Benny's First Hat Trick

Feb. 6, 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 you you from the LEC press box about four hours before the Bucks host the Amarillo Gorillas and look to take five out of six points on the weekend.

Bucks fans and the CHL are still buzzing (no pun intended) about Laredo's 3-2 comeback win last night over the Killer Bees at the State Farm Arena. If you had Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel scoring a hat trick last night in your office pool you would be a very rich person right about now. Where in the world did that come from? And in all honesty it could not happen to a nicer guy. Benny told us on the bus that it was his first hat trick at any level of hockey.

El Presidente Coach Rosco said on the bus that what "Benny" did last night was the best single game performance by a Bucks player during this entire season. That is very big praise from the big dog right there.

Like Rosco said in the pre-game interview, if the Bucks keep putting shots on net against Andy Franck they are bound to start going in. And they did. Dieude-Fauvel may have had the goal of the season when his two-on-one shorthanded goal went in with 5:41 left in the third period. That my friends was a thing of beauty.

And Bees fans have got to be saying "you've gotta be kidding me not again." Last night was the Bucks second game in that building this season where they came back from a multi-goal deficit to win. On December 2nd the Bucks trailed 3-0 and won 4-3 with Jeremy Swanson scoring with under five minutes left to win the game. Laredo is 4-0 in Rio this season and 6-0-2 against the Bees for the campaign.

As you can imagine the three-hour bus ride home last night was not a quiet one whatsoever and Benny was leading the chatter. Normally after a game Benny is in the back of the bus or in his bunk relaxing and watching TV, but not last night. As much as Benny was talking last night you could have sworn that he was the new host of the "Tonight Show". He was right up in front talking about anything and everything. Those of us who were sitting near Benny learned that you are not allowed to fight during a hockey game in France and if you are you get suspended for the next game. We learned that Benny really loves to fight but was not allowed to at all. At one point Rosco put Showtime boxing on TV and Benny was shadow boxing and showing us why he would knock out one of the guys in the match.

As we all know this is Benny's first hockey season in North America. Before he came here he knew a little bit of english but since he has been here since September he now knows quite a bit of the language. I think he knows more english swear words than anything but that's what you get playing hockey.

Let's see if Benny can continue his hot streak tonight against the Gorillas (he had the game-winning goal in the Bucks 5-2 October 30th win over Amarillo).

If you are wondering last night was the Bucks second hat trick of the season. The first was by Lance "he gone" Monych on December 22nd in Missouri.

Pier Pelletier deserves a lot of credit for the win last night also. He picked up his first win for Laredo as he stopped 28 shots. He made quite a few big saves that he normally would not to lift the Bucks to the win. That should give him a lot of confidence as we roll into the stretch run. I'm happy for Pier to finally get that "W".

Pier was nice enough to grab the puck to give to Benny after the game.

For those of you who watched or listened to the game last night you heard me say that Serge Dube missed the entire first period of the game because he was late getting out of work in Laredo and did not make it to Hidalgo until five minutes left in the first intermission. So the Bucks actually played with 14 skaters in the first period before Dube arrived. I know he received some ribbing from his teammates for that. I thought Serge brought a lot of energy and physical play to the Bucks the last two games. I also thought he fit in well on the line with Darryl Smith and Jeff Bes. After last night's game Serge rode back to Laredo with Adam Rivet (who probably was trying to convince him to play tonight as well).

As far as I know Dube is not playing tonight and may be done for the season with the Bucks. Remember Rosco and Dube both told us that it was a favor to the team because they were shorthanded. Will Serge play one more game to be eligible for the playoffs? We shall see.

There will be one, possibly two new faces in the Bucks line-up tonight when they host Amarillo. There will not be a press release prior to the game because the paperwork won't be done until sometime before face-off. Be sure to check our website after the game for a little more on the new signee (or signee).

Thanks for your e-mails about you missing the blog yesterday. I know I normally write a game day blog but my parents are in town and we had plans before we all left for Rio so the blog was put on hold to today. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside that you look forward to reading and that you are upset when there is no blog. Even the people who hate me and/or my blog are upset when there is no blog. That must mean that i'm doing something right.

I do believe that Kevin Desfosses will get the start in net tonight for the Bucks as he looks to snap his personal two-game winless streak. "Wild Thing" played well here Thursday but suffered the shootout loss. I'm not sure who will get the call Tuesday morning against Corpus. Wait and see.

I think that's it for today my friends. Except for my Superbowl pick that probably will not be correct.

I have a bet with Jeff Bes about this as well. The loser of the bet buys lunch next week.

Here's my Superbowl pick for tomorrow's big game.

Saints 27, Colts 21 in an upset. They will be dancing on Bourbon Street in New Orleans!

Enjoy the game tonight, i'll be back with a blog either Monday or Tuesday.

Until next time,

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

GO BUCKS GO!