13,314 Watch Bullfrogs Roll in Season Opener

Hockey purists might prefer their blades on ice, but Roller Hockey International wheeled into town and got off to a rollicking start Friday night in the Anaheim Arena.

Offering a two-for-one deal for the $6 and $8 upper-deck seats, promoters of the Anaheim Bullfrogs drew an announced crowd of 13,314 for their opener against the Utah RollerBees and everybody seemed to have a pretty good time as the Bullfrogs rolled to a 12-4 victory on the arena’s cement pond.

Coach Chris McSorley’s decision to go with a squad made up entirely of minor league ice hockey players seems to have been a wise choice. The Bullfrogs crisp checking, nifty passing and instincts around the net gave them an 8-1 lead after the first half.

“Two weeks ago, about half our guys had never skated on in-line roller skates,” McSorley said. “But you can’t teach touch, you can’t teach grit and you can’t teach the competitive spirit that the professional athletes bring to the surface.”

The action was furious if not quite as fast as on ice and there were even a few crowd-pleasing tussles (although fighting is supposed to draw an immediate ejection in the league).

Anaheim opened the scoring less than 1 1/2 minutes into the game when Christian LaLonde faked a shot and slid a pass to Bob McKillop, who directed it into the open net behind faked-out Utah goalie Paul Skidmore.