Mudbugs Hockey Blog

The Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs came back from a 3-1 deficit leading up to 4-3 shootout win over the Texas Brahmas. Two 3rd period goals sent the game through overtime with Mark Johnson sealing the game for the Mudbugs.

It was the second consecutive game that the Mudbugs endured a shootout. It was also the second consecutive game that ended with a score of 4-3. The Mudbugs came up on the short end against the Allen Americans Sunday night.  This time they were the team celebrating the win.

Nine different Mudbugs finished the night with a point, including 4 different goal scorers. Brahmas Jordan Cameron led all scorers with his 2nd period shorthanded marker. It was the 3rd shorty given up by the Mudbugs this season.

Through the first 40 minutes, the Mudbugs were badly outshot by a 29-13 margin. Was it due to poor play on the Mudbugs part? Or was it due to the tight checking of the Brahmas? I think was a little more the first than the second half of that question.

The Brahmas took full advantage of their opportunities with special teams to gain the 3-1 lead with a pair on the powerplay. Along with a shorthanded goal, usually a back breaker to the opposing team, especially when it puts them down two goals.

It would have been easy for any team to roll over at that point, but the Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs are not just “any team”. That mindset has never been the makeup of the purple and teal, and it wasn’t tonight either.

Justin Aikins opened the scoring at 6:16 of the first with his 3rd from Simon Mangos and Brett Smith. The Brahmas held the 3-1 lead as the Mudbugs skated out on the ice to begin the 3rd period. They had full intent on rectifying the situation by giving more effort than they put in through two preceding periods.

They did just that with goals by Jeff Kryzakos at 12:48 of the period on the powerplay with his 6th of the season helped by Shawn Limpright and Chris St. Croix.

Then with :49 seconds left to play in the game, Travis Clayton fired home the game tying goal, assisted by David Pszenyczny. How fitting Clayton would be the player to knot the game up at 3-3, considering it was his 800th game in his astounding career.

Next up was phase two, the OT period. Nothing settled, so on to phase three they went. That’s where Mark Johnson scored the clincher to give his team the 4-3 win. The goal was his 3rd of the season.

From here the Mudbugs will stay on the road with their next stop in Corpus Christi, Texas, where they faceoff with the Southern Conference IceRays on  New Year’s Day to begin the new year. Game time is 5:05pm.

© 2009, Mudbugs Hockey Blog. All rights reserved. To Republish you must link back to the Original Article

The Mudbugs had the Allen Americans right where they wanted. They had them looking up at a 3-1 deficit by the end of the second period. Luckily for Allen, there was still 20 minutes (or more) left to play in this contest. They took full advantage.

Unfortunately for the Mudbugs, they could not keep the Americans from storming back to tie the score with 2 goals in the third. After regulation time had expired, the two teams were awarded their 1 point in the standings. They then moved on to perhaps settle the match during the 5 minute overtime period.

Still nothing settled after 65 minutes of action, so on to phase three, the shootout. That is where the Americans finalized their comeback with a 2-1 win in the shootout. Which translated into not  only the win, but the rights to the extra point in the standings as well. The Mudbugs earned one point in the loss.

Allen cracked the scoreboard first at 3:44 of the first when Justin Bowers fired his 13th in to the netting behind Mudbugs netminder John DeCaro for the early 1-0 lead. Then at 13:29 David Pszenyczny tied the score with his 5th from Mark Johnson. The Mudbugs held the edge in shots 10-9 after 20 minutes of play.

At 3:48 of the 2nd period Allen forward Christian Gaudet was handed a 5 minute major and a early trip to the showers for essentially cross-checking an opposing player brutally in the boards while the player is in a defenseless position, which in this case was from behind.

Bottom line was the Mudbugs received a five-minute powerplay. Unlike the 2 minute minor infraction, the Mudbugs in this case may score as many goals as they could during that 5 minute time period until the 5 minutes were up. These types of mistakes can be game changers for both teams.

In this case, the Mudbugs made the Americans pay for their sins by scoring twice during that time. Travis Clayton scored the go ahead goal at 5:29 with his 9th from linemates Jeff Kryzakos and Shawn Limpright. The Mudbugs increased their lead to 3-1 with Joe Blaznek’s team leading 11th of the season from Brett Smith. The Americans held the 13-11 edge in shots in that period and 22-21 after 40 minutes.

Allen made it a one goal game at 9:32 of the 3rd period with Jarret Lukin’s 3rd of the season. Then at 11:44 of the period Jordie Benn made it a new game tying the score at 3 goals apiece with his 4th of the season.

