2/23 VS. ROCKY MOUNTAIN (W, 5-4)

Mudbugs claw past Rage
Better late than never.
Dan Wildfong arrived at CenturyTel Center at 7 p.m., five minutes before the puck was dropped between his Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs and the Rocky Mountain Rage. A trip to New Orleans to tend to immigration issues left Wildfong and wife, Kelly, speeding up I-49 on Friday afternoon.
He quickly put on his gear and made it to the bench early in the first period.
“Everyone told me to stretch,” said the Mudbugs captain. “I never stretch.”
Wildfong scored two goals, the last while he was flat on his face, and the Mudbugs held off a pesky Rage squad to collect a 5-4 victory.
Defenseman Ryan Fairbarn scored twice and helped bail out goalie Ken Carroll, who saw his first action in more than two months.
The victory brings the Mudbugs (33-12-5) within one point of Northeast Division leading Memphis. The RiverKings lost in overtime to Youngstown, Bossier-Shreveport’s opponent at CTC tonight.
Rocky Mountain, the Central Hockey League’s worst team (11-32-5), led three times Friday night, but a stretch of three straight Mudbugs goals in the second period did the expansion Rage in.
Fairbarn tallied with just .13 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Mudbugs a 5-3 lead. The goal made the difference.
“It was a weird game,” Mudbugs head coach Scott Muscutt said. “I don’t want to say we didn’t compete. We did compete. But nobody hit anybody and there just weren’t a whole lot of battles out there.”
Bret DeCecco’s goal 7:21 into the final period made it a battle on the scoreboard. In the end, the Rage helped the Mudbugs greatly with some discipline issues as the game wound down.
The Rage put the Mudbugs on the power play for the final 3:29 when Jordan Little took a 5-minute major slashing penalty for a whack to Chris Brassard. John DiPace gave the Mudbugs a 5-on-3 with a goaltender interference penalty and Bossier-Shreveport cruised in the final moments.
David Guererra allowed five goals, but made 36 saves for the Rage and kept the game from getting out of hand.
Unlike last week’s meeting in Colorado, the Rage started quickly Friday night. Poor defense led to a pair of early Rocky Mountain goals on the power play.
Mudbugs defenseman Chris Gustafson turned the puck over behind his own net and the Rage quickly turned the advantage into a 2-on-1 tally 2:32 into the game.
Kyle Kos made good on Dominic Noel’s cross-ice pass and beat Carroll between the pads.
The Mudbugs responded less than two minutes later when defenseman Fairbarn scored from the slot.
Rocky Mountain was not discouraged and answered 59 seconds later when Matic Kralj hit Trevor Weisgerber for a one-timer to regain the lead.
The Mudbugs appeared to get some extra jump on their second power play of the night. Bossier-Shreveport peppered Guererra with six shots and took advantage of their second power play to tie the game at 2.
The Mudbugs totaled 16 shots on nine power plays Friday.
Cam Abbott, the Central Hockey League Player of the Week who saw his six-game point streak come to an end Tuesday, collected his 17th goal of the season.
The Rage saw more of the same early in the second period, when Mark Wires scored courtesy of a cross-ice pass on the power play.
After the Rage took their third lead of the evening, the Mudbugs began to show a little life.
Wildfong netted a rebound from a Brian Sutherland shot to tie game with 8:50 left in second. The captain followed that with a head-first power-play tally to give the Mudbugs their first lead of the game.
In a wild 4-on-3 advantage over the period’s final moments, Fairbarn gave the Mudbugs a two-goal advantage with his second goal. His slap shot went between the pipes with just .13 seconds left.
The Mudbugs killed a 5-on-3 disadvantage early in the third and appeared to have control until a turnover led to a goal by DeCecco with 12:39 left.TIED 2-2 AFTER ONE
Unlike last week’s meeting in Colorado, the Rage started quickly Friday night. Poor early defense led to a pair of early Rocky Mountain goals on the power play.
Mudbugs defenseman Chris Gustafson turned the puck over behind his own net and the Rage quickly turned the advantage into a 2-on-1 tally 2:32 into the game.
Kyle Kos made good on Dominic Noel’s cross-ice pass and beat Carroll between the pads.
The Mudbugs responded less than two minutes later when defenseman Ryan Fairbarn scored from the slot.
Rocky Mountain was discourage and answered 59 seconds later when Matic Kralj hit Trevor Weisgerber for a one-timer to help the Rage regain the lead.
The Mudbugs appeared to get some extra jump on their second power play of the night. Bossier-Shreveport peppered Guererra with six shots and took advantage of their second power play to tie the game at 2.
Cam Abbott, the Central Hockey League Player of the Week who saw his six-game point streak come to an end Tuesday, collected his 17th goal of the season.

WILDFONG RETURNS, BASILE OUT
Captain Dan Wildfong and Jason Basile will not play tonight against the Rage. It’s likely a night off for Wildfong and an attempt to keep Basile under the vet limit for next year. As Mr. Michael Hebert said, “this is like going to a Yankees game and Jeter not playing.”
Pretty much true.
Well, Wildfong made his way onto the ice early in the first period.

GAMESMANSHIP STARTS EARLY
Billy T. Welker put the O in OCD. You don’t mess with the Mudbugs’ equipment manager without consequences.
Well before the teams hit the ice for the pregame skate, a Rocky Mountain player was messing with the stack of practice pucks. Welker warned him not to, but that didn’t work. So Welker promptly went over and swiped all the pucks.
Only in the CHL!

SUPERMAN IS BACK!
Ken Carroll will make his first start since mid-December tonight against the Rocky Mountain Rage. Carroll, a perennial All-Star, was out with a torn MCL. David Guerrera, a star against the Mudbugs in the 2004 President's Cup Finals (with Laredo), will play for the Rage.