Laredo Bucks host the Texas Brahmas for divisional showdown

Tonight's winner takes the lead in the Southeast

After a nail-biter last night in which the Texas Brahmas defeated the Corpus Christi Ice Rays with a 4-3 shootout win, the bulls boarded the bus to the Laredo Entertainment Center for tonight's game with the Laredo Bucks. The Bucks at 19-8-3 have played one game less than the 19-9-3 Brahmas but are equal in points at 41 on the season. The winner of tonight's game takes possession of the lead in the Southeast Division.

Both teams are evenly matched and will be coached by two of the best in the league. Their first match of the season on December 6th resulted in a 2-1 shootout loss for the Brahmas. This is the second of eight games scheduled between the two teams this season. Although the Bucks have been struggling lately, they know that staying ahead of the Brahmas at this point is crucial.

Bucks head coach Terry Ruskowski expressed the importance of tonight's game to the Laredo Morning Times' Joy Lindsay.

"This is huge...Divisional games are always huge, but this one is drastically important," Ruskowski said. "We need to stay on top. We have to be prepared to play our best game. They are a great team. They have good discipline, size, toughness and skill - pretty much the whole barrel. We have to do our job on special teams and defensive coverage and hope that the goals come when we go to the net."

Dan Wildfong knows this will be a tough match up.

"They're probably one of the best teams we've seen this year...being very disciplined with their systems, getting the puck deep and hitting. It was one of the best, quickest games I've seen in a long time when we played them at NYTEX. We've just got to compete hard and I think we've got two good teams going at it tonight."

The Bucks lost four of their last five games but had a huge 8-3 win at home over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on New Years Eve. The eight goals was a season high. The Bucks lead the CHL in home wins with a 14-3-0 record at the LEC arena. Tonight's game will mark the first of the new year for Laredo. The Bucks are 6-0 all-time when playing the first game of a new calendar year, including 5-0 at the LEC.

Laredo's veteran center Jeff Bes comes into Saturday’s game with 497 career points as a Buck, putting him three away from 500. Bes sits at 893 career points in his 17-year career. He is a fierce competitor who already has 47 points (11G, 36A) and a +19 rating on the season thus far.

The Brahmas have won five of their last six games, including three straight on the road. This is the first time they've played at the LEC since last season's game on February 29th. The Brahmas won that game 4-2, including three powerplay goals. The Brahmas also won at home against the Bucks last season, going 2-0 against a team that has a 12-2-1 all-time record against them.

On special teams, the Brahmas number three powerplay (19.7%) faces the Bucks' number one penalty kill (88.2%).

The Brahmas will be without defenseman Mike Vellinga and forward Topher Scott, both out on injured reserve.

The Bucks are without defenseman Vincent Zaore, also on injured reserve.

Both teams have a man playing with the Houston Aeros (AHL). Bucks forward Darryl Smith was called up on December 30th. The Brahmas' Jason Deitsch is on his second tour with the Aeros which began on December 3rd. Deitsch has played in 25 games with the Aeros this season notching 14 points (4 G, 10 A).

Tonight's game comes down once again to which Brahmas team comes out to play. Hopefully, last night's battle against the Ice Rays and a long bus ride didn't take too much out of the bulls. With Sebastien Centomo expected to be in net for the Bucks, the Brahmas will need to play hard and smart for 60 minutes to pull off a victory. Fonger told me last night that he doesn't think his team is playing playoff hockey yet. Tonight will be a good time to start.

The Game begins at 7:05pm and can be seen on Nifty-TV. You can listed on Internet radio here. The radio pre-game begins at 7:10pm.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith