Semifinal Game No. 4

Starters: Bucks - Igor Agarunov (D), James Hiebert (F), Erick Lizon (F), Andrew Martin (G), Shawn Snider (F), Steve Weidlich (D); Jackalopes - Jean Bourbeau (F), Paul Kelly (F), Russ Moyer (D), Brian Swiniarski (F), Juha Toivonen (G), Dave Van Drunen (D).

First Period: Interesting starting lineup for the Bucks. ... Hiebert got the game's first shot about 45 seconds in after the puck was in the Jacks' zone for most of the time prior to that. ... Jeff Pierce utilized a takeaway in his team's zone to get the first good scoring chance of the game, but his shot missed wide. ... The top line remains Brent Cullaton-Darryl Smith-Jason Dixon with Hiebert back in the lineup. ... Play has been kept in the neutral zone most of the first few minutes with touch checks and sloppy open-ice hits providing the excitement lacking due to the sparing shots. ... Rick Kozak just got one off, but Toivonen gloved it only to have Serge Dube go after the puck in his closed glove hand. ... Not much later, the Bucks went flying into Toivonen and other Jackalopes around the net, resulting in a very mild scrum behind it. Borbeau andKozak were given the game's first two penalties, both roughing, as a result, so two minutes of 4-on-4 start now at 4:16. ... Ouch. Make it a 4-on-3 as Devin Featherstone lowered his stick to help defend against a turnover in his defensive zone only to have Kory Karlander trip right over it. That came 5:17 in, so he'll serve two for tripping, leaving the Jacks with a 4-on-3 for 59 seconds and a 5-on-4 for 1:01. Dixon, Dube and Rivet will do the honors for now. ... Another good penalty kill for the Bucks, who only allowed three shots, two in the early seconds of that power play. A couple big clears, though. ... The Jacks seem to not want to score on the power play this series, but they scored just eight seconds after Featherstone left the box as Swiniarski got his first goal of the postseason on a bad-angled shot that seemed to bang in past Martin off some iron. Bourbeau has what is currently the lone assist. ... And that odd line combination has tied it up for the Bucks just 46 seconds later as Hiebert brought the puck up the ice and fed it over to Snider, who fumbled a bit but managed to get a shot off and past Toivonen. Lizon gets the other assist on the score, which came at 8:11 in the period on the Bucks' sixth shot of the game. ... The Brahmas have a 1-0 lead over the Killer Bees. ... Another wide shot from the Jacks to waste a good opportunity, this time with Mike Ramsay missing the net. ... The Bucks just almost scored on themselves but were lucky to have the puck bounce off Martin and away from the net. They need to be more careful with the puck in their own end. ... Russell seemed to take down one of the Jacks and was in turn taken down by Van Drunen, but he's the only one headed to the box, for holding at 12:45, to give the Jacks their second power play. ... Ryan Palmer just took down Cullaton to earn a tripping call and make it 4-on-4 at 13:29. ... Adam Rivet wasted no time (or at least very little) taking advantage of that scenario to slap one in from the point, putting the Bucks up 2-1 at 13:53 in the period. Cullaton has what is currently the lone assist. ... The Jacks came on strong off the next faceoff but were stopped a couple times then had the puck cleared out of their offensive zone. ... Very close call there for the Jacks as Toivonen managed to get a toe on a shot and deflect it wide. ... Snider just took a rocket slap shot from Toivonen's right circle, had it stopped, then got completely flattened by one of the Jacks. They are definitely trying to bring their physical play up tonight. ... The Jacks just came very close to scoring on a delayed penalty call, as Martin made the initial stop but left the puck loose in the crease with the net pretty wide open. The whistle didn't blow until only 1:06 left in the period, and Smith is headed to the box for...about three seconds. Before they even announced the penalty, Moyer nailed one in from the high slot on an assist from Kelly, who won the faceoff cleanly. Tied 2-2 with 1:03 to play. The penalty was for board checking, by the way, and that was the Jacks' first power-play goal of the series after they led the league in goals scored on the advantage during the regular season. ... End of the period, game tied 2-2. Jackalopes lead 14-10 on shots. The Brahmas lead 1-0 at the other game's first intermission.

