Bucks hand Bees crushing OT loss

HIDALGO – In front of a loud season-high crowd of 5,211, former Sharyland standout and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia dropped the ceremonial first puck.

But other than Wylie Rogers’ 35 saves in perhaps his best game as a pro, the Killer Bees didn’t do much to add to the atmosphere in a crushing 1-0 overtime loss Friday to the Laredo Bucks. Matt Hanson’s power-play goal with 50.9 seconds left in OT extended the Bees' winless streak to three (all against Laredo) and sent them to a result coach Terry Ruskowski thought they deserved – if they deserved the one point at all.

“You know what, we didn’t deserve to win, I’ll be perfectly honest with you. We were selfish, we were trying to hold onto the puck to make too many plays. We were getting checked,” Ruskowski said. “We didn’t work hard enough, we didn’t hit, our defense didn’t move the puck the way they should.”

Ruskowski added that the only thing that kept the Bees (17-16-6) in the game was Rogers. In a memorable duel with Laredo’s Torrie Jung (33 saves), Rogers bailed the Bees out for most of the night, including a point-blank stop of Matt Boyd with 2:15 left in regulation.

The one he couldn’t stop was Hanson’s slap shot through traffic from the high slot, which dropped the Bees two behind Tulsa for fourth place in the Berry Conference.

Frustratingly for Ruskowski, the man in the penalty box for high-sticking was Aaron Lee.

“He’s our leader and he’s got to know the situation. He’s got to realize what happens and he’s got to react better than what he’s doing,” Ruskowski said. “He can’t be in the penalty box and he gets a lot of those minor penalties.”

Lee, who also found himself in the box for interference with 6:52 left in the third, took responsibility for what happened.

“That’s unacceptable on my behalf. I thought I was working hard,” Lee said. “I guess it’s just some calls that went against me and I’ve got to live with it and show up tomorrow.”

When the Bees had their chances, Jung was up to the task. Jung also survived with 1:40 left in the third when he was involved in a collision behind his net, leaving an open net when the puck rolled to Zac Pearson by the right boards below the blue line.

Pearson’s shot, though, fluttered wide.

That moment was not by any means the reason the Bees lost to Laredo (16-22-0). Instead, there were other issues that need to be corrected. And they’ll have to be soon, because the Bees play tonight and Sunday at Allen before heading Tuesday to Tulsa.

"You've just got to look at the positives of it," Rogers said. "We did some good things tonight, we did some bad things tonight.

“Personally, I’m happy with my own performance. I did everything I could. But, as a team… I think a lot of guys are disappointed in a lot of guys and all they ask is we show up every day and work our (expletive) off,” Rogers added. “Some guys are still having a hard time showing up, and everyone’s got to get on board.”

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.

Friday’s Game

BUCKS 1, KILLER BEES 0, 0T

LAR                           0        0       0     1     —  1

RGV                           0        0       0      0    — 0

First period — No goals. Penalties — Rivet, LAR (holding) 6:05; Hanson, LAR (interference) 9:57; Balan, RGV (holding) 18:31.

Second period — No goals. Penalties — Ischi, RGV (cross-checking) 5:48; Styffe, LAR (diving) 9:21; Gendur, RGV (tripping) 9:21; Inman, LAR (holding) 17:30.

Third period —  No goals. Penalties — Boisvert, LAR (tripping) 1:14; Gendur, RGV (roughing) 5:39; Gendur, RGV (delay of game) 5:39; Styffe, LAR (roughing) 5:39; Styffe, LAR (delay of game) 5:39; Lee, RGV (interference) 13:08; Lineker, RGV (hooking) 14:38.

Overtime — 1, LAR, Hanson 6 (Trimm, Pierce) 4:09 (pp.).  Penalties — Lee, RGV (high-sticking one-minute) 3:17.

Power-play opportunities: Laredo: 1 of 5; RGV: 0 of 3.   

Shots — Laredo: 8-14-11-3--36; RGV: 14-10-7-2--33.  

Goalies — Laredo: Torrie Jung 10-14-0 (33 shots, 33 saves); RGV: Wylie Rogers 6-5-5 (36 shots, 35 saves).

A — 5,211  T — 2:30 

Referee — Boone Bruggman Linesmen —  Bill McGoldrick, Aaron Chockla