Bucks Crown Kings 5-2, Win Sixth Straight

Published on January 3, 2008 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Laredo Bucks News Release


LAREDO, TX- The Laredo Bucks of the Central Hockey League beat the Mississippi Riverkings Thursday night 5-2 at the Laredo Entertainment Center. The Bucks won their sixth straight game, and seventh out of their last eight to improve their CHL-leading record to 24-7-2 (50 points).

Jeff Bes scored a goal and handed out two assists to lead the Bucks. Bes moved into first place by himself in the CHL scoring race with 50 points (20-30=50).

For the second straight game the Bucks gave up an early power-play goal to trail 1-0. Ryan Held scored from the right crease off of a pass from Rick Kozak 10:49 into the first period. It was Held's 10th goal of the season.

Laredo (14-3 at home) tied the game at 1-1 on a power-play goal of their own at the 17:43 mark of the first period. Bes took a pass in the slot from Serge Dube, wheeled around to his left and shot it by Riverkings goaltender Sebastien Sentomo. It was Bes' 20th goal of the season, with Dube and Matt Summers picking up the assists.

Mississippi came into the game with the top-ranked penalty killing unit in the CHL.

The Bucks were penalized for 23 minutes of penalties in the first period, killing off two of three Riverkings power-plays.

Laredo was outshot in the first 20 minutes 11-7.

The Bucks took a 2-1 lead on the power-play 8:36 into the second period as Adam Rivet sent a slap from the slot past Centomo. Andrew Desjardins and Bes picked up the assist on Rivet's ninth goal of the season.

The Riverkings tied the game up a 2-2 with their second power-play goal of the game at 12:49 of the second. Steve Makway sent a slap shot from the top of the left circle past Bucks goaltender Dustin Traylen.

Laredo would then score two straight goals to take a 4-2 lead.

Desjardins scored his 12th goal of the year, and the Bucks second power-play goal of the game, as he was waiting at the right crease to poke it by Centomo off of a pass from James Hiebert to give Laredo a 3-2 lead. Dube picked up his second assist of the game on the goal.

The Bucks increased their lead to 4-2 with 3:05 left in the period, as Rane Carnegie scored his 11th goal of the year from the slot off of a nice pass from Matt Summers.

Carnegie's mom was in the crowd to watch her son play pro hockey for the first time, and to help celebrate his birthday on January 2nd.

Laredo outshot Mississippi (18-9-1) in the second period 17-10.

The Bucks improved to 17-1-1 when leading after two periods this season.

The Bucks closed out the scoring at 15:34 of the third period as Hiebert broke past the Riverkings defense and scored a short-handed goal to give Laredo a 5-2 lead. It was the Bucks 10th shorthanded goal of the season, tying them for the league lead.

Traylen picked up his 15th win in net for the Bucks, setting aside 29 of 31 Mississippi shots, while Centomo stopped 29 of 24 Laredo attempts in suffering the loss.

The Bucks are back in action tomorrow night as they travel to take on the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees at 7:35pm.

Laredo will host the Colorado Eagles on Sunday at the LEC in a re-match of the 2007 President's Cup Finals at 4pm. Family Four Pack tickets will be available starting at $48. The family four pack consists of four tickets, four hot dogs, and four sodas for $48.

The Family Four pack will be brought back for all Sunday home games starting on Sunday.

*Pointstreak Boxscore*

http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=534487

**Bucks Notes**

*The Bucks outshot the Riverkings 34-31

*The Bucks were 3-7 on the power-play, giving them 10 power-play goals in their last three games.

*The Riverkings were 2-11 on the power-play

*The Bucks lead the all-time series with the Riverkings 8-4

*The Bucks are 1-3-1 against Northern Conference teams this season

*The Bucks are now 6-0 when playing their first game in a new calender year

*Terry Ruskowski won his 447th career game as a professional head coach

**Bucks Move Up To 2nd in Coaches Poll**

The Bucks moved up to second in the latest CHL coaches poll released Thursday. Laredo moved up two spots from fourth to second, receiving four first place votes out of the 17 CHL coaches (teams cannot vote for themselves).

Rocky Mountain hung on to the top spot receiving eight first place votes. To view the complete poll visit www.centralhockeyleague.com.

The coaches poll is released every two weeks.

**Family Four-Pack Offered For Sunday Home Games!!**

Starting this Sunday against Colorado, during every Sunday home game througout the year the Family Four pack will be available.

The Family four pack consists of four tickets, four hot dogs, and four sodas for the family low price of $48. Call 718-BUCK (2825), or visit www.ticketmaster.com.



Central Hockey League Stories from January 3, 2008


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