The Lubbock Cotton Kings remain in contention for a Southern Conference playoff berth in large part due to a successful weekend of play that saw them earn five out of six possible points, including a home and home sweep of West Texas rival Amarillo. Sunday afternoon Lubbock jumped out to an early 2-0 lead of the Gorillas and held on for a 3-2 road win to come within six points of idle Rio Grande Valley, who currently occupy the sixth and final playoff spot. Patrick Levesque (2nd of season) and Cory Rutt (6th) gave the Cotton Kings the early lead, while Anders Strome provided the game winner late in the second with his 26th of the year. Rich Hansen (19th) and rookie Austin Sutter (16th) replied for the Gorillas, who lose despite a 46-26 shots on goal disadvantage.
In Laredo, the Bucks closed to within a point of the Colorado for the overall CHL points lead with a narrow 4-3 win over Austin. Serge Dube (12th), Igor Pohanka (4th), Leo Thomas (19th) and Adam Rivet (18th and fourth game winning goal) handled the Bucks scoring, with the Austin goals coming from Chris Murphy (4th), Terry Virtue (9th) and Aaron Davis. Miguel Beaudry suffers the loss in the Ice Bats net, despite making 47 saves, as Laredo outshot Austin 51-29.
Lubbock 3 @ Amarillo 2
LUB: Levesque, Rutt, Strome
AMA: Hansen, Sutter
First back to back wins for Lubbock since mid November
Austin 3 @ Laredo 4
AUS: Murphy, Virtue, Davis
LAR: Dube, Pohanka, Thomas, Rivet
Sixth straight win for defending champion Bucks
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