-10, 66 points) can clinch their own spot with a regulation win over the Killer Bees tomorrow but will still be fighting for position even if they manage that.

Obviously, the top two teams in the Southern Conference are worlds away from their competition, but the four battling for the other three spots are just nine points apart from top to bottom.

Heading into tomorrow's games, the standings are:

Texas Brahmas: 31-22-6, 68 points
Bucks: 28-20-10, 66 points
IceRays: 27-24-8, 62 points
Killer Bees: 25-25-9, 59 points

The Bucks have a game in hand on the other three teams but are the only team with three games on the schedule over the next three days.

Speaking of that schedule, Ruskowski is not very thrilled with it, and you can read what he had to say about that in my story in tomorrow's paper.

Keep in mind two things: 1. This is the seventh straight 3-in-3 weekend for the Bucks. 2. They will get on the bus on Saturday night after hosting the Sundogs at 7:30 p.m., drive over seven hours to North Richland Hills, lose an hour to Daylight Savings Time, then play at 4 p.m. in a building they have yet to win in this season against a team that doesn't even play the day before.

Okay, I guess that turns out to be more than two things. But any way you look at it, the schedule is pretty tough for the Bucks.

Adam Rivet said he thinks sometimes the team steps up in the last games of those 3-in-3 situations, but any group of players is bound to be tired after four games in less than five days.

Meanwhile, for more on yesterday's game and what the win meant for the IceRays, you can check out Greg Rajan's blog and his game story, and for more on the Killer Bees' win today, you can read Brian Sandalow's blog and his game story.

I have to run for now, but I'll try to find some time to post before tomorrow night's game.

Game No. 58 - Bucks vs. IceRays

Starters: Bucks - Jeff Bes (F), Sylvain Deschatelets (F), Kevin Desfosses (G) Jarred Mohr (D), Adam Rivet (D), Darryl Smith (F); IceRays - Kevin Beech (G), Chad Costello (F), Jesse Dudas (D), Kyle Peto (D), Justin Quenneville (F), Chad Woollard (F).

First Period: Neil Trimm limped into the press box just before the Bucks' starters skated out for the game. He will be doing color commentary for Bryan Benway tonight, taking over for Jeremy Swanson, who has been doing that job for a while. ... United boys' basketball coach Archie Ramos dropped the ceremonial puck tonight, and I believe his regional semifinalist team is sitting over in Section 112. ... IceRays won the opening faceoff, then play was pretty back and forth until they took the first shot on goal of the game a little under two minutes in and Desfosses covered the puck for the first stoppage in play. ... Bes took the Bucks' first shot on net a couple minutes after the first one for the IceRays. Both teams have just one so far. ... Eric Giosa got the Bucks their second shot of the game, and now Dulle has given them the first power play by taking a tripping call at 5:09 in the period. ... That advantage has been cut short by a hooking call on Deschatelets at 6:37. Bucks will have to kill 1:28 of a power play after 32 seconds of 4-on-4 here. ... Penalty killed. ... Seems to be a problem with the ice along to the boards to Beech's left, and the linesmen and a couple of IceRays have been scraping away at it for a minute or two. One of the linesman just poured some more water on it, and now things seem to be good. ... One of the IceRays just took a shot that was deflected up into the Mexican flag. Despite the lack of netting on that side of the ice, you don't see that every day. ... Ryan Garbutt just took a shot that seemed to bounce off the post at ice level, just seconds after one of his teammates missed a pretty open net wide. ... Another IceRays shot was barely held in front of the goal line by Desfosses, who then had Mohr come flying into the net over his leg. ... And now the IceRays have hit the crossbar, too. ... Ryan Lehr just took some sort of hit to the face that was originally ignored by the officials. Once his bleeding required Bobby Moore to leave the bench to take him to the dressing room, Rivet argued the Bucks' case, and now Garbutt is in the box. Two minutes for roughing at 12:38. ... Penalty killed. ... Desfosses just stopped a shot by Dulle that one of his teammates nearly took away from him after he had made the stop. ... Moore is back behind the bench, but Lehr is not out there. That leaves the Bucks with just four defensemen, so I imagine Coach Ruskowski will need to move a forward back at this point. ... The Americans have taken a 1-0 lead over the Brahmas 10:50 into their game. ... Evan Schwabe and Todd Griffith just got a 2-on-1 break created within the IceRays' zone, but Beech was able to read the play pretty well and stop Griffith's shot. ... Couple iffy offsides calls against the Bucks in the past few minutes. Deschatelets was definitely not happy about the most recent one. ... Bucks just missed the net way wide on a good chance. ... Turnover by the IceRays just gave Griffith another chance, but Beech made the stop. ... Decent chances for each team in the final minute, but some just-off passes messed things up for both of them. Mohr took a shot from outside the blue line as time expired that ended up right in Beech's chest. ... End of the period, game tied 0-0, Bucks up 9-6 on shots. ... That United boys' basketball team is on the ice to be honored by the Bucks and those in attendance. ... Americans still have that 1-0 lead at the end of the first in North Richland Hills.

