The Bucks have captured the CHL Performance of the Week for the second straight week, this time with their come-from-behind 5-4 shootout win over the Texas Brahmas on Jan. 21.
Last week, Jeff Bes took the honors with the game that brought him to 900 career points as a professional. Sorry that I never mentioned that last week; it got overshadowed by him being placed on the IR the same day that was announced.
Another Buck is a nominee this week, as Sebastien Centomo's 28-save performance in the Bucks' 1-0 win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees at Dodge Arena last Thursday is up for next week's honors.
Mississippi RiverKings netminder Kevin Beech's league-leading third shutout, San Antonio Rampage forward and reigning Player of the Week Adam Perry's hat trick (for the Arizona Sundogs), the Amarillo Gorillas' 6-5 shootout win over the Colorado Eagles and the Brahmas' three-goal third period in their 4-2 win over the Corpus Christi IceRays are the other nominees.
As always, you can vote on the CHL Web site, which has by the way been rennovated a bit. Any thoughts?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Cullaton is Back
As you have hopefully seen in today's LMT, former captain Brent Cullaton is returning to the Bucks in a trade from the Rocky Mountain Rage.
All of my sources wanted to stay anonymous on this one (not off the record, sorry), and I don't have all the details, but it appears the Bucks will only be giving up futures, or at most a rookie, in their end of the deal.
I will try to get more about this at practice, but there's no guarantee anyone will want to talk about it until later, so we'll see.
Cullaton will be getting back No. 22, as Matt Miller has graciously agreed to part ways with it for tradition's sake.
As stated in my story, Cullaton leads the Rage in scoring with 15 goals and 41 assists for 56 points in 44 games this season, and during his three seasons with Laredo, he had 177 points in 110 regular season games and 58 points in 48 playoff games to help lead the Bucks to both of their President’s Cup titles.
Everyone wanted Coach Ruskowski to make a big move, and this one definitely falls into that category.
Hopefully this means Bucks fans will stop booing Cullaton every time he touches the puck at the LEC.
UPDATE: Future considerations it is. Did I mention Cullaton is coming off a 25-point month? Not a bad deal, eh?
All of my sources wanted to stay anonymous on this one (not off the record, sorry), and I don't have all the details, but it appears the Bucks will only be giving up futures, or at most a rookie, in their end of the deal.
I will try to get more about this at practice, but there's no guarantee anyone will want to talk about it until later, so we'll see.
Cullaton will be getting back No. 22, as Matt Miller has graciously agreed to part ways with it for tradition's sake.
As stated in my story, Cullaton leads the Rage in scoring with 15 goals and 41 assists for 56 points in 44 games this season, and during his three seasons with Laredo, he had 177 points in 110 regular season games and 58 points in 48 playoff games to help lead the Bucks to both of their President’s Cup titles.
Everyone wanted Coach Ruskowski to make a big move, and this one definitely falls into that category.
Hopefully this means Bucks fans will stop booing Cullaton every time he touches the puck at the LEC.
UPDATE: Future considerations it is. Did I mention Cullaton is coming off a 25-point month? Not a bad deal, eh?
Monday, February 2, 2009
Weekly Awards, Callups and the Beanpot
The league has announced that Arizona Sundogs forward Adam Perry and Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs netminder Ken Carroll are Player and Goaltender of the Week for games played between Jan. 26 and Jan. 31, also known as last week. The headline on Carroll's says month right now, but that's a mistake.
I'm going to have to do some research into this, but off the top of my head, I feel as though at least one of the weekly honorees every week has played against the Bucks during the week for which he was honored.
Anyway, Carroll saved 26 of 29 shots from the Bucks in the Mudbugs' flukey 4-3 win last Monday, which was his worst performance of the week statistically. He saved 83 of 86 shots in his next two starts, and all told led the Mudbugs to three wins on the week.
Carroll is obviously a perennial netminding powerhouse, but he had gotten off to a shakey and injury-plagued start this season. The past couple months have seen him greatly improve his numbers, but this is the first time he's earned weekly honors.
Perry did not play the Bucks last week but did have five goals, three assists and a plus/minus of plus-4. As the press release notes, his five goals came on eight shots, which is pretty astounding.
The rookie standout was subsequently called up to the San Antonio Rampage.
Meanwhile, one of my favorite CHL players to watch is once again no longer a CHL player for now, as Justin Kinnunen has been called back up to the Rampage, who are on a ridiculous road trip.
That could mean they'll both be in the lineup against the Baby Pens on Friday; we'll see.
And last, but most definitely not least, the Beanpot Tournament commenced today at TD Banknorth Garden with my alma mater beating Harvard 4-3 to earn a spot in the championship game next Monday.
