Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving

'Tis the holiday season and no one is home. Or so it seemed at last night's game. Attendance was sparse.

Wednesday before Thanksgiving saw the Laredo Bucks in Odessa taking on the Jackalopes. Didn't I tell you that they were a tough team? Pulled the rug right out from under our boy's 3-0 lead and ended up winning the game in shootout 4-3. This is not supposed to happen. I know that coach is working on this as we speak, but in the meantime.........

They almost had the same thing happen to them last night against the New Mexico Scorpions. I know that Tudor Floru always calls stinking penalties, but the Bucks' power play needs to pick it up fast. Careless mistakes have serious consequences. I see no reason whatsover to not get back to the rhythm at the beginning of the season. Of course our opponents are doing their homework on the Bucks and have caught on to our scheme of things, but we can counter attack.

Here's a few pics from last night. I know, they're getting uglier and uglier. Sorry, this is all I can produce right now. See you all tonight.















What is wrong with this picture? answer: Since when has it been acceptable to let an opponent get this close to our goalie? Geez---come on, guys!











What the heck is this? Tables & chairs?

I know, what took me so long........

Well, in a nutshell.....it's been a tough few days since I last blogged. At home, my air conditioning needs to be replaced. Notice I said replaced not repaired. Huge expense that has had to wait for more than than 10 days now. And no real cool front to make it bearable either. For goodness sakes---it's November, when will it get cold?

As if this wasn't enough, my camera produced the most horrendous pics from the last two games I attended -- Fri. & Sat. Nov. 9th & 10th when the Bucks hosted the C.C. Rayz and the Youngstown Steelhounds.

Bucks beat the Rayz 5-4, but the Hounds proved to be a tougher team to dominate, and ended up losing to them by a score of 3-2. Something was not in sync with the boys. They were plagued by miscues. Can't quite explain it.

Tuesday, Nov. 13th, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees and the Laredo Bucks entertained area school kids at an 11:00 a.m. matinee. I missed this one due to my job, but I would've been there if I could've, especially since Cruickshank officiated. The first game this season that he gets to call and I couldn't be there. ::sigh:: Bucks nearly lost this game as it went into overtime tied at 2. Number 29, Captain Dube, scored the overtime winning goal 29 seconds into the period. I saw the replay, and it was a beauty.

Speaking of replay, something's happened to the video quality from the LEC that is fed to the CHL Network. All cameras have gone dark, and it is so darn annoying. It was fine when the season started. I hope someone cares enough to fix this, because they went from being the best broadcast to the worst. How about investing in a couple new cameras? You know, newer models? There's one very good camera that they use and the rest are so-so. O.K., fine, we'll settle for the same ones, but just tune them correctly, please.

And don't get me started on Benway's audio on the CHL Network. OMG--what the heck happened here? It works great while the broadcast is at home, but on the road it stinks. The local radio station feed is alright, 1490 is doing a good job, but the audio connection to the internet video is awful. Please, fiddle with it until it works. Is that too much to ask?It was bad enough that our boys have had a rough road trip thus far, and to add bad audio to the video broadcasts, well, that's the limit. LOL!

Both Colorado teams did their homework on our boys. But we shouldn't sweat it. Sure the 4-1 loss to Rocky Mountain was tough to swallow, but the comeback effort in the second period against the Eagles was priceless. If you ask me, that game should've gone into overtime. That penalty on Courchene late in the third sealed the Eagle's win. It was a clean hit in my eyes. Shoulder to shoulder bump. Those rookie homer refs need to be reported to the league. They were off on several calls. Too late now.

Our team needs to get back in the groove of things, for the next opponent, the Odessa Jackalopes is no walk in the park. They have consistently improved. Yeah, they lost in shootout to Austin last night, but that doesn't mean a thing. They are good, and like the other teams along the road trip, will be coming out with all cannons firing.

And on the subject of cannons, I did it. I bought a new camera on-line and on credit, of course. What other way is there? It's a Canon. No, it's not an SLR, but another point and shoot. I can't deal with extra lenses and contraptions. That is not for me. I like to keep it simple for the crazy hobby that I refer to as therapy. Only cost $399, but it has many features that will undoubtedly be an upgrade to my deceased Hp. I won't toss my Hp to the trash just yet, as I know that it can still take great outdoor shots. But it will be another week or so before I receive my new one. Oh, the anticipation.