Second Period: Snider was very aggressive all first period and has come out that way in the second, then Hiebert was alone in front but couldn't get past Toivonen. Only 53 seconds into the period and already very intense stuff. ... The Jacks have taken an unsporstmanlike conduct penalty for something somone on the bench did, and Bernard will serve that starting at 1:32 to give the Bucks the first power play of the period. ... You know why I think Sebastien Thinel hasn't scored a playoff goal in years? He refuses to shoot the puck. Just had a great chance and chose to pass, only to have the pass broken up which gave me some deja vu because the same thing happened in the first period. ... The Killer Bees have tied that other game at 1 early in the second period. ... Apparently the team store is now selling shirts that read, "That's just Hiebert being Hiebert." I cannot tell you how many times I've heard that phrase, haha. ... And the Brahmas have the lead back just 15 seconds later. Ouch. ... Well, one of Thinel's passes finally connected, and Dominic Leveille scored as a result. Ryan Palmer had the initial pass to set up an odd-man rush for the Jacks, who were pretty much a sure thing to score on that chance. Jacks lead 3-2 at 10:42 in the period. ... Garrett Gruenke just loves fighting the Bucks, and this time it was Hiebert, who took the brunt of the blows in a brawl with the man about seven inches taller than him. Hiebert landed a few but seemed off balance for a while as Gruenke pummeled him. He came back with a few more, and there was a lot of dancing in that one, but I think you'd have to give it to Gruenke for sure. ... Gruenke got a roughing penalty in addition to the necessary fighting major, so the Bucks will be on the advantage for the fourth time tonight as Pierce serves that for his teammate. So, not only did Hiebert get his team and the crowd riled up and make a plug for that new shirt, but he got the Bucks a power play chance. Not too shabby for a lost fight. ... Martin just made a couple of stellar saves in a very short time span as clearing the puck is getting to be a problem for the Bucks again. ... Russell has just tied the game at 14:39 as he skated in at the just the right moment to wrist a rebound over Toivonen's shoulder. Smith was out there with him and has what is currently the lone assist. ... Upon further review, the puck had actually been deflected away from Toivonen by one of his defenseman and trickled right over to Russell's stick. That was a simple case of being in the right place at the right time. Good shot, though. ... Thinel finally took a shot, albeit a bad-angled one from behind the circle, but Martin was able to stop it easily. ... Moyer just lost his stick in taking down Vincent Zaore-Vanie and will now serve two for tripping. His reaction to Cruickshank's arm raise was pretty priceless, and he even skated over to literally touch the puck with his glove to stop play. Power play for the Bucks with 3:35 to play in the period. ... The Brahmas still lead 2-1 heading into the second intermission of their game. ... End of two here, game still tied 3-3. Jackalopes lead 27-15 on shots, and the Bucks' regroups and breakouts have been kind of lacking. We'll see if they can pick things up in the third.

Third Period: Pretty steady back-and-forth to start this one, which is somehow way behind the other game in spite of that one starting five-10 minutes later. ... Lizon has gotten the second assist on Russell's goal in the second period. Quite a mish mosh there. ... Zaore is headed to the box at 5:05 to give the Jackalopes the first power play of the period. ... And now Leveille is headed to his team's sin bin at 6:59 for slashing to make it 4-on-4 for six seconds, then the Bucks' first power play of the period. ... A Bucks' slap shot just missed the net by inches on the closest chance either team has had in a while, then the Bucks got another good one a bit later, but no dice. ... Goalie change for the Bucks with 8:12 to play, as Sebastien Centomo will replace Andrew Martin. Interesting. ... The Killer Bees' miraculous turnaround season has come to an end, with Texas scoring an empty-netter late to win 3-1. ... Toivonen is coming up huge for the Jacks down the stretch. ... Paul Gillis called a time out with 3:19 left on the clock to draw up a play for his team. We'll see if anything comes of that. ... Well, I've been trying to type up a story to allow for quote-getting time, but that won't be happening as we are headed to overtime once again. Centomo made some HUGE stops toward the end of that one, and got a little help from his crossbar. ... Brian Rae just said something about the fact that going into overtime makes that overnight trip even more of a pain, which reminded me of that whole thing. Poor guys, yikes. ... This is the third overtime of the series, so that tells you something about how well-matched these teams are. ... The Bucks outshot the Jacks 7-5 in the third but are being outshot 32-22 overall.