Boston College and Northeastern are up next and should be facing off any second now, which reminds me of this. How appropriate that someone I dislike would want to play for my college's sworn enemy. Of course, I have forgiven Scuds, haha.
Oh, and the Bucks are having a "huge" press conference tomorrow. I'm pretty sure every single regular season press conference has been scheduled for my day off that week.
UPDATE: Northeastern smoked BC 6-1 to set up a Terrier-Husky final next Monday.
Tonight's NHL Scores: Red Wings 4, Blues (SO); Avalanche 4, Flames 3; Ducks 3, Sabres 2.
I'm going to have to do some research into this, but off the top of my head, I feel as though at least one of the weekly honorees every week has played against the Bucks during the week for which he was honored.
Anyway, Carroll saved 26 of 29 shots from the Bucks in the Mudbugs' flukey 4-3 win last Monday, which was his worst performance of the week statistically. He saved 83 of 86 shots in his next two starts, and all told led the Mudbugs to three wins on the week.
Carroll is obviously a perennial netminding powerhouse, but he had gotten off to a shakey and injury-plagued start this season. The past couple months have seen him greatly improve his numbers, but this is the first time he's earned weekly honors.
Perry did not play the Bucks last week but did have five goals, three assists and a plus/minus of plus-4. As the press release notes, his five goals came on eight shots, which is pretty astounding.
The rookie standout was subsequently called up to the San Antonio Rampage.
Meanwhile, one of my favorite CHL players to watch is once again no longer a CHL player for now, as Justin Kinnunen has been called back up to the Rampage, who are on a ridiculous road trip.
That could mean they'll both be in the lineup against the Baby Pens on Friday; we'll see.
And last, but most definitely not least, the Beanpot Tournament commenced today at TD Banknorth Garden with my alma mater beating Harvard 4-3 to earn a spot in the championship game next Monday.
Boston College and Northeastern are up next and should be facing off any second now, which reminds me of this. How appropriate that someone I dislike would want to play for my college's sworn enemy. Of course, I have forgiven Scuds, haha.
Oh, and the Bucks are having a "huge" press conference tomorrow. I'm pretty sure every single regular season press conference has been scheduled for my day off that week.
UPDATE: Northeastern smoked BC 6-1 to set up a Terrier-Husky final next Monday.
Tonight's NHL Scores: Red Wings 4, Blues (SO); Avalanche 4, Flames 3; Ducks 3, Sabres 2.
Practice Report
The Bucks had a full practice today for the first time since last Wednesday, and as promised, I have some news about injuries and all that jazz.
Bobby Russell was hurt on Saturday night and is now out indefinitely with an injury of the "upper body" variety. I expect they'll place him on the injured reserve sometime later today or tomorrow, but retroactive to Saturday, of course.
With Russell getting hurt and Jeff Bes already out, the Bucks have lost two veteran leaders who have combined for 93 points so far this season. When I asked Coach Ruskowski what they're going to have to do to make up for all that, he just said, "Losers make excuses; winners find a way to make it work."
However, he did admit that the team is going to need some natural goal-scoring talent with two of its leading assist men out of the lineup, and he is obviously trying to find someone to bring in.
The trade deadline is approaching quickly, but he could always bring someone in from Europe or elsewhere as he did with Chris Stanley last season (and other players in the past) if things come down to it.
In the meantime, Mike Gooch, a very offensive defenseman in his college career, has moved into a forward spot. Erick Lizon should be back in the lineup on Thursday, but Ruskowski said he will probably leave Gooch up front and see what he can do.
Aiding him in making that decision is the fact that defenseman Jaye Judd should also be able to return on Thursday, as he participated in a full, though contact-free, practice today. Ruskowski said as long as he was feeling okay after today, he should be set to come off the IR this week.
There was quite a crowd for practice today with Lizon on a stationary bike for a while then wandering around, Bes and Russell both in attendance and Matt Miller's parents watching their son at work.
Steve Weidlich was the only player not in the arena, but from what I understand, he has some kind of minor illness and should be back to practice soon.
I spoke to the two new guys (goaltender Andrew Martin and center Mitch Stephens) today for the first time, and they both admitted to being relieved to get out of the questionable situation in New Mexico and said they hadn't even been able to get much practice time out there.
Obviously, they and Ruskowski hope that getting a few full days of practice in before the next game will help them out.
Amusingly enough, the two guys the Bucks managed to get from the same team happened to be roommates when they were with that team, so they had a familiar face and seem to be getting along with the rest of the guys pretty well already.
