2009-10 Bucks Season In Review
Published on April 9, 2010 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Laredo Bucks News Release
LAREDO, TX- Although the Laredo Bucks did not accomplish their ultimate goal of winning a third President's Cup Championship, the team had another successful Central Hockey League season in 2009-10.
The Bucks finished the regular season with a 32-20-12 record (76 points) and qualified for the postseason for the eighth straight year. The Bucks fell to Allen in seven games in the Southern Conference semifinals.
**OCTOBER 2009**
The Bucks opened their 2009-10 training camp on October 5th with the maximum 30 players vying for 19 roster spots.
On October 15th the Bucks named Adam Rivet as the fourth team captain in franchise history. Rivet succeeded original Buck Serge Dube who retired after seven seasons on October 1st.
Laredo opened the 2009-10 campaign the next day on October 16th by picking up their first-ever regular season win at Bossier-Shreveport. Darryl Smith (2-13), Lance Monych (2-13) and Jeff Bes (1-23) each had three points while J.P Levasseur shined in his first start stopping 23 shots.
The Bucks played their eighth home-opener in franchise history on October 24th as they played their first-game ever against the expansion Allen Americans. The Bucks would fall in overtime 5-4 with Maxime Lincourt picking up a season-high four points (2-24) in the defeat.
Laredo would finish October with a 3-1-1 record with two of the three wins coming on the road.
**NOVEMBER 2009**
The Bucks would win four straight one-goal games from November 6th-15th including three shootout triumphs in that span. Laredo would take two-one goal contests in Arizona (one in a shootout) and win two home shootout games against Rio Grande Valley. J.P Levasseur earned CHL goaltender of the week honors on November 9th for his efforts in the bucks wins in Arizona. Levassuer led the Bucks to two one-goal victories against Arizona that weekend, stopping a total of 54 of 59 shots he faced.
On November 6th Darryl Smith was called up to the AHL's Manitoba Moose. It was the second-career AHL call-up for Smith, who played in one game with the Moose.
Laredo would sweep the regular season series for the first time ever against Bossier with a 4-2 home win on November 27. The Bucks would finish the season 2-0 against their longtime rivals.
Levasseur was named CHL goaltender of the month for his November play. Levasseur went 6-1-1 in November and had three games with 30-plus saves.
The Bucks would finish the month of November with a 6-3-2 record, giving them a 9-4-3 record through 16 games.
**DECEMBER 2009**
Laredo would open up December with a 4-3 comeback win in Rio Grande Valley. The Bucks trailed in the contest 3-0 but scored four straight goals including Jeremy Swanson's game-winner with 2:40 left in regulation.
The Bucks would pick up arguably their most impressive win of the season with a 6-1 drubbing of Odessa on December 5th. Justin Styffe had four points (2-24) to lead the Bucks.
On December 14 J.P Levasseur would be lost for the season as he was called up to the AHL's Springfield Falcons. Levasseur went 10-3-3 for the Bucks with a 2.31 G.A.A and a .919 sv.%.
Three days after Levassuer's call-up Kyle Gajewski would pick up the Bucks only shutout of the season when he stopped 33 shots in a 2-0 win at Corpus Christi. The Bucks picked up their 300th regular season win in franchise history that night.
On New Year's Eve Bucks All-Time leading scorer Jeff Bes was named to the CHL's All Decade team. Bes, a two-time CHL regular season MVP, is considered one of the best players in league history.
The Bucks would close out December on a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) and finish the month with a 4-6-3 record.
**JANUARY 2010**
Laredo would open 2010 with a 4-3 overtime loss in Allen to extend their franchise-high seven-game winless streak (0-4-3).
In a span of five days the Bucks defeated the two teams who played in the previous President's Cup Finals series. On January 3rd the Bucks beat Texas 4-3 while on January 8th the Bucks knocked off Colorado in a shootout 6-5.
Lance Monych would quit the team to play overseas and was placed on team suspension on January 5. Monych was one of the Bucks leading scorers at the time of his suspension as he had 20 points (10-1020) in 25 games.
