By ROY LANG III, Journal Sports
The Shreveport Mudbugs have won six straight games; should the streak reach eight this weekend in Odessa, the team would keep its perfect run of postseason berths alive in the North American Hockey League. However, the Jackalopes are desperate – and they have reason to be confident with their playoff lives on the line.
Despite residing in sixth place in the South Division, Odessa has taken four of six games against Shreveport this season. The Jackalopes likely need to sweep the Mudbugs in order to stay in the hunt for the South’s final playoff berth.
“This is another huge weekend on the road,” Mudbugs head coach Jason Campbell said. “We’re in their way right now. It’s going to be a battle. We need to be prepared to go in there and be road warriors.”
Not only can Shreveport (31-14-7, 69 points) make it official for the postseason, it can put some serious heat on Lone Star (32-12-7) for the No. 2 seed. The Mudbugs trail the Brahmas by two points, and Lone Star has one game in hand.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good situation to make the playoffs, maybe even more up in the league standings during this playoff run,” said Campbell, whose team needs three points to garner a playoff spot.
Odessa swept the Mudbugs on George’s Pond at Hirsch Coliseum on Jan. 20-21. The teams split the last two meetings in Odessa on Feb. 3-4 – both games went into overtime.
“This is a huge time for two really big games this weekend,” Mudbugs captain Garrett Steele said.
Note: The status of goaltender Nikola Goich remains unclear. The first-year Mudbug was struck in the head with the first shot of Saturday’s game against El Paso and left after 20 minutes of action. Although there doesn’t appear to be a long-term concern, Campbell was unsure about his status for the weekend against the Jackalopes … teammate Simon Bucheler moved into the NAHL lead in goaltender victories (24) when he relieved Goich and earned the win. Bucheler is No. 2 in the league with a 1.88 goals-against average.
Mudbugs at Odessa
Tonight, Saturday, 7:15 p.m.
Contact Roy at roylangiii@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @roylangiii