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 Des Moines Buccaneers

Buccaneers Weekend Notes

October 1, 2014 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Des Moines Buccaneers News Release


AT A GLANCE

35th Anniversary Season

Break out the coral, jade and emerald as the Des Moines Buccaneers celebrate their 35th anniversary season. Only the Sioux City Musketeers and Waterloo Blackhawks are older having played in the loop's entire 36 junior seasons and going back even further as pro franchises.

Starting Off Right

The Buccaneers' 4-0 win over Fargo on Sept. 27th gives the team it's first opening night win since the 2009-2010 season and their first home opener win since 2008-2009.

Opening Night

Clean Sheet Ryland Pashovitz's opening night 23-save shutout is the first for a Bucs' goalie to start the season since Jeff Blashill opened the 1993-1994 season with a 5-0 clean sheet at home over Wisconsin.

Fluid Preseason Roster

Dave Allison made sure to take advantage of the last day of unlimited moves, engaging in a series of deals right after the Fall Classic that brought in six players who weren't with the team during the preseason.

The new players include Gorodetsky, Hutton, Koch, Li Petacio and Sanford.

Nearing Milestone Victory

The Buccaneers hope to hit a milestone this season as they enter the weekend with 879 all-time regular season victories.

New Sherriff in Town

On June 2, the Buccaneers introduced Dave Allison as the team's 14th head coach in team history. The longtime hockey head coach has experience from Junior A all the way to the NHL, including serving three seasons behind the bench for the AHL's former Iowa Stars from 2005-2008.

Allison played 10 pro seasons and appeared in three games with the Montreal Canadians in 1983-1984. He broke into coaching as a player-assistant with Muskegon of the International Hockey League in 1986-1987 and his first head job came in 1989-1990 with the ECHL's Virginia Lancers

In 1995-1996, he had a stint as the interim head coach for the Ottawa Senators after being the head coach for the team's AHL affiliate.

Along with pro experience, he was a head coach in the Ontario Hockey League from 1992-1994 and in the Superior International League from 2002-2005.

Combined his head coaching record, coming into this season, is 573-485-114 (.538%).

New Assistant Coach

Along with a new head coach, the Buccaneers welcome Nate Weossner as the team's new assistant coach. The Minnesota native spent the last two seasons working in California with the San Jose Sharks midget program. Before that he was an assistant with Concordia College in Moorhead, MN

Prior to entering coaching, Nate played under Dave Allison with the Boderland Thunder of the Superior International Junior League in 2003-2004.

All-Time Penalty Mark in Reach

Tanner Karty enters tonight with 316 career penalty minutes, third on the Bucs' career board. The benchmark is 377 set by Chris Antzoulatos from 1995-1998.

Karty Back for More Tanner

Karty is entering his fourth season with the Buccaneers. The Oklahoma City native committed to Division I Lake Superior State during the off -season.

In 142 career games he has 68pts (31g, 37a).

The Bucs would need to make the playoffs for Karty to have a shot at the franchise's all-time games played mark of 205 which is held by Peter Fregoe Playoff Format Stays Set The USHL's postseason format remains unchanged with the top four teams in each conference advancing to the playoffs.

One modification comes to the tiebreakers as the first tiebreaker for seeding is now determined by the team with the most regulation + overtime victories. This slightly decreases the value of shootout wins, though they still result in the full two standings points.

Steady in Net

Ryan Ruck returns for his second season in Des Moines. The Northeastern recruit had 30 total appearances last season and allowed three goals or less in 20 of them.

He finished the season with a 2.99 GAA and .918 save percentage, the highest save percentage for a Bucs' goalie since Matt Carney's .921% in 1998-1999.

First Round Pick

Last week the Bucs executed a trade with Cedar Rapids in which the Bucs sent draft picks in exchange for forwards Brennan Sanford and Georgi Gorodetsky who was the 12 overall pick last May in the Phase II draft.

Over the last three midget seasons, in 138 games he registered 212 points KHL First Rounder Forward Nikita Li, acquired from Saint John's of the Quebec League last week was the 11th overall pick in the Kontinental Hockey League draft last spring.

NCAA Talent

The Bucs enter the season with 10 rostered players who have already committed to Division I schools.

Home Sweet Home

If the Bucs are to be successful this season, turning Buccaneer Arena back into a home ice advantage is a must. Since making the playoffs in 2006- 2007, the Bucs have gone 88-106-21 (.456%) at home, averaging 12 wins a season.

The Bucs were 10-17-3 at home last season.

Pro Bloodlines

Forward Tyler Drevitch's father and uncle both played pro hockey and his dad actually played under Dave Allison in in the ECHL.

Winning when Scoring

The Buccaneers were 8-3 last season in games in which Tanner Karty scored a goal.

Multiple Point Games

Tanner Karty (8) led the team last season in multi-point games.

Sizing up the Bucs

Going into opening night the Bucs size up an average of 6'0, 185 pounds and 18.8 yrs old.

The Bucs ended last season at an average of 6'1, 174 pounds and 17.8 yrs old. By comparison, the Clark Cup Champion Indiana Ice were 6'2, 190 and 18.5 years old.

Experience

The Bucs come into the season with five players back from last season including Grasso, Karty, Rauhauser, Ruck, Schueneman,


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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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