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Mudbugs Weekly

February 14, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs News Release


Team Record: 25-19-2, 52 points T- 2nd place, Berry Conference

LAST WEEK

Friday, February 10 at Laredo Laredo Energy Arena W 6-3

GAME NOTES: The Mudbugs opened up a 3-0 first period lead and held off a Laredo comeback on their way to a 6-3 victory Friday at Laredo Energy Arena. Jamie Milam, Jeff Kyrzakos and David Rutherford all had three-point nights with a goal and two assists each, while Shawn Limpright notched two assists. James DeLory and Steven Crampton scored the other goals as the Mudbugs improved to 4-1 against Laredo this season.

Saturday, February 11 at Laredo Laredo Energy Arena W 5-0

GAME NOTES: John DeCaro earned his first shutout of the season and the Mudbugs scored five times to earn their third straight win, 5-0 over Laredo Saturday at Laredo Energy Arena. The win puts the Mudbugs at 25-19-2 this season after a sweep of the back-to-back set against the Bucks. DeCaro turned aside all 18 shots he saw and the 'Bugs got three assists each from Steven Crampton and Simon Mangos while improving to 5-1 against the Bucks this year. Brett Smith had a goal and an assist and Jamie Milam and Jeff Martens scored the other two Bossier-Shreveport goals.

THIS WEEK

Tuesday, February 15 vs. Wichita CenturyTel Center 6:35 pm

GAME NOTES: Tomorrow the Mudbugs and Thunder will meet for the first and only time this season with the clubs now competing in different conferences. The two teams spent the past nine years as Northern Conference foes, a run which included 39 regular season matchups and four head-to-head playoff series. The 'Bugs have won three straight to tie Tulsa for second place in the Berry Conference and stand just ahead of Texas and Mississippi. The new-look Thunder has lost four of five (1-3-1) to slip into sixth in the Turner Conference, but is also just three points out of third.

PROMOTIONAL NOTES: Tuesday's game is "Guys Night Out" and we're offering $10 gold-level tickets as well as giving away a $1,500 Vermont Castings grill courtesy of Fireplace Specialties.

Wednesday, February 16 vs. Evansville CenturyTel Center 6:35 pm

GAME NOTES: Wednesday's is the rescheduled date for the February 4 game v. Evansville that was postponed by a snowstorm here in the Ark-La-Tex. It will be the second and last regular season game between the 'Bugs and IceMen following Bossier-Shreveport's 5-1 win in the first game between the teams nearly two weeks ago.

PROMOTIONAL NOTES: Group tickets are buy-one-get-one free for Wednesday's game, as any group of 10 or more people purchased for Wednesday will get the same number of tickets to Friday's game v. Allen for free.

Friday, February 18 vs. Allen CenturyTel Center 7:05 pm

GAME NOTES: The Mudbugs and Americans will meet for the eighth time this year and first time since mid-January Friday night at the CTC. Allen, who has not played in Bossier City since November 6, currently holds a comfortable seven-point lead over Rapid City in the race for the Governors' Cup and home-ice advantage throughout the CHL playoffs. The 'Bugs are just 1-6 against the Americans this year with three head-to-head meetings left in the regular season.

PROMOTIONAL NOTES: Friday is our annual "NASCAR Night" presented by Nelson Energy, where we invite hockey and racing fans to get excited about both sports on one night with actual race cars, specialty jerseys and much more.

Saturday, February 19 at Missouri Independence Events Center 7:05 pm

GAME NOTES: The 'Bugs will face the Mavericks for the third and final time this year Saturday in Independence, Missouri. Bossier-Shreveport owns a pair of wins over Missouri this year, winning 2-1 on the road in late October and pounding the Mavericks 6-1 at the CTC during Thanksgiving week. Missouri is tied with Bloomington for fourth in the Turner Conference.

WEEKLY NOTES

The Lost W's Have Been Found

After a month-long period in which W's became very hard to find, the Mudbugs have racked up three consecutive wins to move back into a tie for second place in the Berry Conference. The 'Bugs have beaten Texas, Evansville and Laredo twice over their last six games as they enter a stretch of four games in five days this week. This current success follows a stretch in which Bossier-Shreveport won only three out of 16 games from mid-December to mid-January and dropped to just three games over .500.

DeCaro, Mudbugs Getting Their "D" Back

The Mudbugs have begun rounding back into form defensively in recent weeks, holding their opponents under four goals in five of their last six games. John DeCaro recorded the team's first shutout of the year Saturday in Laredo, turning aside all 18 shots he faced to earn his second consecutive victory and third in his last four decisions. Bossier-Shreveport holds an impressive 23-4-1 mark this year when they give up fewer than four goals, compared with a 2-15-1 record when their opponents score four or more. For the season the 'Bugs average 3.09 goals-against per game, ranking seventh in the CHL.

"Krackers & Cheeze" are Back

Forward Jeff Kyrzakos has paid large dividends for the Mudbugs with two goals and two assists in three games since returning from an extended injury absence. Between January 2 and February 4, injuries limited Kyrzakos to just one period of hockey, but he scored goals in back-to-back games upon returning and tacked on two assists last Friday. Dave Pszenyczny also returned from injury Friday after missing ten straight games and 16 of 18 dating back to December. Although they have started get healthier after a rash on injuries in January, the 'Bugs are still without Justin Aikins (the CHL's 5th-leading scorer when he was injured), who has missed 12 straight games, as well as Mitch Love and Tyrel Lucas.

Milam Piling up Points

Defenseman Jamie Milam racked up four more points last weekend on two goals and two assists, giving him multi-point outings in five of his last eight games including a pair of two-goal efforts. Milam has scored six goals and tacked on eight assists for 14 points in his past nine games, and that is not including another goal for which he should have been credited on January 29 when he scored on a slapshot so hard that the puck went through the back of the net and the goal was not counted. Milam is tied for the CHL lead among defenseman with 12 goals and ranks fourth among D-men with 37 points.

Rutherford Joins the 30-Goal Club

A career year reached another milestone Saturday for forward David Rutherford, as he reached the 30-goal mark for the first time as a pro and became the first Mudbug to score 30 in a season since Cam Abbott did it in 2006-07. The third-year pro has racked up eight goals in his last seven games and carries a four-game goal scoring streak into this week. Rutherford is second only to Rapid City's Ryan Menei (32 tallies) in the CHL this year and has added 24 assists to rank 13th in the league with 54 points - all totals which constitute new career highs for the 23-year-old.

Loose Pucks

F Brett Smith enters this week on a six-game point streak... F Steven Crampton has a goal and seven assists in his last five games and is approaching a number of career milestones including 400 points, 500 games and 900 PIMs... F Travis Clayton missed last weekend's games due to a family emergency... F James DeLory had a two-game goal scoring streak snapped on Saturday... D Simon Mangos' goal Friday was the Mudbugs' first empty-netter since October 26 in Allen, which was also a 6-3 win... The Mudbugs are 20-1-0 this year when leading after two periods.... The 'Bugs lead the league with an average of 27 shots against per game this season.... The 'Bugs are the fourth-least penalized team in the CHL this year... Friday's win snapped a season-high five game road losing streak for the Mudbugs...

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.

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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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