Bees lose to former coach

HIDALGO - When Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees forward Travis Banga scored with 1:08 left in the third period, coach Paul Fixter barely reacted.

He kept his arms crossed and stood still, reacting as if nothing had happened.

In truth, nothing important actually did.

Banga’s goal pulled the Bees to within 5-3, making that final score Saturday night just a little bit more respectable. The Rage jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two periods, and seemed to let up just enough to allow the Bees (10-25-7) to save themselves from complete embarrassment in front of former coach Tracy Egeland.

“It’s easy to play when the game’s out of hand,” Fixter said. “And really, all that does is another loss for us. Where was that when we needed it? That’s the thing.”

The loss sends the Bees to a season-low 15 games below .500. Their defense, which has been the league’s worst this year, rarely stopped the Rage from controlling the puck or taking aim at RGV goalie David Lemanowicz (31 saves) through the first two periods.

And, perhaps most painfully for RGV fans, the players who hurt them the most Saturday night were former Bees.

Daymen Rycroft scored his league-leading 35th and 36th goals of the season. The first was a shorthanded goal which came after Bees defenseman Josh Garbutt gave away the puck at the blue-line, giving the Rage a 3-0 lead.

Both of Rycroft’s goals, the other on a power play at 8:02 of the second to give Rocky Mountain (29-8-4) a 4-0 lead, were also assisted by former Bees. Trevor Weisgerber assisted on the first and Nathan Rosychuk on the second.

They did all of that in front of Egeland. Egeland, who was bought out of his contract in the spring of 2006 after losing in six games to Laredo in the first round of the playoffs, saw what has become of his former team.

Right now, it’s a team that would be lucky to win one of six games against anybody, let alone a President’s Cup contender.

But predictably, Egeland was more worried about his own team, which stretched its lead in the Northwest Division to nine points over Colorado. It also played without star forward Brent Cullaton, who is out for one month after suffering an upper-body injury Wednesday night.

“You don’t lose the best player in the league and it doesn’t hurt you, or one of the best” said Egeland, who wasn’t saying much about his return to the Valley. “It means more ice time for everybody, and we’ll get him back. I think some individuals will be more improved and as a team we’ll be that much better.”

The Bees probably wish they had such problems.

One night after losing 3-2 in a shootout to Tulsa, a performance which Fixter called an embarrassment, the Bees allowed the Rage 36 shots. Except for the practically meaningless third, which saw RGV score three goals, Fixter said the Bees were “outworked” by the Rage.

“It’s a numbing feeling,” Fixter said.

Brian Sandalow covers the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436.