Nothing was settled until the shootout where Jeff Kyrzakos was the lone scorer for the Mudbugs while Justin Bowers and Colton Yellow Horn scored for the Americans.

The team will be back in action this Wednesday when they will visit the Texas Brahmas. Gametime is set for 7:05pm.

© 2009, Mudbugs Hockey Blog. All rights reserved. To Republish you must link back to the Original Article

The Mississippi RiverKings ended the Mudbugs win streak at 6 games with just their second win in seven tries between the two clubs.

Joe Ori was the lone Mudbugs scorer of the night. While netminder Kenny Carroll stopped 29 of 31 shots overall, including 16 saves in the second period after his team was outshot 18-7.

The saves were there to give the Mudbugs a chance to win, but they just couldn’t get much to connect tonight. Their passing was way off and their quickness to the loose pucks was slow. That is a good indication of why they spent so much time in their own zone. It had the inauspicious look of them being on the penalty kill for what seemed most the game.

But it wasn’t all bad, the Bugs had several spurts throughout the game where they appeared to have their get up and go back, but their get up and go, got up and left just as fast. They appeared to be a step behind in many areas of their game.

The loss may have spoiled that one more Christmas gift Mudbug fans were wishing for, but we don’t always get what we wish for, do we?. There are more goals, fights, big hits, and wins tucked away in Santa’s bag of tricks. I know that because I heard that Santa is a Mudbug fan, so I don’t think he’s quite ready to fly back over Canada just yet.

There was no scoring during the first 20 minutes, actually there wasn’t much of anything to talk about from that period. Just that Bossier Shreveport outshot Mississippi 8-4.

Then without further ado, just one measly second into the second period, Mudbugs Mark Johnson and RiverKings David Simoes dropped their gloves, sticks, and helmets for a good old fashion scrap. Each combatant landed several rights and lefts before pooping out and heading off to the sin bin to rest.

Not to be outdone, just seven seconds later Mudbug James DeLory squared off with RiverKings Adam Smyth at the :08 mark of the period. Ironically it took only :08 for DeLory to flatten Smyth to the ice and head off to the sin bin to compare notes with teammate Johnson.

If the 3,542 fans weren’t awake as of yet, they were after that showing of holiday spirit between the boys in the boxes.

The RiverKings Andrew Lackner put his team up 1-0 with his 1st of the season at 3:01 of the period. The Mudbugs then found the back of the net at 15:05 to tie the score when Joe Ori fired home his 3rd of the season and 4th point over his last 5 games. The goal was assisted by Mark Johnson and Clay Plume.

But then with less than two minutes left to play in the period, RiverKings Derek Landmesser sent a low slapper through a maze of players into the back of the net for the 2-1 lead. The goal was his 5th of the season and turned out to be the goal that eventually won the game for the RiverKings.

The Mudbugs pulled their goalie in favor of an extra attacker, but to no avail as Nathan Schwartzbauer slid the final nail into the net for the 3-1 RiverKings win with :05 left to play.

The Team will now head west for 6:30pm meeting with an all new I-20 rival in Allen, Texas against the Allen Americans. This will be the first of 3 visits to the Allen Event Center.

© 2009, Mudbugs Hockey Blog. All rights reserved. To Republish you must link back to the Original Article

The Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs used three unanswered third period goals to defeat the Tulsa Oilers 4-1 capping off a perfect 3-0 weekend. The win increased their win streak to six games and 8th over their last 11 games.

Three Mudbug players finished with multiple point performances. Justin Aikins recorded 4pts. with a shorthanded-unassisted–game winning goal, as well as 3 assists. Tyrel Lucas contributed 3pts. with a pair of late 3rd period goals along with one assist. Brett Smith contributed 2 assists and whole lot of hustle.

Mudbugs netminder John DeCaro made several spectacular saves turning away 20 of 21 shots on his way to his 4th win in his last four starts with a 9-6-0 record overall.

It was a scoreless first period of play in which the Mudbugs outshot the Oilers 10-5 on the shot clock, and 1-0 on the fight clock. James DeLory handed out several knuckle sandwiches to Oiler forward Thomas Harrison (bless his heart).

Mudbugs defensemen Chris St. Croix opened the scoring midway through the second period with his 1st goal as a Mudbug at 11:03 with assists from Justin Aikins and Tyrel Lucas.

Then less than a minute later, the Oilers tied the score at one apiece on the powerplay with Derek Eastman scoring his 4th of the season.  The second period came to a close much the same way the as the first, all tied up. Mudbugs outshot the Oilers 10-8 in that period and 20-13 overall.

