Mudbugs find successes on road, struggle at home

BOSSIER-SHREVEPORT, Louisiana — 10 games into the 2009-10 season, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs have found themselves without a win on home ice at the CenturyTel Center.
 
After last Friday and Saturday’s losses at home to the Odessa Jackalopes, the Mudbugs are 0-5 at home this season, tying a franchise record set in November of 2002.  But despite their loss to Mississippi on Friday night, the ‘Bugs are 4-1 away from the CenturyTel Center. At no time in more than a decade of play had they won four straight road games to start the season.
 
At 4-6-0 (8 points), Head coach Scott Muscutt says the Mudbugs are still learning who they are as a team.
 

“We had an exceptionally large camp and then we had a couple of players sent to us from the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers,” Muscutt said. “It really put us into a position where we really spent a lot of our time evaluating and you know, I still think we’re working our way through that adjustment period.”
 
But while there’s still time for players to get on the same page and for the team as a whole to make improvements, Muscutt believes that his players also need to focus on their work ethic.
 
“I think that with the teams in the league, I just don’t think that there’s any way you can take any night’s off,” he said. “It just tells you that if you take anything for granted, you’re going to lose that hockey game and that’s what happened with our hockey club.”
 
The Mudbugs’ have struggled mightily on special teams. They currently have the league’s worst penalty kill at 73.33% and have also had difficulty on the power play, currently ranked 11^th in the league with a 10.53 percentage.
 
Injuries have also plagued the team, with five forwards including Tyrel Lucas, Joe Ori, Jeff Kyrzakos, Joe Zappala and Justin Aikins currently on injured reserve. The team was forced to add two new faces, Matt Cook and Adam Krug, who signed with the team on Friday.
 
“I don’t think we’re in a bad position but I think we have our work cut out for us just like every team in the league does,” Muscutt said. “I don’t think we’ve played ourselves out of an opportunity to get better and I don’t think we’ve put ourselves in an opportunity to say we can take a night off.”
 
The Mudbugs have made the playoffs in all but one season (2002-03) since they began play in 1997, but Muscutt knows that despite past successes, his team is playing in a very competitive league and will need to step up their work ethic in order to earn a playoff berth this season.
 
“I said it a month before the season started; I said I totally believe that hockey in this league will be the best that it’s ever been and I have to tell you, I don’t even think I’m remotely wrong,” Muscutt said. “I think that I’m even surprised how much better the hockey is and I meant what I said – you absolutely cannot take a night off. You can’t take a shift off in this league any more.”
 
The Mudbugs will attempt to end their drought at the CenturyTel Center on Saturday night in their first game against the Rapid City Rush this season. The Mudbugs were 2-1 against the expansion Rush last season.
 
Contact the author/photographer at robert.keith@prohockeynews.com