Hip Hip, Dube!

Feb. 4, 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 LEC about four hours before the Bucks (and Serge Dube) host Rio Grande Valley. I never thought I would be writing this in February but we get to see Serge Dube wear #29 tonight.

We all remember Serge Dube announced his retirement from professional hockey here at the LEC on October 1, 2009. Well four months was long enough for Serge to be away from playing, for now.

The Bucks have been plagued by injuries this season (I didn't want to remind you) and were facing the possibility of playing with just 14 skaters and two goaltenders for all three games this weekend until El Presidente Coach Rosco, Jeff Bes and other teammates pursuaded Serge to play for at least the next couple of games.

Rosco will give everyone the official word on the plans for Serge Dube (is he here for the season or for a couple of games) but as far as I know this is a short-term deal for now (much like Brent Cullaton did last month).

Serge has full-time job outside of hockey right now and had to re-arrange his work plans so he could play for the Bucks this week. Past tomorrow I don't know what his plans are, but I'm sure everyone is going to try to convince him to stick around for a while.

Coach has made it very public that he has tried all season long to get Serge to play again and he finally succeeded. This whole plan really started to come together Monday afternoon at Jeff Bes' house (which is where all of the plans seem to come together really). Serge agreed very late last night to sign the contract and come back and play for the team he helped win two championships with.

The next question is how big of an impact will Serge Dube make in the line-up? Well I can tell you that he has been skating quite a bit. He coaches the junior Bucks and plays rec hockey here in Laredo. Granted that's not exactly NHL caliber hockey but he's at least been on the ice a bit. I know he still works out regularly and knows Rosco's systems. I would not be suprised to see Dube play forward with the Bucks. He's very capable of doing that (he did it in 2006 for a while).

Even if Serge is not in complete hockey shape he at least brings a wealth of leadership on the ice, something that the Bucks have been gaining in the last month or so. Serge was captain for three seasons and knows exactly what it takes to win games. He will no doubt be a leader on the ice tonight.

I've already gotten e-mails as to whether Serge will get his "C" back as captain. The answer to that is no. Much like last season when Brent Cullaton came back with the Bucks in February Dube kept his "C". Adam Rivet will still be the team captain, Mike Looby and Darryl Smith will still be the alternates, while Jeff Bes, Paul Elliott and Serge Dube will be leaders out there as well.

I know the fans are very excited to see Serge Dube play tonight as some people who wouldn't normally come to a game decided to come tonight to see him play again. I hope there are a lot of people like that.

Dube did not participate in morning skate today because of his regular job that I mentioned before. So he will arrive here at the LEC around 5pm to get ready for the game. I doubt he will be at morning skate tomorrow either.

Kevin Desfosses will start in two of the three games this weekend including tonight's. I'm not sure if he will play again tomorrow or Saturday but i'll let you know for sure when I hear anything.

I mentioned this earlier in the week but i'll remind you that Igor Agarunov will not play at all this weekend. He is hoping for a Tuesday return. The enigma will join me on the broadcast tonight for some color commentary. I am also scheduled to be joined on air by Justin Styffe (first intermission) and Mark O'Leary (second intermission). It will be the first interview for both Styffe and O'Leary since suffering their injuries.

In more award news Darryl Smith was just named the CHL player of the month for January. This is his first player of the month award and the second this season for Laredo (J.P Levasseur won goalie of the month in November). Smith won player of the week honors on January 25th and had 16 points in 12 games this month for the Bucks. Congrats to Darryl!

Let's move on to some other things real quick.

If you don't know about the special for tonight it's this. EVERY FAN who attends tonight's game will get TWO FREE Bucks dollar menu items (of your choice). Go to the ticketing table in the concourse to pick up your tickets for the two free items. That's cool.

On Saturday there is a car show outside the LEC starting at 9am. Everyone who is entered in the car show will get TWO TICKETS to Saturday's game. Some of the winners will get to drive thier car's on the ice during an intermission for a victory lap. There will also be a "best burger" cook off at the tailgate starting at 3pm.

This is a brand new special for Tuesday's Kid's Day game at 11am here. We are calling it the "working man's special". It's pretty cool. If you buy a ticket to Tuesday's game you will get a FREE LUNCH! The lunch consists of a hot dog, chips, soda and a cookie. That is a great deal! So if you have clients you want to bring to the game Tuesday afternoon go ahead! This is available to anyone who comes to the game Tuesday!

That's all for now. I'm going to dust off my "I love Dube" t-shirt.

See you tonight at the LEC!

Until next time,

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

GO BUCKS GO!