The Mudbugs took over the game in the 3rd period by scoring 3 unanswered goals. And it didn’t take long to get started. Just 12 seconds into the period, Justin Aikins stole the puck away and scored his 2nd of the season while the Mudbugs were in the process of killing off the remainder of a minor penalty that was carried over from the end of the second period. The goal was unassisted.

Tyrel Lucas pushed the Mudbugs lead to 3-1 with his first on the night and 5th of the season. He was helped out by linemates Justin Aikins and Brett Smith at 4:51 of the period.

Then at the 11:32 mark,  the same trio gave the Mudbugs a 4-1 lead when Tyrel Lucas added his 2nd of the night and 6th on the season from Brett Smith and Justin Aikins.

The Mudbugs will have five days off as they are idle until Saturday night when they will play host to the Mississippi RiverKings 7pm inside the CenturyTel Center.

© 2009, Mudbugs Hockey Blog. All rights reserved. To Republish you must link back to the Original Article

The Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs defeat the Wichita Thunder for their 5th consecutive win and 7th in the teams last 10 games. Joe Ori put away the game winner and netminder Kenny Carroll  improved to 6-4-0 on the season.

The Mudbugs had their hands full in this game as the Thunder put in a much better effort than they did in the 6-2 loss they suffered the previous night.  These were 2 games the Mudbugs were expected to win, and they got the job done. Sometimes playing the lesser teams can be just as hard mentally as any other game on the schedule.

Wichita opened the scoring at 8:37 of the first by Brent Ottmann with his 2nd of the season. That would be the only scoring in the first 20 minutes with the Mudbugs outshooting the Thunder 11-4.

The Mudbugs made it a new game at 16:54 of the 2nd when David Pszenyczny scored his 4th of the season from Tyrel Lucas and Simon Mangos on the powerplay. 

Then with less than three minutes left in the period, Mark Johnson scored the go ahead goal and a 2-1 lead heading into the 2nd intermission. The goal was Johnson’s 2nd of the season with help from Joe Ori. The Mudbugs held the slight 6-5 edge in shots in that period, and 17-9 over forty minutes.

The Thunder fought back to tie the game up with a goal at 6:09 of the 3rd by Glenn Detulleo with his 4th of the season.  Then at 10:18 Joe Ori scored what turned out to be the clincher, with his 2nd of the season and 2nd in as many night’s.  The assists went to Joe Blaznek who increased his point streak to 5 games, with the other going to Scott Kalinchuk.

For the second time over the last 5 games, the Mudbugs will move up a rung in the Northern Conference Standing from 4th place to 3rd.  A single point over the Tulsa Oilers, who lost tonight at the hands of the Rapid City Rush 6-2.

That really sets the stage for the next game to take place inside the CenturyTel Center when the Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs will go head to head with the Tulsa Oilers at 4:05pm. Sunday.

Third place in the Northern Conference Standings will be at stake. If the Mudbugs, who at this time own 3rd place, can win, they will then move to 3 points ahead of the 4th place Oilers. If Tulsa wins they will leap back over the Mudbugs into 3rd place by a point. 

Of course the other scenario’s are if the game is to be settled after regulation time. Well then you may go right ahead and do your own math. Either way, it is a big game in the standings and the Mudbugs unbeaten status.

© 2009, Mudbugs Hockey Blog. All rights reserved. To Republish you must link back to the Original Article

The Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs set the tone early with 3 first period goals on their way to a 6-2 decisive victory over the Wichita Thunder Friday night. 

Six different players scored goals, while Brett Smith (3 A) and Simon Mangos (1G, 1A) finished with multiple point nights. Goalie John DeCaro earned his 8th win of the season while facing only 20 shots.

The Mudbugs while increasing their 8-4-0 road record and 13-10-0 record overall, earned their 11th straight victory over the hapless Thunder.

The Mudbugs offensive minded defensemen Simon Mangos opened the scoring with his 3rd of the season and 4th point in his last 4 games at 5:34 of the period from Brett Smith.

Less than one minute later David Pszenyczny made it 2-0 on the powerplay, assisted by Brett Smith and Simon Mangos.

The Mudbugs would increase the lead to 3-0 by the end of the first on a goal by Tyrel Lucas with his 4th of the season and 5th point over the last 5 games. The helpers came from teammates Justin Aikins and Brett Smith.

Returning from his stint with the AHL Rochester Americans, James DeLory made his physical presence felt early with a spirited scrap with Thunder tough guy Chris Kovalcik at 6:38 of the period. The Mudbugs outshot the Thunder 16-4 in that period.