Here are some last salvageable photos from the last 2 games (probably my last from the Hp). Weren't those Veteran's Day jerseys awesome? I love them. Good job on that.

Laredo Bucks - CHL's only undefeated team

The Laredo Bucks shut out the Austin Ice Bats 4 - 0 at Austin's Chaparral Ice Center this Sunday afternoon.

Bucks remain the only undefeated team in the Central Hockey League with 9 consecutive wins, a record for the Laredo franchise.

Jeff Bes remains #1 in the league standings with 19 points, followed closely by Chris Korchinski in second place with 15 points.

Bes scored 2 goals and an assist in this afternoon's match up, and Steve Simoes added 2 assists as did Rane Carnegie.

Congratulations to Paul Elliott who scored his first goal of the season. Paul has consistently become an outstanding defenseman. He's solid in front of our goalie and his presence has made all the difference in goals scored against. He beautifully sweeps pucks away from all approaching opponents and effortlessly turns the play around. Good job, Paul!

On a side note... the Corpus Christi Rayz beat the other remaining undefeated team, the Youngstown Steelhounds, 3 - 2 in a shootout, this afternoon, at home, at the ABC Center. Congratulations to the Rayz. Their hard work paid off.

The Rayz and Steelhounds face the Bucks this coming Friday and Saturday, respectively, at the Laredo Entertainment Center. Two must see games, so if you haven't bought your tickets, do so now because the house will be rocking.

Saturday is event night at the LEC, and $5,000 worth of prizes will be given away. Although exciting and very much appreciated, to qualify to win the prizes donated by sponsors, you must visit all the vendors around town and have them validate a card. Only cards that have been validated by all sponsors will qualify to enter to win. I'm not too keen in putting fans through so much trouble to win prizes, with the high cost of gas as it is.

Shouldn't getting them in the arena and buying a seat be enough to qualify to win prizes? I don't understand why they have to complicate simple giveaways. This only opens the opportunity for cheaters and friends of friends to submit entries unfairly. All game tickets are labeled with a seat number. Can't all fans entering the arena qualify to win prizes by cutting this section off and dropping it in a bin from which the winners will be drawn?

I know, I know, the whole trade off idea with the sponsors is to get them to visit their businesses, but people, please use commom sense. After the last Rotary Night event, which by the way, is still being advertised scrolling on the Bucks website over a week later, it was evident that a select few were able to participate to win prizes; those who bought tickets directly from Rotary members. And the season ticket holders got squat? Mighty fine way to show your appreciation to the faithful ones who sweat, bleed, and cry Bucks juice. At the next brainstorming junket, try to keep it fun and simple. Your outlandish marketing ploys are going to get old very fast.

On a serious note, kudos to Bryan Benway who has proven to be a determined sportscaster on a mission to make the Bucks broadcasts enjoyable. His intermission interviews are always interesting, and he's been brushing up on plenty of hockey know how. It is clearly evident that he is a hard worker willing to innovate on his delivery. Gotta admire his drive. Good job, Bryan.

And good job also to the LEC crews who are bringing us a very enjoyable video and audio broadcast by way of the CHL "Nifty" Network. Your work is outstanding. No one else has the many camera angles or sound effects that you have. Standing ovation to all of you.

Hiebert vs. Maxwell

Bucks vs. Bees 11-01-07

It was a scoreless first period, but the Bucks came out blasting weapons in the second, scoring 4 goals by returning Buck Adam Rivet, Rane Carnegie, and by rookies Corey Courchene, and Matt Summers.

Travis Banga for the Bees scored on Bucks goalie Kevin Beech late in the second, before the Bucks would wrap it all up with the final goal of the game scored in the third period by rookie Brent MacSween.

There was a fight in each of the three periods - Hiebert & Maxwell in the 1st, Korchinski & Masse in the 2nd, and Walker & O'Leary in the 3rd. Can't say for certain who won the fights because I'm no good at judging that, but I will say that the surprise fight of the evening was Korchinski's power punches. Very entertaining. That kid can really hit, I tell ya.

Here are some photo highlights of the game. Still using the broken camera but being careful to hold it firm so that the battery compartment doesn't fly open. LOL!