Overtime: Centomo will stay in net for the OT, so I am quite curious as to what happened to Martin. I'll have to call Coach Ruskowski tomorrow to ask about that and to see whether or not Matt Miller was a healthy scratch. ... I seriously hate quoteless game stories, but I guess that's the way it's going to be in this series. ... I really thought the Jackalopes just scored, but I guess the puck bounced off something before crossing the goal line. Very close call. ... This whole 5-on-5 for OT in the playoffs thing is so lame. ... Wow has Centomo been a wall in this OT. The Jacks are only listed at five shots, but I'm not sure that's quite right. ... Whoa, Dube just kinda jumped someone while Weidlich tussled with someone else. All this while Hiebert was on the ice and not messing with anyone. Twilight Zone, anyone? ... Dube and Bernard took matching penalty minors to make it 4-on-4 like it should be 10:56 into this OT period. ... Thinel just knocked Smith over, and Weidlich reacted by jumping Thinel. Possibly not the best decision at the current point in time. This game is killing me! ... Thinel was called for cross checking and Weidlich for roughing to make it 4-on-4 again. All that means is that if Weidlich hadn't taken that penalty, the Bucks would be on a power play right now. ... And now they will get it with a holding call against Gruenke with exactly one minute left on the prior penalties and 2:41 left on the clock. ... Toivonen just made a couple incredible saves then got knocked into his net by a group of Bucks attempting to chase a loose puck. ... Weidlich must have taken feisty pills this morning, yikes. He just jumped Gruenke then seemed willing to fight the linesman dragging him away to get back into it. He'll be in the box for the rest of this OT, as will Gruenke, it seems. ... Smith is being helped off the ice after all that, which is definitely bad news. ... Two minutes apiece for roughing. Fifteen seconds left on the clock. ... Gruenke skated out of the box to boos from the crowd, but he was just heading to the locker room, don't worry. ... Time for a second OT. Tomorrow is going to suck for these teams, absolutely suck. ... Obviously everyone wants a call for that hit by Van Drunen that took Smith out, but no such luck. Similarly, Rae wants something against Weidlich for running people down, and no dice there, either.

Second Overtime: A bit of 4-on-4 here to start, and I am quite certain Smith is still nowhere to be found. Poor kid. ... I'm not even sure what to blog and what not to blog anymore. Both teams have had some good chances, but the goalies have been solid and a few errant passes have helped them out. Just over five minutes into this OT, and things don't look guaranteed to end anytime soon. ... Centomo left the crease to chase a puck out in his left circle and immediately got forced back in to make a glove save on an on-target shot by the Jackalopes. ... Greg Rajan is going to love this. Thinel just deflected a shot by Jarad Bourassa to win the game for the Jackalopes 7:03 into the second overtime. I had to write a quick story so we could replate with it for the local editions, so my brain is shot right now. That was quite a game. The streak ends at 1,081, Greg.

NHL Scores: Flyers 8, Maple Leafs 5; Devils 5, Lightning 4; Sabres 5, Capitals 4 (OT); Thrashers 4, Panthers 1; Wild 4, Flames 0; Blackhawks 3, Predators 1.

Semifinal Game Day No. 4

Game 4 of this Southern Conference Semifinal series will begin in 10 minutes...hopefully.

Andrew Martin and Juha Toivonen are tonight's starting goaltenders, and Matt Miller will be the Bucks' scratch.

You can read my very brief preview, Bryan Benway's preview and the Pointstreak pre-game notes for info on this game.

It's obviously a big one for both teams as the Bucks look to keep their series lead and the Jacks look to even things up before both teams have to trek up to Odessa tonight in preparation for tomorrow night's Game 5.

The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees are hosting the Texas Brahmas in tonight's only other game, which could be the last of their semifinal series.

Tonight

The Colorado Eagles became the second team to take a 3-0 lead in its conference semifinal series with a 3-2 overtime win against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs tonight.

In tonight's other game, also a Northern Conference affair, the Missippi RiverKings defeated the Oklahoma City Blazers 2-1 to take a 3-1 lead in their series.

The Bucks watched tape this morning but were unable to practice today due to the concert at the LEC tonight. Hopefully the turnaround goes smoothly and the ice isn't too choppy tomorrow night.

Due to all the delays and the overtime last night, I didn't have time to get quotes for my story and had to write it in about five minutes, but you can read that here.

NHL Scores: Bruins 2, Senators 1; Canadiens 5, Islanders 1; Hurricanes 4, Rangers 2; Blues 5, Red Wings 4; Flames 2, Stars 1; Sharks 2, Oilers 1; Ducks 6, Canucks 5 (SO); Coyotes 2, Kings 1.

Semifinal Game No. 3

James Hiebert, who had seemed confident he would play tonight, apparently will not, as he is not on the lineup card. He did skate in practice yesterday, so I imagine he'll be back on Friday.

Starters: Bucks - Sebastien Centomo (G), Alex Goupil (F), Matt Miller (F), Adam Rivet (D), Shawn Snider (F), Vincent Zaore-Vanie (D); Jackalopes - Jean Bourbeau (F), Paul Kelly (F), Russ Moyer (D), Brian Swiniarski (F), Juha Toivonen (G), Dave Van Drunen (D).

