Mudbugs Weekly

Published on December 14, 2009 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs News Release


LAST WEEK

Monday, December 7 at Amarillo Amarillo Civic Center W 4-3

GAME NOTES : The Mudbugs held off a late Amarillo rally to top the Gorillas 4-3 on Monday night. Dave Pszenyczny had a goal and an assist while Joe Blaznek and Travis Clayton chipped in two helpers apiece as the 'Bugs earned their tenth victory of the season. John DeCaro made 31 saves in the victory.

Friday, December 11 vs. Mississippi CenturyTel Center W 5-4

GAME NOTES : Mississippi scored two goals in the first five minutes and built a 4-1 lead by the halfway point of the game before Bossier-Shreveport began its comeback late in the second period. Goals from Joe Blaznek and Tyrel Lucas got the 'Bugs within one going into the third period, where Justin Aikins scored to tie it and Brett Smith netted the game-winner as the Mudbugs completed the comeback to win 5-4. The 'Bugs went 3 for 5 on the powerplay and had five players record multiple points in the game. Although he gave up four goals, John DeCaro shut out the 'Kings in the last 30 minutes of the game and finished with 35 saves.

Saturday, December 12 at Mississippi DeSoto Civic Center W 3-1

GAME NOTES

: The Mudbugs earned their fourth consecutive victory over Mississippi and improved to 5-1-0 against the RiverKings this year with a decisive 3-1 win Saturday night in Southaven. The 'Bugs took control with three goals in the second period and Ken Carroll was just 1:57 away from his second shutout of the season when the 'Kings got on the scoreboard. Carroll finished with 34 saves and Joe Blaznek has his third consecutive multi-point game.

THIS WEEK

Fri., Dec. 18 and Sat., Dec. 19 at Wichita Kansas Coliseum 7:05 pm

GAME NOTES : The Mudbugs and Wichita Thunder will play back to back games this weekend at the Kansas Coliseum as the teams meet for the first of five matchups this season. The Thunder enters this week on a ten-game winless streak, going 0-8-2 since a 3-2 win over Arizona back on November 20. Last season the Mudbugs swept a five-game season series against Wichita, but four of those five wins were by just one goal with final scores of 1-0, 2-1, 2-1, and 1-0.

Sunday, December 20 vs. Tulsa CenturyTel Center 4:05 pm

GAME NOTES : The Mudbugs will meet the new-look Tulsa Oilers for the first time this season on Sunday afternoon as they close out their second set of three-in-three this season. Tulsa won seven straight in November to challenge Colorado for the Northern Conference lead, but enters this week on a seven-game losing streak and leads Bossier-Shreveport by a single point in the standings coming into this week. Last season the Mudbugs punished the Oilers, outscoring them on the way to an 8-0 season sweep of their Northeast Division foes.

WEEKLY NOTES

Dethroning the 'Kings

Last week the Mudbugs swept a home-and-home series against Mississippi for the second time this year to improve to 4-1-0 against the RiverKings this season. With both wins of the weekend sweep coming in regulation, the 'Bugs made up a four-point deficit to their longtime rivals to tie Mississippi for fourth place in the Northern Conference entering this week. Bossier-Shreveport has now won four consecutive games against the 'Kings dating back to November 19. Their current fourth-place standing is the highest the Mudbugs have been in the conference so far this year.

Muscutt's Moment

Friday's game against the RiverKings marked a significant milestone in the career of Mudbugs Head Coach Scott Muscutt: 600career games coached. Muscutt, who recently surpassed Chris Stewart on the league's all-time games coached list, becomes the third coach in CHL history to reach 600 games in the league. The 10th-year Mudbugs bench boss now needs just seven more wins to pass Stewart and become the second-winningest coach in CHL history.

