02/13/11

We had another long week of practice. Actually, we had Wednesday off because some bad weather that came in. There are few guys who had some minor, nagging injuries so coach gave us the day off so we didn’t have to drive in with the bad weather.

It was back to work on Thursday and back on the bus to Tulsa. The Oilers have been a tough team for us this year, so we wanted to go in there and do whatever it took to get two points. We actually came out really strong and ended up with a 2-0 lead really early in the game which is very important for us. We played pretty well and ended up with the 3-1 victory there.

Then it was back on the bus to come home to play Rio Grande Valley, who were in Wichita, so they were traveling just as far as we were; maybe a little farther. They’re another team that’s near the bottom of the standings but every game with them is a tight game. They work really hard.

We got off to an early lead and then they came back with three goals to go up 3-1. They took it to us in the second period but we started to get some momentum back. We got a big goal on the power play late in the second and that gave us momentum going into the third. I thought in the third period, we were all over them and we ended up tying it and getting the win in overtime. It was a very big weekend for us, getting two wins.

Our new players - Muncy, Bradley and Reid - have fit in really well with the team. We have a pretty good team here and we welcome guys in. Its part of the game – guys come and go. You hate to see guys leave when they leave but its part of the business and the coaches have to do whatever they think is best for the team. Making changes sometimes is a good thing. All three of the new guys are great guys and they fit in really well.

We have a long hard stretch here heading towards the end of the season and we’re looking forward to it. We’ll get some rest and we’ll be back on the bus on Monday to go to Laredo.