Second Period: Swanson is in the press box to take over the color commentary for the second period. ... Lehr is back out for the second period. ... Lots of back and forth and missed shots for the Bucks before Costello got the scoring in this one started at 4:47 with a goal from the slot, assisted by Quenneville and Garbutt. IceRays lead 1-0. ... Worth noting the Bucks have yet to register a shot on goal in this period, while the IceRays' goal came on their fourth of the period. ... Another late offsides call against the Bucks, who have not been doing a great job entering the offensive zone tonight. ... Giosa just missed a couple chances on a loose puck right out in front of Beech as he failed to elevate the rebound from a shot by one of the linemates after the IceRays absent-mindedly dropped it back into their own zone. ... Richards and Garbutt just got a 2-on-1 with Dieude-Fauvel chasing them down and Desfosses made the save on Richards' shot. ... Schwabe was just slammed into the boards backwards by Quenneville as he attempted to turn around to grab the puck. ... Another shot has been deflected near the flags, but this one hit just above the American flag, not the flag itself. ... Players seem to be getting tangled up with each other inadvertently quite a bit the paste few minutes. ... The IceRays are going on the first power play of the period as Griffith heads to the box to serve a too-many-men bench minor at 13:57. ... Smith got a breakaway across nearly the entire sheet of ice with one of the IceRays right on his back but didn't seem to get quite the shot he wanted as he pushed the puck right into Beech's pads. ... Another shorthanded break about 30 seconds later gave Deschatelets and Schwabe a 2-on-1 chance. Schwabe elevated the puck but put it on the back of the cage. ... Nice glove save by Desfosses with six seconds left on the advantage for the IceRays. They'll get a faceoff to his right for one last chance. ... Chris Richards won the faceoff, but the IceRays allowed the puck out past the blue line, and the penalty has been killed. ... With 3:12 left in the period, Chris Richards' wrist shot has given the IceRays a 2-0 lead. Assists go to Ryan Bennett and Dulle. ... An interesting series of events, which included the Bucks missing quite a few chances and Rivet moving in on offense with Igor Agarunov back at the point, Costello got an odd break then dropped the puck back to one of his teammates, possibly Quenneville, who had a great chance to increase their lead. Desfosses was able to deflect the puck over the net, but it nearly hit the crossbar and fell in behind him. ... The post-whistle shoving on the final one of the period had four or so Bucks gang up on Garbutt, with Dieude-Fauvel eventually throwing a punch. Rivet is angrily talking to referee Dan Dreger, so I'm guessing the IceRays might be on a power play to start the third. For some reason, the goal light went off with about six seconds left, but there was no goal scored. ... End of the period, IceRays lead 2-0, up 17-16 on shots. ... The Americans hold a 2-1 lead over the Brahmas at the end of their second period.