First Period: Finally getting started at 7:20, but I must admit that playoff video was pretty fun and, dare I say it, cute. Whoever decided to turn off the lights when I wasn't in the press box is not cool, though, haha. Oh, and funny that they were wearing their blues in the video when they're wearing their whites tonight. But skating out with little kids is always gold. And I guess Bucky escaped prison after all, just in time to hear a very theatric rendition of the anthem. ... Garrett Gruenke and Erick Lizon skated over to center ice to throw down after the first stoppage 43 seconds in, and I'd have to say Lizon took that one just one day after nearly killing me. Just kidding, sorta. Both landed a few shots, but Lizon got a couple more and the biggest one of the brawl and got Gruenke to the ground pretty quickly. Gruenke didn't seem to think the fight should have ended that way, so we might ssee another No. 6 vs. No. 6 exchange tonight. ... Jason Dixon is on the top line with Darryl Smith and Brent Cullaton in Hiebert's absence, and the other line for tonight is Bobby Russell-Ryan Salvis-Rick Kozak. ... Gruenke just left the box for a minute to have the Jackalopes' trainer look at his lip. Not sure if that's the best way to show toughness. ... Couple very close calls before the Jackalopes scored to take their first lead of the series at 3:07 in the game. Scoring first is a huge factor in this series, as Coach Ruskowski mentions in my preview for tonight, so we'll see if the Bucks can recover. Jeff Pierce scored that one on assists from Phillippe Plante and Bourbeau. Centomo was getting pulled all over the place as the Jacks kept the puck in the crease and octagon for a while and eventually ended up sprawled across the ice with Pierce's shot flying over him. ... Devin Featherstone just took a boarding penalty for a hit on Mike Ramsay to put the Jackalopes on their first power play of the game. Keeping the Jacks off the advantage was a topic Goupil and I discussed yesterday, as they have one of the league's best power plays, but he did note that the Bucks have been pretty successful in killing them so far. Serge Dube, Rivet, Russell and Salvis out to start this kill. ... They did their part, then Dixon, Snider, Steve Weidlich and Zaore did an impressive job on their PK shift. Dube and Rivet back out now, this time with Cullaton and Smith. ... And now Russell and Salvis back out with Igor Agarunov and Weidlich for the last few seconds of this. ... Paul Kelly sent a slap shot just wide of the net to close out that advantage. ... Kozak and Van Drunen just wiped out together but skated away without any fuss. ... Sebastien Thinel just came thisclose to scoring his first playoff goal in quite some time, but Centomo shut the five hole just in time to catch the puck between his legs. ... Toivonen just managed to poke away a puck he had no way of seeing with Russell screening him as Featherstone slapped one in from the point. ... Bucks get their first power play now as Ryan Palmer is headed to the box for high sticking at 7:49. Cullaton and Dube at the points with Goupil, Miller and Smith up front. ... Ruskowski must have been flipping out during a 30-second span during which his players passed it back and forth beautifully but failed to take a single shot. ... Okay, he might forgive them now, as Miller has tied it up with a falling-down highlight-reel type score from the Toivonen's right circle. Top-shelf score and a nice effort. Goal came 9:49 into the game. Dixon and Rivet with the assists. ... Holy cow, that was one of the coolest goals I have seen in a long, long time. Smith doing the honors this time just 16 seconds after Miller's score. I must catch that on replay. Seriously, wow. ... Great give-and-go between Smith and Cullaton, who has what is currently the lone assist. Cullaton caught Smith's stick perfectly as Smith was getting taken down and managed to deflect the puck right over Toivonen. Smith then crashed the net (awesome phrase) and jumped up for a very enthusiastic celebratory yell. Bucks lead 2-1. ... Dube just destroyed Thinel into the boards, which got some of the Jackalopes shoving around and Kozak freaking out. Dube will serve a boarding penalty for his actions, and Kelly will also head to the box. Thinel is still on the ice and kinda freaking me out. I wish we had a better vantage point for this kind of thing. ... Thinel eventually stood up on his own and skated off about as slowly as you'll ever see a professional hockey player skate. Penalties are being determined, and Tudor Floru is currently over by the Bucks' bench talking to Ruskowski about that situation. ... Paul Gillis got his turn, too, and the end result was a five-minute boarding major for Dube, a roughing minor for Kozak and a roughing minor for Kelly. The Jacks will have a 5-on-4 advantage for five minutes. ... Cullaton just had a great shorthanded chance but got robbed of the puck by Kenny Bernard. ... The crowd is a couple thousand shy of capacity but still quite noisy and very into this game. ... Thinel is back out skating but looked a bit off-balance on his first shift. ... Smith just made a couple nifty plays to get the puck deep in the Jackalopes' zone but had no one to pass it to and had to put the brakes on fast and try to take it Toivonen himsel. No dice, but nice effort. ... Bucks still shorthanded with the first group of guys out of the box. ... Just as I was thinking that it's pretty crazy the Bucks were going to kill off five whole minutes of a power play without Dube on the ice, one of the Jacks hit the goal post and lit the lamp...but only temporarily. No goal, as the puck never crossed the line, and the Bucks have done exactly that. ... This period is taking quite some time, thanks in part to the fact that Centomo is covering every puck he saves and keeps. Not saying that's a bad thing, though...well, other than for the Jackalopes, I suppose. ... Toivonen left his net with the Bucks rushing in and got run into by Miller, who then tussled with Gruenke briefly. Though Miller had no reason to hit Toivonen as hard as he did, the responsible thing to do is to go after the puck, which he did. Toivonen is fine, so we'll have two penalties but not too much harm done otherwise. ... Those penalties will be goalie interference on Miller and roughing on Gruenke. It'll be four-on-four for two minutes with 2:45 left in the period. ... Salvis just overskated the pass on a give-and-go with Russell to cap off a very intense minute or so. I love 4-on-4 hockey. ... Back to 5-on-5 now, and the Jacks get the first shot of the latest even-strength run but are stopped by Centomo. End of the period, Bucks lead 2-1 in spite of purportedly being outshot 17-7. Yikes. ... Oh no, they waited about five minutes before starting the clock, so I'm guessing this will be a long intermission. Hopefully things will speed up a bit for the sake of allowing me to get postgame quotes. ... Awww, li'l chilluns. ... Brahmas lead the Killer Bees 1-0 after their first period, while the Blazers lead the RiverKings 2-1 in the second.

