Bees-Bucks familiarity goes beyond schedule

McALLEN — Terry Ruskowski and Serge Dube already knew each other pretty well before this season. Over the next week, they’ll get even more familiar.

Last Tuesday’s 4-3 Bees win is the first of four straight for them against Laredo. The teams play again Friday and Saturday in Laredo, followed by next Friday back in the Valley.

Dube played parts of nine seasons for Ruskowski in Laredo and was an integral part of the system, one that he’s borrowed from heavily in his first season coaching the Bucks. Though Ruskowski isn’t running exactly what he ran in Laredo, the systems are close enough to give Dube more familiarity with what the Bees (17-14-5) are doing, and vice versa.

Combine that with how often the teams play, execution is even more important. Because, after all, there are few secrets between the teams, who have already played seven times and have 10 more to go.

To compensate, Ruskowski and the Bees worked on changing up aspects of their system to take away from any edge Dube and the Bucks might have.

“What I like to do is show them one thing and when they discover that and compensate that, then I change it around and do something different so I keep the team off balance,” Ruskowski said. “That’s what I want to do and that’s what we’re doing today.”

During that game last Tuesday, Ruskowski said he didn’t feel Dube’s familiarity with him was a factor because of the Bees’ changes. That said, the familiarity of the teams could carry over into other, more physical ways, ways that are probably more noticeable.

“You string together these kind of stretches and there’s going to be some rough stuff out there,” said Bees winger Aaron Boogaard, a former Buck whose third-period goal was the game-winner Tuesday. “Also Terry being the coach last year and (Dube) being the new coach there… (Ruskowski) said it himself there’s a lot of coaching similarities and a lot of similar systems we both play so it’s who wants it more, who’s going to work harder for it.”

Contempt bred from familiarity and similar systems are things the Bees have to get past. And Laredo, despite its identity as a well-coached and difficult team to face, is still a last-place team the Bees need to beat.

With 10 games left against the Bucks (13-22-0), the Bees should have a scheduling advantage over Texas and Tulsa, the teams the Bees are racing for one of two Berry Conference playoff spots.

That advantage won’t end up mattering if Dube and Laredo give the Bees fits.

“We have to get points. Our No. 1 goal is to not be macho or fight them our out-hit them, well I’d like to out-hit them, but out-play them so we can win,” Ruskowski said. “That’s the bottom line.”

ICING: The ECHL rights of former Bees forward Evan Rankin were traded Thursday by the Toledo Walleye to the Utah Grizzlies. Rankin, who spent the 2008-09 season with the Bees, is currently with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, where he has 12 points in 13 games.

Brian Sandalow covers the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436 or via email at bsandalow@themonitor.com.