Bees, and Thunder, and Points! Oh My!

Friday night's game against the Killer Bees had a weird feel to it, at least it did to me. At one point in the first period the SOG were 13-3 in favor of the Bees, and play seemed choppy and haphazard. At times I thought I was watching a ping-pong game, so much of it was played between the blue lines. Ken Carroll did a great job in goal, stopping 29 of 30 shots; and the Bugs all got on the same page in the second period, winning the game 3-1, nice, since the Bees had been a bit of a problem earlier in the season. The team had to make some adjustments mid-frame as vets Forbes MacPherson and Quade Lightbody sat out quite a bit of the game, but they handled it well.

Last night's victory in Wichita was very nice, considering the Thunder front office put on a big "welcoming" party for our Mudbugs, even with t-shirts commenting on everything from Coach's hair to George Bullock, Jr.'s and Billy Welker's famously friendly demeanor that overflows when in the confines of the Kansas Coliseum. 9000+ of the fans booing the home team at the end of the game (not to mention when Andrew Martin was yanked after Bugs' goal number 4) shows that the fans aren't the most annoying, the Thunder are! Since I know Andy, I feel a bit badly that his stellar performance in the first period went by the wayside with his sloppy play that led to Jason Williamson's goal. But, anytime the Bugs put it to the Thunder, it's all good. Everyone's pretty sure that next year's Thunder team will be much different. Maybe they ought to consult the Great and Powerful OZ when they start recruiting for next season....

Speaking of OZ, the Wizards of POZ, the Pegs/Ori/Zirnis line, were fantastic in this game. They've been grinding away these last few games, and I told my friends all three of these guys were way overdue for some goals. Happy to see that came true last night. Great to see Milan Vodrazka back on the ice as well. He's got the reach of a pterodactyl; a couple more games under his skates, and he'll be good to go. At this point, every player on this team is a scoring threat. Not many teams in the CHL have the scoring capacity that the Bugs have. Even playing so short-handed last night, the team came away with a strong, convincing effort. And the Mudbugs moved past the Bucks (who lost at home against the Riverkings) to 86 points, just 3 behind league leader Colorado.

This week marks the last of the regular season. WOW! It's just flown by. It seems like yesterday that we were all biting our lips as immigration problems were biting the team, and Sprotter and Dave Brown were hanging out with the Bugs and Kurt Russell in Austin. Four games this week, Tulsa twice, Memphis, and Youngstown. 8 big points that could be the difference in first and second place in the league. 8 points that could be the difference in playoff seeds. 8 points and the Mudbugs finish with a huge 94 points. Now if Colorado would just cooperate and lose a couple, we'd all be really happy in the Swamp.