Fans Give Game of Roller Hockey a Whirl : Reaction: Bullfrogs welcome skeptics, enthusiasts in attempt to build crowds, foundation of sport.

Kristen Messineo and Kim Deden sat in their $22, third-row seats before the Bullfrogs’ opener at the Anaheim Arena on Friday night and animatedly debated the appeal of roller hockey.

“I think it’s stupid what they’re doing with the penalties,” said Deden, 16, from Huntington Beach. “They’re going to throw you out if you get in a fight? That’s the best part of hockey.”

Messineo, 17, disagreed.

“I think it’s a good idea if they try to stop it from the beginning,” she said. “We have season tickets to the Kings, and the first game I went to this year was against Edmonton and there were so many fights, it took like five hours.”

Deden shakes her head in disbelief, an exaggerated expression of incredulity plastered on her face.

“That was the best game all year.”

And where do high schoolers come up with the cash for Kings’ season tickets?

“Our parents,” they shouted in unison.

Deden, however, soon decided her parents’ money was well spent on this evening. Roller Hockey International may wish to discourage bloodletting, but the rules regarding what constitutes a fight gives officials a great deal of leeway.

And the league’s organizers surely realize flailing fists sell seats.

The first time the sticks and gloves dropped Friday night, an obviously already cued-up “Bad to the Bone” blasted from the loudspeakers.

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The announced crowd figure of 13,141 might have been a bit inflated, but a lot of people lined up for the Bullfrogs’ two-for-one offer for $6 and $8 upper-deck seats to give roller hockey a try.

Even Bullfrog Coach Chris McSorley seemed surprised. Team officials had been assuring him of a big crowd for weeks, but he was obviously relieved to see the people gathered around the arena’s cement pond.

“Being from the North and the East, I guess I’ve never really understood the enthusiasm for in-line skating and roller hockey out here,” he said, grinning. “It’s really good to see this kind of crowd.”

Bullfrog officials said they sold 17 of the $50 rink-side seats, but a poll of many of the patrons behind the glass turned up a lot of freebies and no high rollers.

Gavin Campbell, a freshman at Mater Dei who lives in Orange, ended up in the high-rent district when the ticket office fouled up.

“We bought $12 seats, and they screwed up and decided to put us down here,” he said, excitedly. “I play ice hockey, and this game is a little slower, but it’s still fun.”

Ken and Cleo Baer of Mission Viejo picked up their front-row tickets from a business associate.

“I didn’t know these seats were this good,” said Ken, looking embarrassed. “I used to play hockey with a stick and stone on frozen ponds back in Iowa and then forgot about it for 25 years. But my son, Adam, who’s in a goalie camp in Costa Mesa, is really into ice hockey. So, when I was offered the tickets, I figured, ‘Why not?’ ”

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A quick look at fun, frolic and firsts from opening night:

* They rolled out a green carpet as dignitaries are introduced under a spotlight at center cement in the pregame ceremony. Normally carpet is used to keep people from slipping on the ice.

* Speaking of slipping. McSorley on the importance of continuing to draw big crowds: “You don’t want to go 14-0 on the ice, er, surface, and 0-14 off it.”

* The biggest ovation of the night went to King defenseman Marty McSorley, the coach’s brother. Second biggest roar came in the first period when the first puck sailed into the crowd and a guy in the southeast end made a running, one-handed catch. The Polywogs, the team’s dancing girls, took third.

* Chris McSorley scored a first, too. While discussing coaching, he came up with the season’s first well-planned ad lib. “Frankly, this is a gunpowder business, and you just hope to burn slowly for a couple of years and not go up in a quick flash.”

* A foghorn-bullhorn-bullfroghorn sounds after every Anaheim goal. It’s really not that bad of an idea, but anything that goes off a dozen times every game might become obnoxious in a hurry.

* And one question, from Cleo Baer. “Why don’t they play this game in high schools? All you need is a slab of smooth cement.”