On January 8th Paul Elliott came out of retirement to rejoin the Bucks for the rest of the season. Elliott played four seasons for the Bucks and was a member of the 2006 President's Cup Championship team before retiring at the end of the 2007-08 season.
The Bucks made history on January 13th as they became the first team in CHL history to host the All-Star game twice in the same arena. The Bucks also hosted the All-Star game in 2005.
In the 2010 All-Star game South Texas (Laredo, Corpus Christi, Rio Grande Valley) beat the CHL All-Stars 9-4 in front of nearly 5,000 fans at the then-Laredo Entertainment Center. Jeff Bes, Darryl Smith and Evan Schwabe were the Bucks players who scored goals in the contest. Adam Rivet and Jarred Mohr were the other Bucks on the South Texas squad.
Laredo would go 2-1 on a three-game road trip to Colorado and Rapid City from January 20-23. Former Captain Brent Cullaton returned to the Bucks and played three games on trip scoring three points (2-13). The Bucks picked up their first-ever win in Rapid City with a 5-3 comeback triumph on January 23rd. Laredo scored four third-period goals with Paul Elliott picking up the game-winner.
Darryl Smith was named CHL player of the week for the period ending January 24th. Smith scored eight points (6-28) in three games that week and had a plus-three rating leading the Bucks to a 2-1 record against the top two teams in the Northern Conference.
On January 29 the Bucks would play their second annual "Pink in the Rink" game to benefit WINGS of Laredo. Thanks to 5,126 fans in attendance the Bucks donated $10,000 to the WINGS organization for the second season in a row. The Bucks beat Texas 3-1 that night.
The Bucks would post a 6-5-1 record in January.
**FEBRUARY 2010**
The Bucks would see the return of former team captain Serge Dube for two games in February as the team was shorthanded due to injuries. Dube helped the Bucks to a 1-0-1 record in his two-game return.
On February 24 the Bucks would sign Veteran forward Sylvain Deschatelets and he would make an immediate impact. Deschatelets had seven points (3-47) in his first three games for Laredo earning him player of the week honors.
The Bucks would pick up a season-high eight wins in the month of February and posted a 8-3-2 mark during the month.
**MARCH 2010**
Laredo would pick up their first win ever against Allen with a 6-1 home blowout win on March 4th. Five different Bucks scored in the win.
The Bucks would finish with an 11-0-3 regular season record against Rio Grande Valley after a 3-2 road win on March 12th. It would mark the first time in franchise history that the Bucks would go an entire season without a regulation loss to the Killer Bees.
Laredo picked up arguably their biggest win of the regular season with a 3-2 shootout win at Texas on March 14th. Pier Pelletier stopped 34 of 36 shots and all four of the Brahmas shootout attempts to lead the Bucks to the win. Pelletier became just the second Bucks goaltender to start and win all three games of a three-in-three.
Pelletier was named CHL goaltender of the week on March 15th for his efforts.
On March 17th the Bucks, along with the City of Laredo held a press conference to announce that the Laredo Entertainment Center would be renamed Laredo Energy Arena. Bucks Majority Owner Glenn Hart, who is also the owner of Laredo Energy, held a "state of the Bucks address" where he announced that hockey would stay in Laredo for a long time.
Later that night the Bucks would clinch the third seed in the Southern Conference playoffs with a 4-3 shootout loss to Odessa and the Brahmas loss in Rapid City.
Pier Pelletier would finish 9-0-2 in his last 11 regular season decisions.
The Bucks went 5-2-3 in March to end the regular season 32-20-12 (76 points).
**2010 PLAYOFFS**
The Bucks would fail to win a playoff series for the second year in a row as they fell to Allen in a nail-biting seven game series.
Laredo would split the first two games of the series, winning game one 4-3 while falling in game two 3-2.
The Bucks would go 2-1 at home during games three, four and five and would take a three games to two series lead as the series shifted back to Allen.
Laredo would be forced into a game seven with a 3-2 loss in Allen in game six and then fell in their road game seven in team history 4-1.
The Bucks have now won 13 of their 19 playoff series' in team history.
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