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Mudbugs Weekly

December 6, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs News Release


LAST WEEK

Friday, December 3 at Allen Allen Event Center L 5-4

GAME NOTES: Tobias Whelan scored three goals, including the third period game-winner as the Allen Americans topped the Mudbugs 5-4 Friday night at the Allen Events Center. The loss dropped Bossier-Shreveport to 1-4 against the Amerks this year and put the teams back into a tie for first place in the CHL standings. Travis Clayton had a goal and an assist as the Mudbugs held leads of 2-1 and 3-2 during the first two periods of the see-saw affair. Jamie Milam, Jeff Kyrzakos and Clay Plume also tallied in only the third road loss of the season for the ‚¬ËœBugs.

Saturday, December 4 at Odessa Ector County Coliseum W 4-1

GAME NOTES: John DeCaro stopped 36 shots to win his sixth consecutive start as the Mudbugs knocked off the Odessa Jackalopes 4-1 Saturday night at the Ector County Coliseum. The ‚¬ËœBugs built a 3-0 lead through two periods on the way to their league-best 17th victory of the season. Jeff Kyrzakos, David Rutherford, Kevin Seibel and Joe Blaznek all found the back of the net for Bossier-Shreveport, who snapped a two-game road losing skid with the win. 27 of DeCaro's saves came in the last two periods as the ‚¬ËœBugs successfully protected the lead to win their first meeting of the year against Odessa.

THIS WEEK

Friday, December 10 vs. Mississippi CenturyTel Center 7:05 pm

GAME NOTES: The Mudbugs open this week Friday night at the CTC with their fifth meeting of the year against longtime rival Mississippi. After the RiverKings earned their first win over the ‚¬ËœBugs on November 5 by a 4-3 tally, Bossier-Shreveport responded in the next matchup with a 5-4 come from behind victory at the CTC on November 28 to take a 3-1 lead in the season series. That game saw the Mudbugs rally from a 2-0 deficit by scoring five goals in the final 22 minutes of the contest despite playing their fifth game in a six-day span.

PROMOTIONAL INFO: For our December charity game, the Mudbugs are featuring Med Camps of Louisiana for special needs kids on Friday, with one dollar from every ticket sold going to Med Camps. We're also teaming up with the Shreveport-Bossier Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army on this year's coat drive effort.

Saturday, December 11 vs. Texas CenturyTel Center 7:05 pm

GAME NOTES: The ‚¬ËœBugs and Brahmas will get together for the fourth time this year Saturday night as Texas makes it's first visit of the season to Bossier City. All of the first three games in the season series were played in North Richland Hills, Texas, where the Mudbugs won the first two matchups 4-2 and 3-1 before dropping a 5-3 decision in the last meeting on November 27. Texas (10-6-2) currently stands in third place in the Berry Conference behind Bossier-Shreveport and Allen.

PROMOTIONAL INFO: Saturday's game will not only have a Christmas theme with games and activities throughout the night, but will also feature our 2010 "Teddy Bear Toss". For this great minor-league hockey tradition, fans are encouraged to bring new stuffed toys with them to the game to throw onto the ice when the ‚¬ËœBugs score. The stuffed toys will then be collected and donated to Toys for Tots for distribution by the Salvation Army to kids in need this holiday season.

WEEKLY NOTES

‚¬ËœBugs Host Rivalry Weekend at the CTC

This week the Mudbugs start a four-game homestand at the CenturyTel Center with a pair of games against two of their biggest rivals this weekend. First the Mississippi RiverKings will visit Bossier City for the third time this year on Friday night and the Texas Brahmas make their first appearance of the season at the CTC on Saturday. The ‚¬ËœBugs will then host Rio Grande Valley twice next week at home to close out their longest home stretch so far this year. Bossier-Shreveport will have two six-game home stands later this season, one from late January into February and the other in early March.