Second Period: Smith has been pretty on fire tonight, not that this is anything new and exciting. That kid is seriously so much fun to watch. ... The Bucks just had quite a bit of trouble clearing a rebound but managed it after a while. That's obviously a big key out there and something they seem to be doing much better during the playoffs than they had at points in the regular season. ... Haha, these little player videos they're showing on the Jumbotron are neat. ... Very nice save on a point-blank shot by one of the Jacks. Collin Circelli, I believe. ... The RiverKings have just tied their game at 2, and Toivonen has just dislodged his net. ... Seriously, these videos are kinda hilarious. ... Pushing and shoving all around, not surprisingly. ... Toivonen just had to make quite a dive to keep a dribbling rebound off a shot by Snider from getting to Goupil's stick. ... Kelly just robbed Dixon of the puck, then Dixon, seemingly incidentally, got tangled up with him and took him down with his stick. That'll be a tripping penalty against Dixon at 6:25. ... Circelli just took Weidlich out behind the Bucks' net, so things are going to get evened up out here. Call is for cross-checking at 6:46. ... Some of the battles along the boards have been pretty sloppy tonight, but the Bucks are doing their best to come away with the puck however they can. ... Nothing doing 4-on-4, time for a mini Bucks' power play. ... Blazers have the lead back, 3-2 after two. Brahmas are up 2-0 now. ... Just as Ruskowski said had been the case in Odessa, the Bucks are getting a few little breaks here and there tonight. Centomo just made a good save but allowed the rebound, which then got wristed inches over the crossbar. That's not the first miss like that the Jacks have had. ... Killer Bees have scored to make it 2-1. ... Rivet just drew a tripping call against Kory Karlander, and the Bucks will be going on the power play with 8:39 to play in the period. ... If the Bucks have really only taken 12 shots tonight, Smith must have made about three quarters of them. ... Smith just lost his helmet, and as a result, the Jacks will lose another player on the ice for a couple minutes. Moyer is going off for elbowing at 12:32 in the period to give the Bucks a 5-on-3 for 46 seconds. ... The Bucks just rocked another set play, this time with Dube getting the goal as the trailer on some nice work by Salvis and Cullaton. Very nice shot by Dube from just ahead of the goal line. But apparently the arena thinks Kozak scored. Oy. Bucks lead 3-1 at 13:46 in the period. ... Not to be outdone, Centomo just made a very theatrical glove save at the other end when play resumed. ... This team genuinely looks nothing like the one we saw for the majority of the regular season. Ruskowski has been on them to no end at practice this week and making them watch tape every afternoon, but I guess they must get how big this is on their own to a certain extent. ... Toivonen just made a pretty nice save, only his 12th of the night overall. ... Whoa, I just noticed the Jacks are being credited for 30 shots. When I spoke to Centomo earlier this week, he said the guys were doing a good job of making sure the shots he faces aren't of the highest quality, which makes having as many saves as he did last week an easier thing to accomplish. Not sure if that's really true or if he's just trying to be nice to his teammates, but it's certainly not as though they are playing poorly in front of him. ... The Brahmas and RiverKings just scored at about the same time to respectively take a 3-1 lead and tie their game at 3. Does that make sense? Just in case it doesn't: Brahmas up 3-1, RiverKings and Blazers tied 3-3. ... Centomo just made another save and had the net ripped off its moorings behind him while trying to control the rebound. ... Rivet and Bourbeau just started shoving each other, and when Rivet stepped away, Kozak came in and dropped the gloves. Quite a battle there, with Kozak fighting much of it with his jersey over his head. Brian Rae is saying Kozak flat-out lost that one, but I'd say it was a bit of a draw. He's also calling for Rivet to get an instigator penalty, but we'll see about that. ... Nope. The fighters are getting five apiece, of course, but they'll serve most of that in the third as there are only 21 seconds left. ... Bucks will take this 3-1 lead into the second intermission in spite of being more than doubled on shots (31-15). The Brahmas scored once more right before their second break to take a 4-1 lead in their game. ... RiverKings have taken a 4-3 lead with 5:07 to play on a goal by Bobby Chaumont. Matt Summers, who scored the RiverKings' first goal, had an assist on that one. ... RiverKings win 4-3 to take a 2-1 series lead.

