The Laredo Bucks got all they could handle from the Austin Ice Bats, but ended up clinching a spot behind the bench for coach Terry Ruskowski at the 2006 CHL All-Star Game, presented by Obra Homes, in Rio Grande Valley. Laredo’s Chris Grenville scored midway through the third period to take the lead for good and win going away 5-3. Elsewhere in the League on busy night, the StellHounds snapped Amarillo’s winning streak with a resounding 7-1 victory, Odessa slipped past Lubbock 4-3, and Memphis evened the season series with the Mudbugs after a 4-2 home triumph. In the other games, Wichita knocked off Fort Worth 4-2, the Killer Bees won their sixth straight 5-1 over the Rayz, and Colorado doubled up Tulsa 4-2.

Amarillo 1 @ Youngstown 7
The Gorillas’ seven game winning streak came to screeching halt in Youngstown after a 7-1 loss at the hands of the SteelHounds. Darryl Lloyd continued his stellar play with two goals and an assist and captain Jeff Christian scored a pair giving the home fans a nice holiday gift. Also chipping in with a nice efforts were goaltender David St. Germain with 39 saves and Jonathan Gagnon and Dan Buccella each had three assists. Scott Wray scored the lone goal for Amarillo, who had won seven in a row before the lopsided affair this evening.

Odessa 4 @ Lubbock 3
A tight contest in Lubbock went down to the third period as the Cotton Kings’ Nolan Graham tied the game at 3-3 with his second goal early in the third before Odessa jumped back on top. Jason Kozoriz scored with less than five minutes remaining for the Jackalopes to put them ahead 4-3 and rock solid goaltender Mike Gorman made it stand with a number of his 37 saves on the night.

Bossier-Shreveport 2 @ Memphis 4
The Mudbugs and the RiverKings met for the sixth time this season and the record is now even at 3-3 after a 4-3 Memphis victory at the Desoto Civic Center. RiverKings’ forward Darrell Stoddard scored the game’s first goal and an empty netter to finish off the ‘Bugs and Kevin Harris notched the game winner and a helper for the home team. Memphis lit the lamp three straight times before Bossier-Shreveport attempted their comeback with goals from Dan Wildfong and Milan Vodrazka, but held on in the end to take the contest between these two Northeast rivals.

Fort Worth 2 @ Wichita 4
The big three for Wichita came up huge yet again, but it was Ryan Coghlan who netted the game winner late in the first period. The loss for the Brahmas was the team’s eighth consecutive and second straight under new head coach Guy Larose. As for the Thunder, their offense continues to roll as Travis Clayton (2g,1a), Jason Duda (1g,2a), and Joe Blaznek (2a) provided the necessary fire power. Wichita goaltender Sabastien Laplante rebounded after being pulled last night to record 31 saves for his 11th win on the season.

Austin 3 @ Laredo 5
Laredo head coach Terry Ruskowski wrapped up the All-Star Game coaching responsibilities Southern Conference after his team’s 5-3 back-and-forth victory over Austin. The Bucks’ Chris Grenville scored the game winner to go along with his two assists and James Heibert had one goal and one assist in front of the 5,400-plus home crowd. Laredo got back on track after dropping their last two games and maintained their lead in the South by two points.

Rio Grande Valley 5 @ Corpus Christi 1
The Killer Bees notched their sixth consecutive win in convincing fashion, flying 5-1 over Corpus Christi. Rio Grande Valley goaltender Evan Lindsay was :19 seconds from a shootout until the Rayz avoided being blanked on a late goal by Derrick McIver. Tough guy Ryan Shmyr scored a pair and Bill Newson had a goal and two assists, while Daymen Bencharski gets credited with the game winner for his goal midway through the first.

Tulsa 2 @ Colorado 4
Tulsa played a much better game Friday after Wednesday’s blowout loss to Colorado, but the end result was the same. The Eagles fought back from two separate one-goal deficits and finally took the lead 3-2 on Nick Parillo’s late goal in the third period. Riley Nelson and Ryan Tobler each tallied a goal and two assists for the defending champs to make it five straight wins over Northwest rival Tulsa.

There are no games scheduled for Saturday, 12/24/05