Bullfrogs Tame Stallions, 11-4  

    June 9, 1999 - The Anaheim Bullfrogs jumped out to an early lead, then turned up the heat in the third quarter to go on to crush the Dallas Stallions 11-4 on Wednesday night at the Pond. The Bullfrogs (1-1) bounced back from a sluggish opener on Saturday with the help of a couple of returning players, while Dallas (0-2) is still looking for its first franchise victory.

    Rob Laurie returned from the IIHF World Championships in Finland to tend goal for the Bullfrogs, while former LA Blade and RHI veteran Bill Pye was between the pipes for Dallas.

    B.J. MacPherson started the scoring just under three minutes into the contest, with an assist from Tom Menicci, who missed the season opener while attending his sister's wedding.  After Mario Therrien and Weingartner went off for coincidental roughing penalties, it took only seven seconds for Hugo Belanger to fire one past Pye to put the Bullfrogs up, 2-0. Both teams skated evenly for nearly four minutes until Kevin St. Jacques went off for roughing at 7:44. The Bullfrogs were able to kill off the penalty, and Bob Rapoza scored at 10:23 to make it 3-0. The Bullfrogs were unable to finish off the quarter, however, as the Stallions knocked one in with only 13 seconds left to cut the lead to 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.

    Dallas seemed to be gaining confidence against the defending RHI (and MLRH) champs. Even when Cook went off for hooking three minutes into the second quarter, the Stallions were able to kill it off. Cook then scored a minute later to cut the Bullfrogs lead to 3-2. One minute later, however, Chad Seibel scored to restore the two-goal lead, and the Bullfrogs in turn were able to kill off an interference penalty on Siebel to take a 4-2 lead into the locker room at halftime.

    As was common last year against inferior MLRH opponents, the Bullfrogs came out strong in the third quarter. Seibel and Gregoire went off for coincidental roughing minors one minute in, but a little over a minute later Hugo Belanger scored an unassisted goal to make it 5-2. Just over a minute later, Jason MacIntyre scored on another assist from Menicci to give the Bullfrogs a four goal lead. Then, at the 5:46 mark, Kevin St. Jacques scored the Bullfrogs third goal of the quarter to give them a 7-2 lead. Evola of the Stallions took exception on the ensuing face-off, tripping one of the Bullfrogs and earning a trip to the penalty box. Dallas killed off the penalty to momentarily stop the bleeding, and when Sean Whyte went to the box for holding at the 9:17 mark, the Stallions scored a power play goal only thirty seconds later to stop the Bullfrogs run of four straight goals. Kevin St. Jacquest responded with his second goal with 43 seconds left, and Ralph Barahona scored an unassisted goal only 10 seconds later to give the Bullfrogs a 5-goal quarter and a 9-3 lead after three.

    The Stallions pulled goalie Pye in favor of the backup, #37  to begin the fourth. Sean Whyte and Sylvain Naud went off only 22 seconds in for coincidentals, and Kevin St. Jacques got the hat trick only 13 seconds later to make the score 10-3. Dallas was able to muster one more goal almost four minutes in, but St. Jacques scored his fourth goal on an assist from Hugo at the 9:19 mark. Rob Laurie turned away the rest of Dallas' shots to preserve the 11-4 victory.

    Attendance was much lower than on opening night, with the upper deck being closed off for the first time ever in franchise history. The Bullfrogs head next to San Jose on Friday for a chance to avenge their season-opening loss to the Rhinos.

Scoring Summary
 

Dal	1	1	1	1	4
Ana	3	1	5	2	11

Dal - Cook(G,2A), Russell(PPG), Power(G,2A), Harris(G,A)
Ana - St. Jacques(4G, 2A), Belanger(2G,3A), MacPherson(G,A), Rapoza(G,A), Seibel, MacIntyre, Barahona

Shots
Dal  8 9 8 6 -- 31
Ana 13 7 9 8 -- 37

Goalies
Dal - Pye    (L,0-2) 20 saves on 29 shots
      #37             6 saves on  8 shots
Ana - Laurie (W,1-0) 27 saves on 31 shots

Att - 2,564

Scoring by Quarter

1st - Ana, MacPherson (Menicci, MacIntyre) 2:54; Ana, Belanger (St. Jacques) 3:55; Ana, Rapoza (Belanger, St. Jacques) 10:23; Dal, Harris (Power, Cook) 11:47; Penalties - Ana, Therrien, Dal, Weingartner, roughing, 3:48; Ana, St. Jacques (roughing) 7:44
2nd - Dal, Cook (Harris, Power) 5:35; Ana, Seibel (Hubalek, MacIntyre) 6:37; Penalties - Dal, Cook (hooking) 3:00; Ana, Seibel (interference) 8:00
3rd - Ana, Belanger (unassisted) 2:19; Ana, MacIntyre (Menicci) 3:28; Ana, St. Jacques (Belanger, Whyte)) 5:46; Dal, PPG Russell (Weingartner, Green) 9:47; Ana, St. Jacques (Therrien) 11:17; Ana, Barahona (unassisted) 11:27; Penalties - Ana, Seibel, Dal, Gregoire (roughing) 1:05; Dal, Evola (tripping) 5:54; Ana, Whyte (holding) 9:17
4th - Ana, St. Jacques (MacPherson, Rapoza) 0:35; Dal, Power (Cook) 3:58; Ana, St. Jacques (Belanger) 9:19; Penalties - Ana, Whyte, Dal, Naud (roughing) 0:22