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.