Bullfrogs Blast Blue Ox, 10-7  

    June 18, 1999 - The Anaheim Bullfrogs got off to a slow start before blasting goals with regularity and holding off a late Minnesota surge to win, 10-7, on Friday night at the Pond in Anaheim. The Bullfrogs (4-1-1) are unbeaten in regulation in the last five games, while the Blue Ox (1-4)  dropped their third in a row.

    The Blue Ox had three former Bullfrogs on their roster: John Hanson, Bill Lund, and Glenn Stewart, who all played on the 1998 MLRH Championship team.  Minnesota had just added Hanson and four other players to the team, including Kyle Reeves. Reeves' last visit to the Pond was in the '98 MLRH finals as a member of the Orlando Surge, during which, as team captain, he received a game misconduct and dealt a major blow to his team's chances.

    Reeves did not wait long to chase off the Pond ghosts, as he scored at only 2:21 into the game on a 2-on-1 break. The Bullfrogs were repeatedly denied by Sergei Naumov, including a stop on Bob Rapoza on a Bullfrogs' 2-on-1. Rob Laurie came up big at the end of the quarter, stopping former Frog Glenn Stewart on a 2-on-0, ending the quarter with the Bullfrogs down 1-0.

    The Bullfrogs finally solved Naumov at 1:51 into the second quarter when RHI leading scorer Hugo Belanger scored on a sharp angle shot from the right side on a nice cross-court pass from Kevin St. Jacques. Minnesota answered only 31 seconds later to regain the lead, but Roman Hubalek continued the hot hand from his previous game's hat trick only 17 seconds after that to knot the game at 2-2, streaking in one-handed while fighting of a defender.  The Bullfrogs got their first lead of the night a little over a minute later when Tom "work, work, work" Menicci battled in front of the net and slid the puck past Naumov. Both teams played even hockey for nearly five minutes when, after Rob Laurie made a Hasek-like sprawling save facing an uncontested player in front of the net, Cory Laylin again skated in uncontested and this time scored to once again tie the game at 3-3.  Chad Seibel was called for tripping in the last minute of the half, and the Bullfrogs were able to kill off the first 39 seconds of the penalty before the horn sounded.

    The Bullfrogs were able to kill off the rest of the Seibel penalty to begin the second half, as well as a too-many-men infraction at 2:44 of the third. The two teams were battling defensively back and forth, with very few shots available.  Almost a full twelve minutes had elapsed  since the last goal when, followed once again by a working Tom Menicci's drive and cross-pass, Hubalek notched his second goal of the game to give the Bullfrogs a 4-3 lead. A little over a minue later, Hugo Belanger controlled the puck, then fired a shot from the right face-off circle that was deflected in by Kevin St. Jacques.  Then, just 53 seconds later, B.J. MacPherson made a nice feed to a breaking Mark Stitt, who stick-handled to a backhand flip past Naumov for a 6-3 Bullfrog lead. Maybe Minnesota was a little tired or jet-lagged from the early morning flight from Minneapolis, but the Bullfrogs were on the offensive attack and playing better defense, allowing only 1 shot in the quarter.

    Mark Stitt again found himself all alone in front of Naumov after a beautiful feed from Seibel and scored just 1:12 into the fourth, giving the Bullfrogs a seemingly decisive 7-3 lead. But Minnesota was not going to quit, starting with former Bullfrog Bill Lund scoring an unassisted goal just two minutes later to pull within 7-4. It was Minnesota's first goal in 18:49, which seemed to jar the Blue Ox scorers loose.  Following a Bullfrogs shot that clanged off the crossbar, the Blue Ox broke the other way, and Cal Ingraham scored to get within reach at 7-5. But Roman Hubalek notched his second consecutive hat trick just 1:17 later to restore the 3-goal lead, and Tom Menicci would have no part of a Minnesota comeback, scoring an unassisted goal 41 seconds later off a rebound to make it 9-5. The Blue Ox were awakened, however, and Cory Laylin answered just 16 seconds later to pull within three, marking the sixth goal scored in the quarter in a span of  six minutes.  Things settled down for the next two minutes until Mario Therrien threw down a Blue Ox player, earning a trip to the penalty box. The Minnesota offense was now hitting on all cylinders, as Glenn Stewart nicked his former team just 9 seconds into the power play to once again pull the Blue Ox within two goals at 9-7. Hugo Belanger made any thoughts of a Blue Ox comeback academic, however, when he scored with just 1:12 to play, bringing the Bullfrogs once again to double figures at 10-7.  Minnesota pulled Naumov in favor of the extra attacker for the last minute, but were unable to score and the Bullfrogs held on for the victory.

