Back in the 956 With Four Points

Jan 25, 2010- (The views expressed in this blog are the views of Bryan Benway,and may not be the views of the Laredo Bucks organization). Oh Hi Friends. I am writing to you from my spacious corner office here at the LEC in what has been a very relaxing day for everyone. It's Monday a lot of us are still trying to catch up on sleep after the week-long trip North.

Obviously the Bucks made quite a statement in taking four of six points against the top two teams in the North. This was one of the stretches that could change the season and the momentum around for a team.

We all know that Saturday's comeback was very exciting and the Bucks really dug down deep and scored four unanswered goals to win the game 5-3. It really was a lot of fun to be in that sold-out building and to hear it so quiet as the Bucks were pulling off the comeback. I will be honest with you I was not sure that the Bucks had that in them Saturday.

I mean let's put it in perspective. The Bucks trailed 3-1 starting the third period on the road in the building of the number one team in the North. Let that settle in for a second. For the Bucks to do what they did Saturday was very impressive. And I know I bring this up quite a bit but can the Bucks build on the last three games and play like that this weekend at the LEC? I know that everyone sure hopes so.

The Brent Cullaton era is over for a while again. He came out of retirement to help the Bucks out during the road trip last week and he helped out quite a bit. In three games he had three points (2-1=3) and was a plus-three and gelled very well with Jeff Bes and Darryl Smith. Cullaton will now go back to coaching the Boulder Junior Bisons until their season is done. FYI, the Bisons regular season ends February 22nd and then the playoffs start. Just in case Cullaton wanted to comeback for the CHL playoffs, which I think is a good possibility. We will keep you posted.

Smith by the way has been named the Oakley/CHL player of the week. He had eight points (6-2=8) in three games including three multi-goal contests. He was spectacular on the road trip. He leads the team with 22 goals and is playing like an MVP right now.

I will say that I have been very impressed with Kevin "wild thing" Desfosses in his four games with the Bucks. He is 3-1 with Laredo with a 2.00 G.A.A and a .948 sv.%. In his only loss he gave up just one goal in the Bucks 1-0 defeat last Saturday to Corpus.

The way Desfosses plays reminds me a lot of J.P "long lost" Levasseur. He never gets rattled, he stays calm in net, he rarely gives up rebounds and he gives his team a chance to win almost every game.

By the way don't expect to see J.P back in Laredo anytime soon. We think Springfield will keep him for a while longer.

If you have not seen wild thing play I suggest you come this weekend to the LEC. He is the only goaltender that i've seen play that dances during warm-ups on the ice, pumps up the crowd by raising his arms in the air, jumps up in the air when big goals are scored by his team, etc. He is truly entertaining on and off of the ice.

As you probably all could have guessed the bus ride to the airport after Saturday's win was very entertaining. The bus left Rapid City around 10:30pm and headed for Denver to catch our return flight. Not one person was able to keep quiet Saturday night as there was lots of conversation, movies, jokes, and food. El Presidente Coach Rosco was feeling under the weather for most of the trip last week but he was cured after Saturday's big win. Everyone was telling some sort of story about their past hockey experiences. Jeff Bes and Brent Cullaton were telling the younger Bucks players stories from the 2004 and 2006 Championship years. That had everyone's attention. Cullaton lost his voice earlier in the week but that did not stop him from telling lots of great stories about those two years. From the sound of it Cully really wants to come back and play in the playoffs and I don't think that anyone would have a problem with that.

After everyone went to bed around 2 or 3am we pulled into the parking lot of the Budweiser Events Center to drop Cullaton off at his car so he could drive back to Boulder. Then there was about an hour drive to the Denver airport.

We arrived at the airport around 5am even though our flight left at 11am. Our bus driver "atch" had to drive back to Rapid City so he could bring the Rush to Mississippi yesterday so our only option was to wait in the airport for a while.

There was an interesting site around 6am though. Apparently the Taco Bell in the Denver airport does not serve breakfast because there was a group of about 15 guys that ordered beef burritos and tacos each to scarf down that early in the morning. I love Taco Bell as much as the next guy but there is no way that I ever will eat regular tacos or burritos at 6am. Talk about making a lot of trips to the bathroom that day! Wow!

After the hour and a half flight of watching two dudes who were scared out of their minds flying we landed in San Antonio at 1:50pm. I'll tell you what we had such an easy time getting all of our luggage on the way out and back it was amazing! It only took 10 minutes to get all of the bags onto the bus and to get out of there. Our bus driver Jose picked us up and drove us back to Laredo where we arrived at the LEC right at 5pm.

The Bucks have a very well deserved day off from practice today. They will resume practice tomorrow at 10am to prepare for Texas on Friday night.

Just a couple of reminders.

The all star jersey auction ends tomorrow at 12pm. If you want a jersey you need to bid on it before then or forever hold your peace.

Pink in the Rink is Friday night at the LEC. Ticket sales are going well but they need to pick up before them. Remember, if the game is sold out the Bucks will donate $10,000 to WINGS of Laredo.

By the way I went 1-1 on my NFL games yesterday. Damn Brett Favre!!

I'll check in tomorrow with more news and notes.

Until next time,

It will be a hot one in the old town tonight!

GO BUCKS GO!