Mudbugs Hockey Blog

The Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs had a 2-1 lead in their hands early in the 3rd and let it slip from their grasp. Texas Brahmas defensemen Justin Kinnunen knotted the game, while teammate Jordan Cameron fired home the game winner with just :15 left to play.

For the Mudbugs, this was a game of missed opportunities and poor special teams play. They did capitalize on one of their ten (10)  powerplay opportunities (yay!), but they also gave up a shorthanded goal (booo!).

The Mudbugs “anything but special” teams play has been a thorn in the side of this team all season long. How does a team expect to go anywhere if they are getting bit by what ails them night in and night out? There are only 21 games left in the season. That’s plenty of time to strike fire. We know it can happen, question is, will it? It had better come playoff time.

The Mudbugs did, however, put in a better effort than they did the night before, putting up 40 shots on goal, but still lost the game. It’s simple, their special teams play is what killed them.

Justin Aikins scored the lone goal of the 1st period at 13:46 for the 1-0 Mudbugs lead. His 7th of the season was the result of a beautiful give and go with David Rutherford and Tyrel Lucas. One of the sweeter goals this season. The Mudbugs outshot the Brahmas 15-7 in that period.

The Brahmas tied the game on a shorthanded breakaway goal by Tyler Skworchinski with 1:06 left in minor penalty to teammate AJ. Gale. The goal came at 3:50 of the 2nd and was a *&^%# for all fans of the purple and teal. Its always a hard pill to swallow at any time by any team when that happens. Shots on goal after 2 periods favored the Bugs 30-19.

The Mudbugs grabbed the 2-1 lead at 3:48 of the 3rd period off a wrister from David Pszenyczny from Shawn Limpright and Simon Mangos. The goal was his 7th of the season.

The Brahmas came right back to even things up once again at 7:37 of the period on a powerplay goal by Justin Kinnunen. The game stayed knotted up until 19:45 of the period. That’s when Jordan Cameron went in all alone and fired the eventual game winner into the net past John DeCaro.

With a mere fifteen seconds left on the clock the game was all but over as the fans raced to the exits hoping the New Orleans Saints would save their weekend from total despair, by defeating the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl Sunday evening. That only applies to Saints’ fans of course.

The Mudbug will hit the road for a Tuesday night meeting with the Mississippi RiverKings in Southaven Ms. Faceoff is at 7:05pm.

I forgot to offer congrat’s to Travis Clayton, who played in his 800th game Friday night against the Thunder. Also worth mentioning is that Mudbugs forward David Rutherford upped his point scoring streak tonight to 9 games, collecting 4 goals, 8 assists. The streak dates all the way back to January 16th in a 5-4 loss in Colorado. That’s what I call consistency.

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Listless play by one team, plus a hot goaltender by the other will almost always equal a loss. The now 6-32-3 Wichita Thunder defeated the 23-15-4 Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs 4-2.  How can this happen? In our own Barn nevertheless.

It’s called playing down to your opponent’s level, getting bit by the junkyard dog, not respecting your opponent, or just the plain and simple fact that the Mudbugs were just flat out flat. Was it because they hadn’t played since this past Saturday night? I don’t buy that excuse, and never will.

There are many reason why teams win games and why they lose them. When the final horn blows, if you’re on the losing end, you must ask yourself, did they play anywhere close to 60 minutes? Tonight they did not. They played maybe 20 minutes, and that won’t get the job done against anyone. Even the worst of teams.

It took all they way to the 14:32 mark of the second frame before someone cracked the scoreboard. Wichita’s Joel Hansen scored his 9th from the right of the crease for the 1-0 lead.  The Mudbugs fought with the referee, claiming their netminder John DeCaro had been interfered with on the play, but their efforts fell on deaf ears (or is that a blind eye?).

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The Mudbugs rallied with a pair of goals in the 3rd period to even up the score at 3-3. Travis Clayton finished the job at 3:59 of the overtime period in heroic fashion. The win increased their home win streak to 5 games.  Goalie John DeCaro made his 2nd straight start finishing with 38 saves for his 14th win of the season.

The game was high tempo throughout, with the appearance of a playoff game.  With the score 3-1 Colorado to begin the 3rd,  it became imperative the Mudbugs score the next goal to have any chance of a win against one of the top teams in the league.

Bing-Bam-Boom, two goals and the score was tied, which led us to a thrilling overtime victory capsulated by an end to end rush by Travis Clayton.  Then POW! The roof came off of the place with sound that was pleasantly deafening. It was in my opinion the most exciting home game, if not the best, all season long.

Mudbugs defensemen Scott Kalinchuck opened the scoring with his 3rd of the season at 9:51 of the first, as he wristed a shot that found the short side past a surprised Mike Mole for the 1-0 lead. Mark Johnson and David Rutherford picked up the assists. That would be the only tally of the period. Shots on goal after 20 minutes favored the Eagles by an 11-9 margin.

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The Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs scored 4 unanswered goals, which included a penalty shot marker on their way to their 4th straight win on home ice.  Four players finished with multiple points, three on the Mudbugs side and one on the Killer Bees side of the stat sheet.

If you came to game looking for great goaltending, then you came to the wrong game.  Neither Mudbugs John DeCaro or Killer Bee Andy Franck were at their best. However, after a rough start, DeCaro finished strong enough to earn his 13th win of the season.

But, if you came to the game looking for offense,  you were greeted with 6-goal horns and 3- oh! @&^%$’s. It was a tight, fast paced game for both clubs, that had it’s moment of drama as the teams went back and forth matching each others success on the scoresheet.

All that would end as the turning point in the game came at 19:51 of the period when Shawn Limpright was brought down on the breakaway. The referee pointed to center ice, and we had ourselves one of the most exciting aspects of the game to witness, a penalty shot. Click here for video of the goal.

Limpright grabbed the puck at center ice, skated in on Killer Bee netminder Andy Franck and fired the lightning wrister into the netting as the crowd went wild.  It was a thing of beauty, and just the boost the Bugs and their fans needed.

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The Mudbugs began their 5 game homestand off on the right skate (foot).  Joe Blaznek started off a three goal 2nd period outburst that proved to be too much for the Texas Brahmas to overcome.

David Rutherford extended his point scoring streak to 5 games, with the game winner. While netminder John DeCaro finished with 28 saves, earning his 12th win of the season. Neither team had any success with the man-advantage, partly because there was only 8 minor infractions whistled between the clubs.  It was an unusually quiet night for such arch rivals.

Texas was first to crack open the scoring with Jason Deitsch forcing a turnover at the Mudbugs blueline and fired home his 7th of the season at 4:05 of the opening period. The two teams traded scoring chances throughout the rest of the frame, but the goaltending stood tall at both ends of the pond. The Brahmas held the edge in shots 17-10 in that period.

The Mudbugs came out in the 2nd and quickly took control of the game by scoring three straight on their way to a 3-1 lead.  Joe Blaznek started things off with his 1st shorthanded goal of the campaign, and 14th overall at 2:14 of the period after he swiped the puck, then headed downtown on a breakaway firing home the gametying goal.  Travis Clayton and Shawn Limpright picked the assists.

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