Bullfrogs Too Much for Oakland : Roller hockey: Skates goalie Cadden tries hard, but Anaheim rolls to a 12-6 victory.
Under fire all night Friday, Oakland Skates goaltender Cory Cadden did his best to slow down the high-flying Bullfrogs.
In the first half, he was mostly successful. And he got a little help from the Bullfrogs, who were less than crisp in skating and stick-handling.
But nothing Cadden could do in the third-quarter of the Roller Hockey International contest at The Pond proved to be good enough.
Anaheim, with help from Todd Wetzel and Victor Gervais, who each had three goals, scored six times in an eight-minute period in a 12-6 victory in front of an announced crowd of 9,201.
It was the fifth consecutive victory against no losses for the Bullfrogs, who hit the road for two games, including a rematch Friday at Oakland (1-6). Buffalo’s 14-9 loss to Chicago left the Bullfrogs as the only unbeaten team in the RHI.
“He played a great game,” Bullfrogs goalie Rob Laurie said about Cadden, who stopped 31 shots. “I know how he must have felt. It kind of wears on you when you are getting scored on like that. There wasn’t a lot he could do.”
The Bullfrogs looked impressive in that third-quarter stretch. But Oakland was its own worst enemy.
The Skates were whistled for three major penalties: A 10-minute misconduct for defenseman Rob McCraig, three minutes worth of penalties for Sasha Lakovic and a four-minute slashing call against Jeff Sebastian. Sebastian didn’t like the call and he slapped his stick against the protective glass. That got him kicked out.
For the rest of the period Cadden, who was replaced by Mark Cavallin with 12 minutes to go, had only two Skates players out there to help him. Oakland received 69 minutes in penalties. Anaheim outshot the Skates, 54-36.
“We got caught up in their game and we retaliated too much,” said Brad McCaughey, Bullfrog player/assistant coach. “Maybe we even took these guys a little too lightly. They come at you with cheap tricks, so at halftime, we talked about not letting them get under our skin.”
The score was tied, 4-4, at halftime and again, 5-5, after Lakovic scored his third goal with five minutes gone in the third period.
Wetzel countered with his third goal, the game-winner, at the 6:20 mark. Anaheim led, 6-5.
Savo Mitrovic skated down the right side of the Oakland defense to make it 7-5 1 minute 15 seconds later.
A goal by Darren Perkins followed the misconduct penalty on McCraig, Gervais scored on a power play and Joe Cook knocked the puck home directly in front of Cadden. Anaheim had this one wrapped up, 10-5.
Laurie (3-0) stopped 30 shots. He was particularly effective in the first half when the Bullfrogs had trouble getting its offense going.
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Bullfrog Notes
The Bullfrogs play consecutive games on the road next week. They’ll play Thursday at San Diego (3-2) and Friday at Oakland. They’ll be back at The Pond July 2 for a 6 p.m. start with San Diego. . . . Attendance figures around the RHI are mixed. The Bullfrogs have the highest announced crowds, averaging 10,068 through their first four games. Vancouver, which plays host to Phoenix tonight reported 8,980 for its opener June 17 against San Jose. New Jersey claims an average of 7,540 for three home contests. But 12 of the RHI’s 18 clubs are averaging fewer than 4,000 per game and six come in at fewer than 3,000. The league average is 4,075.
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