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.