Encore! Encore!

Jan 21, 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 the press box at the now quiet Budweiser Events Center as the Bucks are starting their practice today. How about that big win by the Bucks last night?

All I can say is that is the Bucks team that everyone in Buck Nation wants to see show up each and every night of the season. Laredo picked up just their second win ever in this building last night and got a huge confidence booster as well with their 4-2 win.

The Bucks did exactly what they wanted to do last night and that was jump on the Eagles early as they built a 3-0 lead after one period. In my pre-game interview with El Presidente Coach Rosco last night he said that his team needed to come out early and take the lead. And that's just what they did. In the Bucks two wins over Colorado this season they have outscored the Eagles a combined 7-1 in the first period. That's the key.

I'm not sure what players to start with today. I could go with Kevin Desfosses, Darryl Smith, Brent Cullaton or Jeff Bes.

I'll start with Desfosses. He set aside 39 of 41 shots last night (he originally was credited with 42 saves on 44 shots but they changed that after the game). In his three games with the Bucks he has stopped a total of 108 of 113 shots he has faced and has a 2-1 record to show for it. I don't know how many times last night he made a big save in traffic and did not give up a rebound attempt. When he did give a rebound he calmly stopped that as well. I know it's only been three games but if you are looking for a replacement for J.P Levasseur while he is in the AHL I think you may have found it with Desfosses. I keep getting e-mails and texts from fans who are really impressed by his energetic play so far. From what we've seen of Desfosses i'm trying to figure out why Corpus released him this season. Desfosses has a certain energy to him as well. Almost every save he makes he gets you excited when you watch it. That's refreshing to see.

Desfosses will get a well deserved rest tomorrow night as Pier Pelletier will get the start in net for the Bucks here in Colorado. Desfosses will be back in net Saturday in Rapid City.

Darryl Smith was big again last night as he had two goals in the first period to give him 18 on the season (he had 36 goals last season). Smith has had back-to-back multi-goal road games (he scored two goals at Rio last Friday and two goals last night). If he keeps playing this way I would not be suprised if he was called up to the AHL again.

Brent Cullaton made his Bucks re-debut last night on this road trip and he looked like the Cullaton of old. I know there was a lot of talk among fans about whether or not he would be in good shape to play, but i'll tell you what folks Cullaton looked better last night than he did when he came back last season. And that's no knock on him at all. Rosco agrees with me about that. Cullaton kept it simple last night and played a big part in the win.

The line of Smith, Bes, Cullaton was outstanding last night as they combined for five points (3-2=5) and were a plus-three. Bes looked like he had a jump in his step last night as well. It looks like Bes and Cullaton have not missed a step together since the 2006 Finals.

I will tell you that when Colorado scored two quick goals late in the third I was getting a bit nervous (as i'm sure a lot of you were). The Eagles are just so good that it's hard to shut them down. Believe it or not the Eagles have never been shutout at home in team history. The Bucks were almost six minutes away from doing it last night. It's hard to find a flaw on the Eagles, and you can bet that they will be coming out guns-a-blazing tomorrow night.

You have got to feel great for Igor Agarunov today. He played one of his best games all year last night. He was everywhere. Making big passes, clearing the puck on the penalty kill, making things happen, and oh yeah he scored with 1:28 left to seal the deal. That was the enigma's first goal since the home opener on October 24th. He deserves it. There's not a nicer guy on the Bucks team than Agarunov. Let's hope he can continue that tomorrow night.

The Bucks gave the Eagles just their fourth regulation loss at home this season. Only Allen and Rapid City (twice) have won in Colorado this season in regulation. The Bucks joined some pretty elite company for sure.

The talk after the game last night was how the Bucks now need to focus on tomorrow night's game here, which is what they are doing right now in practice.

On the way over to the arena this morning Rosco put on the game tape from last night so the guys could watch what improvements need to be made. The game DVD was not the best angles because it's the jumbo tron feed with the advertisments on it. Normally the coaches DVD is one steady camera that is zoomed out on the play so you can see every player on the ice and where his positioning is. But Colorado for some reason does not have that camera angle that the coaches get. It's really not that helpful to be honest with you. I wonder this though. Does Colorado give the visiting teams the bad angle DVD and give coach McClelland a DVD with the regular camera angles on it so he has an advantage when he watches it? I'm not accusing the Eagles of that i'm just wondering if that's what they do. In any sport you want to gain an advantage anyway you can and this would be a good way to do it. I'm going to investigate this and get back to you.

So after a big win like last night's you can bet that the postgame meal at Chili's was upbeat. And I can tell you that it was. Everyone was in a great mood and enjoying themselves at dinner.

I've been hearing from some people that the watch party at Hal's last night suffered due to a very bad internet feed there. I guess the video kept freezing up and some people left. On behalf of the Bucks and Hal's I apologize for the bad internet connection there last night (even though I had nothing to do with it). I'm sure that the problem will be fixed before the next watch party there (i'm not sure when it is). I've also heard from some people that the radio feed was not the best last night either. I guess the signal from the Budweiser Events Center was not that good and made some of the audio a little mumbled. So all in all it was not a good night for technology for some people. For those of you who watched CHL-TV at home last night everyting was fine.

If you have not seen this video from American Idol yet you need to! I saw it last week and I can't get the song out of my head!

I think that's it for now. I've got some other things to tend to here before I leave the building.

Feel free to continue to e-mail me at benway@laredobucks.com . I love hearing from everyone of you.

Until next time,

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

GO BUCKS GO!