The Thunder cut into the lead at 6:19 of the second when Jason Woll hit the back of the net for his 2nd of the season. The Mudbugs answered right back to make it 4-1 exactly 30 seconds later on goal by James DeLory with his first professional goal. He was assisted by Mark Johnson.

The Thunder made it 4-2 with an unassisted goal by Jay Henderson to close out the scoring in the second frame. The Mudbugs held the edge in shots in that period 10-7 and 26-11 overall after 40 minutes.

The Mudbugs increased the score to 5-2 with Jeff Kryzakos scoring his 5th of the season with assists from the other 2/3 of the “CLK” line, Travis Clayton and Shawn Limpright at 10:22 of the period. Joe Ori closed out the scoring at 16:27 of the final period with his 1st of the season from David Rutherford and Joe Blaznek.

The Thunder clash with the Mudbugs once again Saturday night, and could possibly endure the same punishment for a second straight night at the Kansas Coliseum. They will then head home for a 4pm. matinee hosting the Tulsa Oilers  at the CenturyTel Center.

© 2009, Mudbugs Hockey Blog. All rights reserved. To Republish you must link back to the Original Article

The Mudbugs scored three 2nd period goals along with the stellar play from netminder Kenny Carroll to earn them the 3-1 win, thus completing the home and home sweep of the Mississippi RiverKings.

The win also helped the Mudbugs advance ahead of their weekend foe in the Northern Conference standings, from 5th place to 4th. It also proved to be a big 8 point weekend turnaround that could not have gone any better for a team just starting to reveal some foundation to their game.

There was no scoring in the first period, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there was nothing to cheer about. Because at 7:58 of the period it was round two of the same combatants that danced the night before in Bossier City, Riverkings David Simoes and Mudbugs Kirk Medernach exchanged pleasantries once again, and once again they were sent to their respective sin bins to re-adjust themselves and feel shame.  Shots on goal after one period of play favored the RiverKings 8-7.

Then at 7:32 of the 2nd Joe Blaznek scored his team leading 10th of the season and 7th point in the last 5 games to give the Mudbugs the 1-0 lead. Tyrel Lucas had the lone assist.

Then with less than three minutes left to play in the period Brett Smith increased the lead to 2-0 with his 7th of the season and 13th career shorthanded goal, breaking an all-time franchise record in that category. Way to go Smitty!

The Mudbugs weren’t finished with the period just yet as they widened the lead to 3-0 when Tyler Liebel put home his 5th of the season from Chris St. Croix and Joe Blaznek. Shots on goal after 40 minutes favored the RiverKings 20-17.

The RiverKings pestered Mudbugs netminder Kenny Carroll with 18 shots in the 3rd period, but he held strong. The Mudbugs almost got out of the game with the shutout, but no team or its fans wants to be shutout. So the RiverKings pulled out all the stops to either tie the game or at least ruin the Mudbugs shutout bid.

But to pull netminder Ray Jean with a little less than 4 minutes left in the period sounds a bit  insane, but it did however pay off for one goal by Steve Makway at 18:03. As it turned out Mississippi may have taken away the shutout bid, but it was the Mudbugs who skated away with the 3-1 victory and the weekend sweep.

Next up: The team will travel to Kansas to play the Wichita Thunder both Friday and Saturday nights, before traveling back home for a Sunday matinee game at 4:05 pm. against the Allen Americans.

© 2009, Mudbugs Hockey Blog. All rights reserved. To Republish you must link back to the Original Article

The  Mudbugs used four straight goals to come back and defeat the Mississippi RiverKings 5-4. The RiverKings had jumped out to an early 2-0 lead right off the get go.

Goals by Bobby Chaumont and ex-Mudbug Kevin Cooper who was set up perfectly for the shorthanded tally for the two goal lead by the 3:32 mark of the opening period.

Ok! How many thought right away it was going to be another Friday night brown paper bag looking jersey loss again?  I would venture to say a large amount, including myself. Well the HEX has been broken and now that monkey can climb down off our backs pronto.

I think the turning point was midway through the 2nd period when the RiverKings woke up the sleeping giant inside the Mudbugs by raising the ire of the players and bench with questionable dirty tactics.

Then the fact that they were not seen or were ignored by the referee, only raised the ire even more. The Mudbugs used that increase in adrenaline to comeback from a 4-1 deficit by rattling of four straight for the 5-4 win.

