The Shreveport Mudbugs traveled 14 hours west to Albuquerque and grabbed 3 of 4 possible points in the standings over the first-place team. Both games went to a shoot-out took two shootouts to determine a winner. Despite having a successful weekend over the first-place New Mexico team, they dropped to seventh in the standings. This is in part to a sweep of Corpus Christi over El Paso. The playoff gap closed to five points, though, thanks to the Lone Star Brahmas sweep over the Amarillo Wranglers.
Ice Wolves 4, Mudbugs 3 (SO), Friday
The first place Ice Wolves came out to show the upstart Mudbugs why they were in first place quickly. Blayde Pogreba scored the first goal a little over five minutes into the game. Billy Feczko gave New Mexico their first power play with a tripping call. Shreveport killed the power play. New Mexico carried the 1-0 lead into the next period. The Ice Wolves outshot 7-3 in the first period.
New Mexico once again started early in the period as they netted a second goal for the game by Tony Leahy. New Mexico had built a 2-0 lead. Jake Mack closed the gap a little under three minutes later with assists by Jonah Copre and Niklas Miller. The Mudbugs tied the game with 4:37 remaining in the second period with a goal by Logan Gotinsky. Assists were credited to Timofei Khokhlachev and Lukas Sedlacek. The two teams looked to go into the final period knotted at 2-2. Not so fast. With 12 seconds remaining, New Mexico’s William Howard scored to send the Ice Wolves to a 3-2 lead into the do Al period.
The Mudbugs started with their first power-play opportunity less than a minute into the third period. Joe Prouty was caught on a holding call. No luck closing the gap on the power play for Shreveport. Khoklachev and New Mexico’s Jeff Hutchinson were entangled. Khoklachev was sent to the penalty box for holding while Hutchinson joined him with a hooking call. The 4 on 4 hockey didn’t help either side. Shreveport desperately attempted to close the gap. The last chance effort with one second remaining found gold. Connor Gatto’s game-tying goal sent the game to overtime.
Only one shot was done in the five minutes of overtime. The Mudbugs with 3:34 went a man down for the next two minutes with a slashing call against Valkama. Neither team scored so a shootout would determine the winner.
Shreveport has only scored one goal in the shootouts to this point all season. Logan Valkama was the third shooter but scored the first goal. Bobak held Nikolai Dulak. Feczko was unable to score. Dillan Bentley tied the shootout for New Mexico. Austin Brimmer shot was not successful. Wilder Svennson slipped one past to give the Ice Wolves the win.
Mudbugs 2, Ice Wolves 1 (SO) Saturday
The Mudbugs got back in the groove early as Austin Brimmer scored in the first four minutes of the game. Burke Simpson and Trenten Heyde were given the assists. Shreveport we’re successful in two power-play kills off of a Timofei Khokhlachev high sticking and Logan Valkama tripping. Mudbugs took the 1-0 lead into the second period.
Khokhlachev made a second trip to the penalty box with a cross-checking call. Shreveport once again survived the Ice Wolves on the one-man advantage. Shreveport got their first power-play opportunity with about eight minutes left in the second but was unable to score. The Mudbugs got the chance to carry the last 15 seconds of their power play into the third period. Neither team could find the back of the net. Shreveport carried the 1-0 lead into the final period.
New Mexico finally snuck one past the Mudbugs with a little five minutes remaining as Nikolai Dulak scored. The two teams went into overtime knotted at 1.
No change after the overtime pushed to the second shootout of the weekend. Connor Gatto and Logan Valkama couldn’t score. Bobak held back the first two Ice Wolves. Billy Feczko scored to put the Mudbugs ahead. A missed shot by Jake Keller gave the Mudbugs their first shootout win of the season and two points in the standings.
Shreveport will return home this coming weekend against their arch-rivals the second place Lone Star Brahmas. The last time these two met, Lone Star headed by former Mudbugs Dan Wildfong sent the Mudbugs without a goal all weekend. This is a different team than last time according to the forward Billy Feczko. Puck drops on Friday and Saturday at George’s Pond.
First Line
| Player | Position | Stats |
| Trenton Heyde | D | 1 ast, 3 shots, +\- 0 |
| Jonah Copre | D | 1 ast, 4 shots, +2 |
| Austin Brimmer | F | 1 goal, 1 ast, 6 shots, +\- 0 |
| Connor Gatto | F | 1 goal, 2 shots, -1 |
| Devon Bobak | G | 50 saves, 1 win |
Second Team
| Evan Mitchell | D | 1 shot, +1 |
| Gunner Moore | D | 3 shots, +1 |
| Jake Mack | F | 1 goal, 2 shots, +1 |
| Logan Gotinsky | F | 1 goal, 2 shots, +1 |
South Division Standings
| W-L-OTL-SOL | Pts | |
| New Mexico | 23-10-1-2 | 49 |
| Lone Star | 20-9-4-2 | 46 |
| Odessa | 20-13-1-2 | 43 |
| Amarillo | 19-14-1-1 | 40 |
| Wichita Falls | 16-13-5-2 | 39 |
| Corpus Christi | 17-18-2-0 | 36 |
| Shreveport | 15-14-1-4 | 35 |
| El Paso | 13-19-2-1 | 29 |
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