Bullfrogs Outshoot Coyotes, 6-5  

    July 30, 1999 - The Anaheim Bullfrogs (15-2-2) jumped into a first-place tie with a 6-5 shootout victory over the host Las Vegas Coyotes (15-4-2) on Friday night at the Santa Fe Hotel arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

    The Coyotes were coming off a tough 6-5 loss in regulation to San Jose at home on Thursday night, and were holding on to a precarious 1-point lead (31-30) in the standings over the Bullfrogs, who have two games in hand.

    Rob Laurie, third in the RHI with a 4.96 GAA, got the start in goal for the Bullfrogs while Brad Guzda, #1 in the RHI at 4.12, took the nets for the Coyotes. The game was broadcast live by the Coyotes website at www.lvcoyotes.com

    Both teams were scoreless in the first quarter with each team killing off one penalty. The Bullfrogs outshot the Coyotes 12-3 in the quarter.

    Hugo Belanger broke the scoreless tie early in the second to give the Bullfrogs a 1-0 lead. After Don Parsons of Las Vegas took a slashing penalty, Belanger needed only 13 seconds to knock in his second goal of the night making the score 2-0. After the Bullfrogs killed off their second penalty, Coyote Blake Knox broke down the right wing, but Rob Laurie sprawled across the right crease to block the shot, then covered it up for a face-off. Lauire and the Bullfrogs held on to shut out the Coyotes for the half.

    Belanger wasted little time getting his hat trick, scoring only 1:05 into the third to give the Bullfrogs a 3-0 lead. Any thoughts the Bullfrogs had of skating away with an easy shutout victory were soon dashed, however, when Tom Perry scored to put the Coyotes on the board. After Kevin Kerr was forced to take a penalty on a breakaway, Jamie Cooke knocked in a power-play goal to pull Las Vegas within one at 3-2 at the 7:21 mark. After a frustrated Darren Perkins received a 10-minute misconduct for tossing his stick at the ref, Kevin Kerr again went to the box for roughing. Gerry St. Cyr made the Bullfrogs pay, tying the game at 3-3. Jamie Cooke then took a roughing penalty of his own, and the Bullfrog power play unit converted, with Kevin St. Jacques scoring the goal and Dan Shermerhorn notching his 4th assist to restore the lead to 4-3 after three quarters.

    The fourth quarter began with Coyote Jay Neal on a breakaway getting stopped cold by Rob Laurie. Mario Therrien took a tripping penalty at the 2:50 mark, and Rich Bronilla tied the game at 4-4 with a power-play goal. Bronilla then moved in alone and back-handed his second goal past Laurie in under a minute to give Las Vegas its first lead of the night at 5-4. Parsons took a tripping penalty at 6:26, but the Coyotes #1 RHI penalty killing unit kept the Bullfrogs out of the net to hold on to the 1-goal lead. Then, on a breakout play, Chad Seibel fired a shot from the red line that was deflected in by Kevin Kerr to tie the game at 5-5 with 3:24 left in the game. Las Vegas had the best chances in the game's final minutes, but were unable to score, and Hugo Belanger's shot at the end of regulation was turned away by Guzda as the horn sounded.

    In the shooutout, Hugo Belanger got things started for the Bullfrogs with a goal, but Dan Parsons answered for the Coyotes to tie it at 1-1. Neither B.J. MacPherson nor Gerry St. Cyr were able to score in round two, but Sean Whyte scored to begin round three to make it 2-1. Kirk Llano was denied, as was Dan Shermerhorn to begin the fourth round. This opened the door for Las Vegas, and Jamie Cooke tied the shootout at 2-2. Kevin St. Jacques put the pressure on the Coyotes by scoring in the fifth and last round, but Jay Neal answered in the clutch to force the shootout into extra frames. Tom Menicci then made a great fake with the forehand, then went to a backhand flip past Guzda to make it 4-3. With the pressure of sudden death on him, Blake Knox was denied by Rob Laurie, and the Bullfrogs secured the shootout victory to tie Las Vegas in the standings with 32 points.

Scoring
 

Ana	0	2	2	1	1	6
LV	0	0	3	2	0	5

Ana - Belanger (3G,A,PPG), St. Jacques (G,A), Shermerhorn (4A), Kerr
LV  - Bronilla (2G,2A,PPG), Cooke (PPG), St. Cyr (PPG), Perry

Shots
 

Ana	12	14	-	-	26
LV	3	13	-	-	16

Goaltenders
Ana - Laurie  (13-1-1) 16 saves on 16 shots thru 2 qtrs
LV  - Guzda            24 saves on 26 shots thru 2 qtrs

Att -- ?.

Scoring by Quarter

1st -- P-Ana, St. Jacques (holding) 0:49; P-LV, Jorgensen (hooking) 10:33

2nd -- Ana, Belanger (Seibel, Shermerhorn) 3:00; P-LV, Parsons (slashing) 5:38; Ana, Belanger PPG (Perkins, Shermerhorn) 5:51; P-Ana, Hubalek (holding stick)

3rd -- Ana, Belanger (St. Jacques, Shermerhorn) 1:05; LV, Perry (Jorgensen) ?; P-Ana, Kerr (?) ?; LV, Cooke PPG (?) 7:21; P-Ana, Kerr (roughing) 9:03; LV, St. Cyr PPG (Bronilla, Cooke); P-LV, Cooke (roughing) 10:01; Ana, St. Jacques (Shermerhorn, Belanger)

4th -- P-Ana, Therrien (tripping) 2:50; LV, Bronilla PPG (Cooke) 3:37; LV, Bronilla (Parsons) 4:21; P-LV, Parsons (tripping) 6:26; Ana, Kerr (Seibel) 8:36
 
 

1999 RHI  Draft

Where Are They Now?

1999 Ticket Pamphlet (6 images approx. 310K)

The Anaheim Bullfrogs are the #1 professional roller hockey franchise since 1993:
 

Year	Finish	Record	Pct	Head Coach
1993	RHI Murphy Cup Champions	17- 0-1	.972	Chris McSorley
1994	Lost to Portland in Western Conference Finals	17-10-1	.625	Grant Sonier
1995	Lost to San Jose in Western Conference Finals	24- 7-1	.766	Grant Sonier
1996	Lost to Orlando in Murphy Cup Finals	27- 7-2	.778	Grant Sonier
1997	RHI Murphy Cup Champions	21-11-0	.656	Brad McCaughey
1998	MLRH Jason Cup Champions	22- 0-1	.978	Todd Gordon
1999	Return to RHI	15- 2-2	.842	Brad McCaughey
	Overall record	143-37-8	.782

hits since 6/5/98

Email any comments or suggestions to me at jackdignan@geocities.com

About the author: Jack is a 7th-year Bullfrog fan who was there when the Bullfrogs beat the Utah Rollerbees 12-4 in their first game ever on Friday, July 2, 1993 in front of 13,141 at the Pond. He has missed only 2 home games in the seven years, and often travels to nearby road games. He was featured in an Orange County Register article on July 13, 1995.
 

Last updated 7/30/99