The Mudbugs now move to within 2pts of fourth place Mississippi with the 2nd half of the home and home that is set to face off Saturday night at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Ms. The Mudbugs also have two games in hand on the RiverKings at this point in the race to the playoffs.

Jeff Kryzakos cut into the lead with his 4th of the season and 11th point in the last 5 games. He was assisted by Tyler Liebel and Travis Clayton at 12:02 of the period. The RiverKings would grab their two goal lead back with a goal by Ryan Held with less than two minutes left in the first. After the 1st period of play, it was 3-1 RiverKings on the scoreboard and 15-7 on the shot clock.

At 9:22 of the 2nd frame, Ryan Campbell made it 4-1 with a power-play tally. That was also the time the Mudbugs and netminder John DeCaro began to take charge of the game.

At 15:40 of the period while on the power-play, Joe Blaznek added his 9th of the season and 7th point in the last 5 games. Assists went to Travis Clayton and Shawn Limpright.

Then at 18:27 Tyrel Lucas put away his 3rd of the season from Joe Blaznek and Joe Ori pulling the Mudbugs to within one goal making the score 4-3 by the end of 40 minutes. The RiverKings to this point were out-shooting the Mudbugs by a ridiculous margin of 38-14.

Justin Aikins in his first game back off of IR fired home the tying goal at 9:13 of the 3rd with his 1st of the season from Tyrel Lucas and Shawn Limpright while on the power-play.

The anticipation and excitement was building. Can the Mudbugs pull this game out from the depths of what seemed like ultimate doom earlier in the contest? On this night they could.

At 12:29 of the period, the Mudbugs scored their 4th unanswered goal for the 5-4 lead by Captain Brett Smith with his 6th of the season and bringing the house down with maybe the biggest goal of this season thus far. He was assisted by Jeff Kryzakos and Simon Mangos.

The Mudbugs held the fort the rest of the way for the very exciting victory. The team will now pack up and head right out to Mississippi with full intent to bring home another two points in the standings. If the Bugs can pull out the win, they will move ahead of Mississippi in the Northern Conference standings despite having the same amount of points.

The first tie breaker is: The fewer number of games played (i.e., superior points percentage). The Mudbugs will have played 2 fewer games with the same amount of points as the RiverKings. Therefore they would move ahead because of the higher percentage and also increase their road record to 7-4. Good luck guys.

Tonight’s game also marked the 600th game for Head Coach Scott Muscutt. Congratulations, and I am sure it makes it even sweeter after this win.

© 2009, Mudbugs Hockey Blog. All rights reserved. To Republish you must link back to the Original Article

The Mudbugs got back on the winning track with their 10th win of the season in Amarillo 4-3 over the Gorillas. Shawn Limpright scored a goal and added an assist while continuing his point streak to 8 games with 11pts total.

Amarillo’s Jason Beeman (2g) and David Nimmo (1g,1a) each had multiple point games as well. The Gorillas blistered the Mudbugs in attempt to tie the score late in the 3rd, but came up short in this nail biter as the Mudbugs were able to jump back on .500 train once again with the win.

The Mudbugs scored the lone goal in the first period on the powerplay as Travis Clayton and Joe Blaznek set up Shawn Limpright for his 7th of the season and a 1-0 lead. The Gorillas held the slight edge in shots 11-10 in that period.

Then at 9:45 of the 2nd, Jason Beeman scored to tie the game at one apiece. But less than a minute later, the Mudbugs would regain the lead with Brett Smith’s 6th of the season from Joe Ori and Kirk Medernach.

The Gorillas came back to tie the score a second time at 16:02 of the period with a goal by David Nimmo. Then with less than three minutes left to play in the period Tyler Liebel scored his 4th of the season to give his team the 3-2 lead. The goal was unassisted. Amarillo led in shots after 4o minutes 20-18.

The Mudbugs widened their lead to 4-2 at 15:52 when Jeff Kryzakos tallied his 3rd of the season. The assists went to David Pszenyczny and Shawn Limpright.

Amarillo cut into the Mudbugs lead with their 3rd goal of the night with less than three minutes to play in regulation with Jason Beemen’s 2nd of the night.

Goaltender John DeCaro along with his teammates were able to hold off the Gorilla attack the rest of the way, as the Mudbugs increased their team road record to 6-4. Final shots on goal favored Amarillo 34-28.

The Mudbugs will now travel back home and get ready for the first of another home and home series with the Mississippi RiverKings on Friday night.

© 2009, Mudbugs Hockey Blog. All rights reserved. To Republish you must link back to the Original Article