BULLFROG NOTEBOOK / PAUL McLEOD : Two-Game Skid Pushed Along by Silly Penalties

When the Bullfrogs rolled up a Roller Hockey International-leading 25 points, there was plenty of championship talk around The Pond. But after consecutive losses, the Bullfrogs don’t appear to be the same team.

Schedule makers, for one, have not been kind. The game against Vancouver at 7:30 tonight at The Pond will be Anaheim’s eighth in 14 days sandwiched around the league all-star game, where four Bullfrogs played. Five games during the stretch have been on the road.

But the Bullfrogs’ slide has mostly been the result of silly penalties.

“We’ve been playing like idiots,” forward Savo Mitrovic said.

Sensing the Bullfrogs (12-2-1) are running away with the league’s top spot, which means home-court advantage in the playoffs and the lion’s share of performance money, opponents are taking them on physically. They’re beating them at their own hard-checking game and goading them into penalties and fights. It has thrown off the team’s rhythm.

“There were some times in the first half where we lacked discipline,” Bullfrog Coach Grant Sonier said. “That can cost you hockey games.”

Indeed, in Tuesday’s 10-5 loss to Vancouver, for example, Darren Perkins and team captain Victor Gervais received game misconduct penalties, and by league rules, must sit out tonight’s game.

Daniel Shank missed Friday’s 10-8 loss to Phoenix because he was booted in Sacramento a week ago for fighting. Mitrovic was not available Tuesday against Vancouver because he was serving a suspension for a game misconduct penalty he received against Phoenix.

Throw in the fact that defenseman Brad Tiley has been excused for the week because of a long-standing personal commitment and Shank had the flu and did not play Tuesday, and it’s easy to see how the chemistry got out of whack so quickly.

“Those guys are a big part of our hockey team,” said Gervais after Tuesday’s loss. “There are no excuses for the way we played tonight, but those players are part of our plan.

“When things don’t go your way, like they didn’t tonight, you take dumb penalties and remove yourself from the game. That’s what we did and that is what we need to stay away from.”

Look who’s talking, Victor. This is the second time Gervais has been suspended.

Five of the Bullfrogs’ final nine games, including the last four, are on the road. None of those are pushovers. A home-and-home series this month with the Los Angeles Blades could prove crucial. The challenge is clear.

“If we are going to be a championship team, we have to win on the road,” Sonier said.

Cut down on the needless penalties too.

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Expansion, rearrangement and cool uniforms were some of the hot topics at the Roller Hockey International summer meetings held in conjunction with last week’s all-star game in St. Louis.

Among the items discussed by 11 of the league’s 19 owners who showed up were:

* The development of lightweight, colorful and stylish uniforms designed for roller hockey. No more bulky, NHL clones, according to league President Jerry Diamond. This is in keeping with RHI attempts to cater to the youth market, where manufacturers are making inroads with new products in steamy roller rinks. However, development of professional counterparts may be more than a year away. “A lot of people took the stance that it would be important for the league to do this as a way to make some type of fashion statement,” Bullfrog President Stuart Silver said. “The Bullfrogs want to make sure that our players are protected by the equipment first. Right now the ice hockey equipment protects them just fine.”

* The addition of at least two major market teams--most likely in Boston and Long Island--and the loss, transfer or ownership change of up to a half-dozen current franchises. Judging by the owner turnout in St. Louis, the latter is a no brainer. Defending champion Buffalo has fallen into bankruptcy. Throw in the seven other franchises averaging fewer than 3,000 spectators per game, it’s easy to see that some changes are inevitable.

* Holding the all-star game on a weeknight, most likely the Monday before the major league All-Star game. This might enhance the league’s chances for prime-time television coverage by a major network, owners believe. Also, it frees up another weekend for regular-season games. Six teams held games last Friday, the night before the all-star game. “We had some exhausted all-star players,” Diamond said.

* Expand the regular season to as many as 38 games from the current 24 and begin earlier, during the final week of the Stanley Cup finals in May, and conclude with playoffs at the end of September, before the start of ice hockey training camps. Expanding the schedule would mean teams from opposite coasts would play each other, which they don’t do now. “The Bullfrogs would like to see more games,” Silver said. Realistically, as much as the RHI would like to separate itself from ice hockey, it finds itself mired in a seasonal window dictated by big brother.

* Expand the playoffs to include four teams from each of the four divisions. Only the top eight teams overall make the playoffs this year. This proposal might require a larger pool of player prize money. Or the owners could vote to keep the prize pool the same. The former is the likely bet, but it has the potential to drive borderline teams into cash crunches. And reducing the amount of money paid out to each player might make the league less attractive to better players.

Despite rumors that a new, rival league is in the offing, perhaps as early as 1996, RHI Commissioner Ralph Backstrom was upbeat when he left St. Louis.

“We’re going to finish strong this year. Crowds are up and gross [receipts] are up,” he said. “Overall, there are a lot of positive things happening.”

Bullfrog Notes

Forward Simon Bibeau, signed by the Bullfrogs this week primarily for defensive purposes, got into the books early Tuesday night in Vancouver. He received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty 5 1/2 minutes into the game. A resident of Corona, Bibeau is a representative for a sporting goods manufacturer that builds, among other things, face masks and face protectors for hockey players. . . .Todd Wetzel, left off the all-star team despite five hat tricks in the first half of the season, was named RHI player of the week for July 2-9. In three games, Wetzel scored eight goals (including two hat tricks) and had six assists. He has a team-record 25 goals. . . . Defenseman Brad Tiley is in Canada where he runs an annual ice hockey skills camp in his native Ontario. “This was something we knew was coming up. It was agreed to ahead of time,” Coach Grant Sonier said. . . . Mark Deazeley has been put on the Bullfrogs’ “wait” list, which, in roller hockey lingo, is the closest thing to being declared inactive that there is. The Bullfrogs retain the rights to the 6-foot-5, 250-pounder, but he will not be paid for games he misses.

The Bullfrogs are close to signing a deal with KMAX (107.1 FM) to broadcast the remainder of their games. Currently, the club can be heard on KORG (1190) with Lew Stowers doing play-by-play and former King Charlie Simmer adding analysis. KMAX, which is moving toward a sports talk format after years as an independent foreign-language station, has an opening for live broadcasts since it dropped the Long Beach Barracudas minor league baseball team after its majority owner filed for bankruptcy protection in late June. . . . For those who missed last week’s announcement, the Bullfrogs’ game with the Blades, originally scheduled for 6 p.m. July 30 at The Pond, has been moved to 7:05 p.m. July 31. The Bullfrogs agreed to the switch so The Pond can be host to Magic Johnson’s all-star basketball game to benefit the United Negro College Fund. Labor problems in the NBA prevented the game from being held at the Forum, as originally planned, and Johnson will not be allowed to participate.