Third Period: Big pileup in the Jackalopes' crease as the Bucks chased down a rebound no one was there to collect initially. ... Russell is headed to the box for hooking at 3:59 to put the Jackalopes on the first power play of this period. ... Smith got a shorthanded chance early but couldn't quite escape the man who was covering him. ... Jacks only got one shot on that power play, their first of the period overall, and Centomo stopped it. ... Circelli just turned the puck over to Goupil while trailing a play and gave Goupil a one-on-one with Toivonen, but Goupil couldn't quite get a shot off in time. ... Sorry if the blogging is lagging a bit; not quite as much to say, and I'm trying to start my story because it's getting late. ... Brahmas lead 5-1 now. ... Make that 5-2. ... And make this one 3-2, as Ramsay just scored on assists from Pierce and Palmer at 8:40. ... Major close call there, but Centomo managed to keep the puck out. ... Anyone who questioned Centomo's play this season better be praising what he's doing to keep the lead in the Bucks' hands right now. ... Whoops. I didn't say that. Jackalopes just tied it with 6:43 to play on a goal scored on a rebound. Bernard from Ramsay and Karlander. Obviously you can't really fault Centomo too much for allowing three goals on 42 shots. ... Centomo just lost his stick but didn't face any shots without it. ... Time for some 4-on-4 to close this out, as Pierce and Zaore were each called for holding with 1:59 to play. ... Okay, make that elbowing on Pierce. ... Brahmas won their game 6-2. ... Holy cow did Toivonen just come up huge for his team. ... Someone's out to get me tonight; ridiculously long game in regulation, and now we're headed to overtime. I might not be able to get quotes; that's terrible.

Overtime: Oh, right, there's an intermission before OT in the playoffs. No quotes for sure. ... Wow, major sports stress moment there, as Centomo lost a rebound, nearly leaving the net wide open for the Jacks but the Bucks managed to clear it out, thanks mostly to Snider. Seriously, 4-on-4 is intense. ... And the Jacks have completed the comeback, winning 4-3 on a goal by Van Drunen. Time to write quite quickly now.

Game Over: Jackalopes win 4-3; Bucks now lead the series 2-1. No practice tomorrow, which makes it stink even more that I didn't have time to get quotes tonight.

NHL Scores: Capitals 5, Islanders 3; Thrashers 3, Sabres 2 (OT); Penguins 6, Devils 1; Maple Leafs 3, Flyers 2; Blackhawks 3, Blues 1; Coyotes 3, Avalanche 0.

Semifinal Game Day No. 3

The players just skated out to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," and I am now going to be annoyed for the rest of the night.

Sebastien Centomo will be the Bucks' starting goaltender, while Juha Toivonen is getting his first start of the series for the Odessa Jackalopes.

Sorry this isn't a more in-depth game day post, but I got caught up doing things at the office and just got o the arena.

You can read my preview, Bryan Benway's preview and the Pointstreak pre-game notes for some info about the game.

Darryl Smith will be presented his Rookie of the Year award tonight, and hopefully the house will be pretty packed for that and the game.

Oh, and hope some of you got to see the Bucks' page in today's print edition. I know it's not much, but it looked pretty neat. 

Bucks are in their home whites tonight, while the Jackalopes are in some very red sweaters. Interesting font on those.

Apparently we'll be starting a bit late, as the players left the ice at 6:53 only to have the clock set to 18 minutes.

Oh, right, there are two other games tonight, with the Texas Brahmas at the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees in Game 3 of their Southern Conference Semifinal series and the Mississippi RiverKings at the Oklahoma City Blazers in Game 3 of their Northern Conference series. 

The Brahmas lead their series 2-0, while the Northerners are tied 1-1.