Shorthanded Star

Mudbugs Captain Brett Smith scored the game-winning goal in both victories over Mississippi last weekend, but that wasn't his only significant achievement against the 'Kings. When #41 raced in on a shorthanded breakaway and beat RiverKings goalie Ray Jean through the five-hole on Saturday night, he also became the Mudbugs' all-time franchise record holder for career shorthanded goals. That shorthanded goal was the 13th of Smith's Mudbugs career, putting him ahead of former teammates Forbes MacPherson and Dan Wildfong for the franchise record in that category. Smith has now scored 13 shorthanded tallies in 236 career games as a Mudbug. Wildfong (488 career games) and MacPherson (413 games) each finished their Mudbugs careers with 12 "shorties".

They're CLiKing

Although none of the three recorded a point in Saturday's victory, the forward line of Travis Clayton, Shawn Limpright and Jeff Kyrzakos had accounted for 16 goals in the Mudbugs' six prior games. The three players combined to rack up 37 combined points between them during that span:

- Clayton totaled 15 points (5g, 10a) and a +7 rating over those six games to take over the team lead in scoring. He reached 900 career points with a five-point effort (g, 4a) on December 1 vs. Arizona.

- Limpright had a season high nine-game point streak snapped on Saturday night after totaling 13 points (6g, 7a) during the streak. He is now the third-leading scorer on the team, behind only Clayton and Joe Blaznek.

- Kyrzakos piled up seven assists in two games in early December and had 12 points (2g, 10a) over a five-game span before Saturday. He is the only Mudbug with better than a point-per-game average this year with 14 points (4g, 10a) in 12 games.

Don't Forget About Blaz

Forward Joe Blaznek posted multiple points in each of the Mudbugs three wins last week to get within one point of the team lead in scoring. Blaznek had two assists Monday at Amarillo and recorded one goal and one assist in both games vs. Mississippi over the weekend. The veteran scorer has now scored eight goals and racked up 13 points over his last ten games. Blaznek leads the Mudbugs with ten goals this season and needs just two more to reach 300 in his 12-year pro career.

'Tis the Season for Scoring

After being held to three or fewer goals in 11 consecutive games from Halloween through all of November, the Mudbugs have picked up their scoring in December. The 'Bugs have averaged four goals per game in six contests so far this month, bringing them up to 13th in the CHL in scoring average. Over the past six games, the 'Bugs have upped their average by.42 goals-per-game, going from 2.44 to 2.86 GPG since the start of December.

Loose Pucks

F Tyrel Lucas has three points in his last two games... F Justin Aikins recorded his 100th career assist in his 200th career game on Saturday... Bossier-Shreveport has gone 8-5 this year when being outshot by its opponent... The 'Bugs scored multiple powerplay goals (3-5) for the third time this year in Friday's win... The Mudbugs are now 2-7 on Fridays and 6-2 on Saturdays this year...

TICKET INFORMATION:

Season tickets, mini-plans and group packages for the 2009-10 season of Mudbugs hockey are available at the team office: 2000 CenturyTel Center Drive, Bossier City, LA 71112. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Individual game tickets can be purchased at the CenturyTel Center box office between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm Monday - Friday, by calling Ticketmaster at (318) 741-9700, or online at Ticketmaster.com. For more information, visit www.mudbugshockey.com or call the team office at (318) 752-2847.

MUDBUGS RADIO:

Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs games, both home and away, are broadcast live on "The Home of the Legends" AM 1130 KWKH and News Radio 710 AM KEEL in Shreveport. Both stations provide free online streaming online at www.kwkhonline.com and www.710keel.com.

CHL TV:

New for 2009-10 is the latest version of CHL-TV, powered by Insinc Netcasting. Fans will have the chance to watch all 480 of the CHL's regular season schedule with a $5.95 pay-per-view price. Packages are available as well that give fans the chance to order a month at a time or the entire season. All game archives are offered to catch up on the games you missed for just $3.95. Visit http://chltv.insinc.com for more information.

Season and group tickets are on sale by calling 318-752-BUGS (2847) or by visiting our website at www.mudbugshockey.com.

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Central Hockey League Stories from December 14, 2009


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