Third Period: Desfosses' net has been knocked off its moorings just 18 seconds into the final stanza. ... Griffith almost walked one past Beech, but the goalie sprawled back to keep it out of the net. ... Bucks back in the shot lead for the first time since early in the second, 18-17. ... Brahmas have tied their game at 2. ... Smith and Bes just got a 2-on-1 break, and Peto, the man back on defense, bought a fake-out play by Smith to be taken out of things, then Smith opted to shoot rather than pass and Beech robbed him with a glove save. Can't say the Bucks aren't getting their chances. ... R.G. Flath to the box for hooking at 5:06 to give the Bucks their first power play in quite some time and Robin Richards one of his first shifts in just as long. ... The Bucks just cannot hold the puck in on the power play. ... Another nice save by Beech keeps the Bucks off the board. ... Penalty killed. ... Nice kick save by Desfosses on another close call for the Bucks. ... Some more misfires by the Bucks and a save by Beech thrown in there sent the IceRays back on offense, and, despite changing while the Bucks had a chance to regroup, they have made it 3-0 on Chad Costello's second of the night. Quenneville and Dulle with the assists on that score at 8:55. ... Giosa just got his helmet knocked off and tapped it with his stick, accidentally sending it behind Desfosses into the net. That sets up a lot of jokes, but I'll refrain. ... Less than 10 minutes left in regulation. ... Agarunov is staying back on defense now, meaning Robin Richards is out with Giosa and Curtis Billsten. ... Matt Smyth just missed Powell with his pass on a 3-on-1, giving Dieude-Fauvel, the one guy back, and Desfosses a break. ... Not long after he starts playing regular shifts, Robin Richards is headed to the penalty box for holding. IceRays get the power play at 13:05. That might be the reason Ruskowski was hoping to stick with five d-men tonight. ... IceRays getting a 5-on-3 now with a delayed call on Smith, who heads to the box for high sticking at 13:33. IceRays get the two-man advantage for 1:22. Not an ideal situation for the Bucks down 3-0 to a team they didn't want to take penalties against in the first place. Paul Elliott, Mohr and Bes out for the Bucks. ... Mohr stayed out after the first change and is now joined by Rivet and Schwabe. ... Well, that was a bit of a surprise. Bucks got a 2-on-1 break still killing that 5-on-3, and Schwabe passed to Rivet, who beat Beech just above the pad stick side and break up his shutout bid. I must admit, I was thinking the Bucks shouldn't commit to that too much and get caught with only one man back on defense, but for the first time tonight, that risk paid off for them. The IceRays' lead is 3-1 with 5:44 on the clock. Peto was the lone man back to defend for the IceRays and nearly broke up that pass but just missed to give Rivet that chance. ... And now the Americans are back on top of the Brahmas, 3-2. ... Desfosses just deflected a shot that was wide of the net out of play with six seconds left on the first penalty. IceRays get the faceoff to the right of Desfosses. ... Penalty killed. ... Richards got a lead pass not long after coming back to the box but couldn't beat Peto to the puck or get it away from him on the boards. ... Both penalties killed. If the Bucks weren't already down 3-0 before then, that kill could have made this game. Well, I guess it still could. Technically. ... Griffith just missed a pass right at his feet, allowing the IceRays to clear. ... Brahmas have tied their game again. ... Bennett just whipped a wrister over Desfosses' shoulder on a nice pass by Chris Richards, and that might be the end of this one. Still 2:18 on the clock, but it's not nearly as appealing to pull your goalie down 4-1 as it is down 3-1. Garbutt getting the second assist on that. ... Garbutt out again just attempted a wraparound that Desfosses shoved away then went after the loose puck, forcing Desfosses to make another save. That puts the IceRays back on top in shots, 25-24. ... Icing with 4.5 seconds to go gives the Bucks a faceoff to Beech's left. ... Desfosses could not skate off the ice fast enough.

Game Over: Bucks lose 4-1, fall to 28-20-10 (66 points) and keep their magic number stuck at four. ... To make matters just a little bit worse for the Bucks, the Americans and Brahmas are heading into overtime, meaning the Brahmas get at least a point tonight. ... That game went to a shootout, and the Brahmas lost, but they still pick up a point on the Bucks in the race for third place. ... As I'm sure you could guess, Ruskowski was not very pleased with the effort tonight. He said someone in the dressing room said no one showed up, and he agreed. I got almost all of his quotes into my story for tomorrow's paper, so check that out or check back here tomorrow for them. There is practice tomorrow before the ice gets covered for the George Lopez event on Friday, so I'll be here.