Laredo Bucks Squash Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees 3-1 - CHL

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com –   HIDALGO , TX- The Laredo Bucks of the Central Hockey League beat the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees 3-1 Saturday night, in front of 5,669 fans at the Dodge Arena. With the win Laredo is now victorious in their last five road games, and they improve their Southern Confernce leading record to 35-16-3 (73 points). The Bucks lead in the conference over Arizona stands at eight points at press time. The Bucks would fall behind early 1-0, but storm back to score three straight goals, two of which came in the first 1:19 of the third period to overtake the Bees. Dustin Traylen set aside 27 of 28 Rio shots to pick up his 20^th win of the season. Traylen becomes just the fifth Laredo goaltender to win 20 games in a season. Laredo would come out and take the lead at 2-1 just 44 seconds into the third period.
ADVERTISEMENT Matt Summers jammed in a rebound from the right side of the crease past Bees goaltender A.J Bucchino. It was Summers 11^th goal of the season, with Steve Weidlich and Alex Goupil tallying assists. Laredo (16-10-2 on the road) would take a 3-1 lead just moments later 1:19 in the third period, when James Hiebert sent a frozen rope pass through the crease to Jeff Bes who was waiting at the right side of the crease, and pounded it past Bucchino. It was Bes’ team-leading 39^th goal, and league leading 87^th point. Hiebert and Andrew Desjardins picked up assists on Bes’ goal. The Bucks have scored nine goals in their last three third periods (two vs. Odessa, five @Corpus, two @Rio). 

The game started with a bang, when at the seven minute mark of the period Rio’s Lance Herauf was taken down in the slot by Steve Weidlich as he was attempting a shot, giving Herauf a penalty shot. Herauf tried to backhand his penalty shot chance by Bucks goaltender Dustin Traylen, but Traylen smothered the puck with his pads to keep the game scoreless. The Killer Bees (11-32-7) would jump out on top on the power-play at the 15:48 mark of the first period. Rob Voltera took a long rebound at the left side of the slot and sent a wrister past Traylen, giving Rio a 1-0 lead. The goal was Voltera’s team-leading 24^th goal of the season. The Bucks had an opportunity to tie the game at 1-1, with a little over 2:30 left in the period when they went on a four-on-three power play. The Bucks failed to score on the advantage, keeping the Bees on top. Rio outshot Laredo thru the first 20 minutes 10-9. The Second period saw just about everything as it was filled with penalties, with the Bucks penalty killing unit coming up big several times. At the 7:54 mark of the period Paul Elliott was called for a double minor (two minutes high sticking, two minutes unsportsmanlike conduct) giving the Bees a four-minute power-play. The Four minute double minor turned into a five-on three man advantage for Rio at the 10:05 mark. The Bees five-on-three power-play lasted 1:50, with the Bucks killing it off and now allowing a goal to keep the Bees up 1-0. Laredo would then go on a five-on-three power-play for 30 seconds, when James Hiebert was called for a high stick, putting the Bucks on a four-on-three advantage. The Bucks would cash in on that power play when David Walker scored his first goal of the season, as he sent a slap shot from the top of the right circle by Bees goaltender A.J Bucchino to tie the game at 1-1. Adam Rivet and Andrew Desjardins picked up assists on Walker’s tally. Each team put up 11 shots in the second period. Each team ended up with 42 minutes in penalties, and one-for-nine on the power-play. The Bucks are 9-1 against the Bees this season, with three more meetings left.

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