    "It was fun - they are talented guys", said Tom Menicci, on playing against the three former teammates from last year - Hanson, Lund, and Stewart.

    "Those three are unbelievable scorers, plus Kyle Reeves", said Rob Laurie. "It's a little intimidating, but I just try to be ready. The defense has been pretty good for the most part." Along with Darren Perkins, Laurie is in his seventh year with the Bullfrogs, but isn't often asked for advice by his teammates. "Most guys on our team have played in the RHI before", he said.

    "We had a good first half," said head coach Brad McCaughey. "Any team can be beat. The third quarter was the difference in the game," a quarter in which the Bullfrogs shut out Minnesota 3-0. "We're 4-1-1, and going on the road. The players will have the weekend off to relax, then we'll go back to work."

    McCaughey is also the head coach of the WPHL's Phoenix Mustangs, which includes Bullfrogs Belanger, Menicci, Rapoza, Therrien, and Sean Whyte, who is Brad's assistant coach. On what kind of potential roller hockey players he is on the lookout for during the ice hockey season, McCaughey said: "They must be smart and have the mind to play roller hockey; and they must be able to skate. I don't care who scores; the most important thing is the 2 points." On the state of the RHI, McCaughey added, "The league is going through some growing pains and must win the fans back."

    "I'm still a little hesitant, but it's getting there," added Menicci, who is recovering from a shoulder injury suffered at the end of the ice hockey season. On playing the RHI schedule, which often has games clumped together followed by several days off, Menicci said: "It's better to play the games together. We do a lot of scrimmaging anyway.  The most important thing is to play hard in the first quarter. We can't let teams like Minnesota get 7 or 8 goals if we're going for the championship."  On being a fan favorite, Menicci said: "It's great. You just want people to know that you work hard."

    Three stars of the game:

       #3 Ralph Barahona, 4 assists
       #2 Tom Menicci, 2 goals and 2 assists
       #1 Roman Hubalek, 3 goals

Scoring
 

Min	1	2	0	4	7
Ana	0	3	3	4	10

Min - Laylin(2G,2A), Reeves(G,A), LeBlanc(G,A), Lund, Ingraham(G,A), Stewart(PPG,A)
Ana - Hubalek(3G), Belanger(2G,A), Menicci(2G,2A), Stitt(2G,A), St. Jacques(G,2A), Barahona(4A)

Shots
 

Min	9	7	1	8	25
Ana	9	13	7	8	37

Goaltenders
Ana - Laurie (W,4-0-1) 18 saves on 25 shots
Min - Naumov (L,1-4)   27 saves on 37 shots

Att -- 3,854.

Scoring by Quarter

1st -- Min, Reeves(Laylin,Elsener) 2:21

2nd -- Ana, Belanger (St. Jacques, Whyte) 1:51; Min, LeBlanc(Ingraham) 2:22; Ana, Hubalek (Menicci, Barahona) 2:39; Ana, Menicci (Stitt, Barahona) 3:44; Min, Laylin (LeBlanc, Rowland) 8:23; Pen-Ana, Seibel (tripping) 11:21

3rd -- Pen-Ana, bench, (too many men) 2:44; Ana, Hubalek (Menicci, Barahona) 7:52; Ana, St. Jacques (Belanger, Whyte) 9:16; Ana, Stitt (MacPherson, Therrien) 10:09

4th -- Ana, Stitt (Seibel, Therrien) 1:12; Min, Lund (unassisted) 3:12; Min, Ingraham (McHugh, Stewart) 5:22; Ana, Hubalek (Barahona) 6:39; Ana, menicci (unassisted) 7:20; Min, Laylin (Reeves) 7:36; Pen-Ana, Therrien (roughing) 9:18; Min, PPG Stewart (Hanson, Laylin) 9:27; Ana, Belanger (St. Jacques) 10:48