I'll be writing my weekly notebook to run today for tomorrow, so once that's finished up, I'll post some leftover quotes. Right now, though, I need to go to the AT&T store and get them to fix my Blackberry, which has apparently decided that it doesn't feel like connecting to the internet anymore.
Quick note to those season ticket holders among you who were concerned about the Kid's Day Game: the Bucks will be accepting those vouchers after all.
P.S. I take back the title of my blog post from yesterday; the Super Bowl made it pretty super after all. And Sid is the second Star of the Week, so that's cool, too. Glad someone else noticed how well he was playing!
UPDATE: I guess they aren't putting up a front about Russell's injury like they did by placing Bes on the 14-day IR, as Russell is out for at least 30 retroactive to Saturday night.
Bobby Russell was hurt on Saturday night and is now out indefinitely with an injury of the "upper body" variety. I expect they'll place him on the injured reserve sometime later today or tomorrow, but retroactive to Saturday, of course.
With Russell getting hurt and Jeff Bes already out, the Bucks have lost two veteran leaders who have combined for 93 points so far this season. When I asked Coach Ruskowski what they're going to have to do to make up for all that, he just said, "Losers make excuses; winners find a way to make it work."
However, he did admit that the team is going to need some natural goal-scoring talent with two of its leading assist men out of the lineup, and he is obviously trying to find someone to bring in.
The trade deadline is approaching quickly, but he could always bring someone in from Europe or elsewhere as he did with Chris Stanley last season (and other players in the past) if things come down to it.
In the meantime, Mike Gooch, a very offensive defenseman in his college career, has moved into a forward spot. Erick Lizon should be back in the lineup on Thursday, but Ruskowski said he will probably leave Gooch up front and see what he can do.
Aiding him in making that decision is the fact that defenseman Jaye Judd should also be able to return on Thursday, as he participated in a full, though contact-free, practice today. Ruskowski said as long as he was feeling okay after today, he should be set to come off the IR this week.
There was quite a crowd for practice today with Lizon on a stationary bike for a while then wandering around, Bes and Russell both in attendance and Matt Miller's parents watching their son at work.
Steve Weidlich was the only player not in the arena, but from what I understand, he has some kind of minor illness and should be back to practice soon.
I spoke to the two new guys (goaltender Andrew Martin and center Mitch Stephens) today for the first time, and they both admitted to being relieved to get out of the questionable situation in New Mexico and said they hadn't even been able to get much practice time out there.
Obviously, they and Ruskowski hope that getting a few full days of practice in before the next game will help them out.
Amusingly enough, the two guys the Bucks managed to get from the same team happened to be roommates when they were with that team, so they had a familiar face and seem to be getting along with the rest of the guys pretty well already.
I'll be writing my weekly notebook to run today for tomorrow, so once that's finished up, I'll post some leftover quotes. Right now, though, I need to go to the AT&T store and get them to fix my Blackberry, which has apparently decided that it doesn't feel like connecting to the internet anymore.
Quick note to those season ticket holders among you who were concerned about the Kid's Day Game: the Bucks will be accepting those vouchers after all.
P.S. I take back the title of my blog post from yesterday; the Super Bowl made it pretty super after all. And Sid is the second Star of the Week, so that's cool, too. Glad someone else noticed how well he was playing!
UPDATE: I guess they aren't putting up a front about Russell's injury like they did by placing Bes on the 14-day IR, as Russell is out for at least 30 retroactive to Saturday night.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Not So Super
I'm not really in the mood to blog much right now, but you can read my story as well as Greg Rajan's take for more on last night's game. My apologies for the spelling errors in the photo cutlines; I wasn't at the office to check them.
Those of you who have become worried by the state of the team should know that Coach Ruskowski has been looking for better defensemen and trying to make trades since the start of the season. It's not that he doesn't want to bring new people in; he just can't find anyone that he can get for what he has to offer.
Unluckily for him, he lost another player to injury last night with four already out of the lineup. I'll have more on that after practice tomorrow.
Hope you enjoy the Super Bowl.
Today's NHL Scores: Capitals 7, Senators 3; Predators 2, Oilers 1; Bruins 3, Canadiens 1.
Those of you who have become worried by the state of the team should know that Coach Ruskowski has been looking for better defensemen and trying to make trades since the start of the season. It's not that he doesn't want to bring new people in; he just can't find anyone that he can get for what he has to offer.
Unluckily for him, he lost another player to injury last night with four already out of the lineup. I'll have more on that after practice tomorrow.
Hope you enjoy the Super Bowl.
Today's NHL Scores: Capitals 7, Senators 3; Predators 2, Oilers 1; Bruins 3, Canadiens 1.
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