Bullfrog Offense Rolls Past River Rats, 14-9

Bullfrogs Coach Grant Sonier says he needs more time to assess his team’s ability. But after Sunday night’s 14-9 victory over the Sacramento River Rats, his prospectus has to be getting much clearer.

The Bullfrogs’ potent offensive attack will be hard to catch.

Skating against a team that favors finesse over muscle, the more physical Bullfrogs turned on their wheels and outmatched their opponent with their skating and, yes, sometimes even grace, in front of a delighted crowd of 8,667 at The Pond.

“I like our team speed,” Sonier said. “I think we can skate with teams. It’s something we added this year because we knew we had to.”

Then he said, “But my teams will always have aggressiveness too.”

That is obvious, judging by the 18 penalty minutes the Bullfrogs were assessed. Sacramento also had 18 minutes in penalties. But the Bullfrogs outshot the River Rats, 52-32.

Victor Gervais, Fredrik Jax, Daniel Shank and Savo Mitrovic each scored two goals in the barrage, which the Bullfrogs needed to offset sloppy fourth-quarter defense, the result of too many penalties and not enough penalty killing. The final result was closer than the game really was.

“We just have hot sticks right now,” said B.J. MacPherson, who scored once and had four assists. “The guys are confident and they really beared down tonight.”

The Bullfrogs are 4-0; Sacramento is 2-2.

The Bullfrog attack was so fierce, particularly during a string of six consecutive goals in the first half, that Sacramento Coach John Black yanked starting goalkeeper Sergei Naumov at halftime in favor of Dennis Sproxton. Naumov gave up nine goals and stopped 16 shots.

Bullfrog goalie Chris Gordon, who was shaky early on, limited Sacramento to two goals in a 13-minute span of the second and third periods. He stopped 25 shots.

The Bullfrogs struck quickly, taking a 2-0 lead with goals from Steve Cadieux and Mitrovic in the first two minutes of play.

Sacramento regrouped and led, 4-3, when Ilya Dubkov fired in a rebound shot from Alexander Zhurick. It was the first time this season the Bullfrogs have trailed, prompting the crowd to boo.

But that’s about all the steam the River Rats could muster. The Bullfrogs, attacking the stick side of Naumov at will, scored the next six goals for a 9-4 advantage.

Shank started the onslaught with a slap shot past the stick of Naumov with 10:13 left in the period. A minute layer MacPherson stole a River Rat pass and fed Brad Tiley for a goal and then Rick Judson rebounded Shank’s miss at the 7:51 mark. Darren Perkins added a goal at the 7:09 mark and then backhanders by MacPherson and Jax, playing in only his third roller hockey game, finished the run 2:51 before halftime.

Bullfrog Notes

Heavy rain Friday night that snarled traffic outside The Pond before the Bullfrogs’ 13-6 victory over the Phoenix Cobras didn’t dampen the crowd. Attendance for the event was announced at 8,324. . . . In its first three home games, Anaheim averaged nearly 10,500 spectators. . . . Before Sunday night’s game, The Pond parking lot was a mini-carnival with a definite roller hockey flavor. The event was the first of five such events scheduled before Bullfrog games. . . . Sacramento Coach John Black lives only blocks from The Pond in the off-season. “I can just about see it from my house,” he said. . . . The Bullfrogs have issued a series of slick trading cards that should be in hockey-specific stores soon. They are manufactured by Star Image of Placentia.