Rutherford Re-Takes the Lead

Saturday's game in Odessa featured a head-to-head matchup of the top two goal scorers in the Central Hockey League, with the Mudbugs' David Rutherford scoring in the first period to take back sole possession of the league lead with 16 tallies this season. Sebastien Thinel of the Jackalopes, who leads the league with 36 points, now ranks second with 15 goals this year. Rutherford, who recorded his 100th career point Friday on an assist, has scored ten goals in his last 12 games to stay atop the race. The second-year Mudbug has added 11 assists to place fifth in the CHL in scoring with 27 points and his five game-winning goals are tied for the league lead. He also ranks fourth in the league in plus/minus rating at +17 and has recorded at least one point in 41 of his last 48 regular season games.

"Smitty" Reaches another Mudbug Milestone

Mudbugs Captain Brett Smith played his 300th game in purple and teal Saturday night, making him the 9th skater in franchise history to reach that mark. Smith has surpassed the 299 games played by defenseman Tony Bergin (1998-2003) and is now approaching the 314 games played by defenseman Jason Basile (2002-08). Two weeks ago, Smith became the 8th player in Mudbugs history to score 100 goals in his career with the club. He also ranks 5th in career assists and 7th in points while holding the all-time franchise record for career shorthanded goals (17).

Road Sweet Road

The Mudbugs rebounded from Friday's loss in Allen to win at Odessa on Saturday and maintain the CHL's second-best road record coming into this week. The ‚¬ËœBugs won five straight road contests between November 9-26 and then dropped two straight before Saturday's win over the Jackalopes put them at 10-3-0 away from the CenturyTel Center. Allen is the only team with a better road record at 11-2-0 this season. Last year the ‚¬ËœBugs finished second only to the Governors' Cup Champion Jackalopes with a 19-9-4 record away from home.

‚¬ËœBugs and Jacks Get Re-Acquainted

Saturday marked the first meeting between the Mudbugs and Jackalopes since November 7, 2009. The last time the ‚¬ËœBugs had visited the Ector County Coliseum prior to last week was October 24, 2009, when they rallied from 3-0 down to win 5-4 in a marathon 11-round shootout. After Saturday's 4-1 victory over the Jackalopes, the ‚¬ËœBugs have won 12 of their last 14 games against Odessa dating back to the 2002-03 season. The Jacks did beat the Mudbugs twice at the CTC last year.

American Issues Continue

The Mudbugs fell to 1-4 against Allen this year with just their sixth loss of the season Friday night; a 5-4 defeat at the Allen Event Center. The Mudbugs are 16-2 against the rest of the CHL, but the Americans have won four of five head-to-head matchups this season. The ‚¬ËœBugs own just two wins out of ten all-time meetings with Allen.

Extra Special Teams

One-third of the way through the season, the ‚¬ËœBugs have continued to excel on special teams at both ends of the ice. The Mudbugs scored two more powerplay goals Friday in Allen to give them six powerplay tallies in their last six games and maintain their first-place CHL ranking at 24% for the season. The ‚¬ËœBugs have scored at least one powerplay goal in 15 of 23 games and notched multiple PPG's nine times this year. At the other end the Mudbugs have the league's 3rd highest penalty killing percentage at 85.3%. Although they surrendered two powerplay goals in a game for the first time this year on Friday, the Mudbugs rebounded to kill off all six Odessa powerplays on Saturday..

Loose Pucks

F Brett Smith has 11 points (5g, 6a) and a +7 rating in his last eight games... D Clay Plume has seven points in his last seven games on three goals and four assists... G John DeCaro (7-1-0) enters this week on a season-high six game winning streak and stands four wins away from 100... D Simon Mangos is just three games away from 400 in his pro career... The ‚¬ËœBugs are 9-3 this year when they surrender the first goal of the game... Bossier-Shreveport has outshot its opponent in seven of the past ten games...

TICKET INFORMATION: Season tickets, mini-plans and group ticket packages for the 2010-11 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: Back for 2010-11 is the latest version of CHL-TV, powered by NeuLion, Inc. Fans will have the chance to watch nearly 600 games on the CHL's regular season schedule for a small pay-per-view price. Packages are available as well that give fans the chance to order only their team's away games, an all-access league pass or many other options. All game archives are offered to catch up on the games you missed for just $4.00. Visit http://chltv.neulion.com/chltv/ for more information.



Central Hockey League Stories from December 6, 2010


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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