Bullfrogs Blow Lead, but Hang On

Call it a well-needed wake-up call.

That’s what many of the Bullfrogs got after they blew two five-goal leads against San Jose on Sunday night at The Pond.

The front-running Bullfrogs, with five goals from Rick Judson and a team-record tying six assists from Victor Gervais, hung on to win their third consecutive Roller Hockey International game, 12-10, in front of an announced crowd of 9,484. But the discussion in the Bullfrogs’ closed-door dressing quarters immediately after the game was terse, to say the least.

The Bullfrogs held leads of 9-4 and 10-5 and yet it wasn’t until two goals by B.J. MacPherson were scored in the final 1 minute 34 seconds that the Bullfrogs knew they had snapped San Jose’s four-game winning streak.

Bullfrog Coach Grant Sonier, who has watched his club lose many leads this season, unleashed a blistering tirade in the locker room, questioning the team’s desire.

“I was not happy with this hockey club tonight,” Sonier said. “We needed a wake-up call. Maybe this was it.”

Later, Sonier said he was particularly upset that many of the Bullfrog players are more interested in padding their scoring stats than playing the game at both ends of the rink.

“I told them that they are way too talented to let a team come back on them like they did tonight,” Sonier said. “I told them that if we stray from our plan, which is to take the body and play one-on-one defense, then we are a below-average team and we’ll never have a chance to win a championship.”

On the strength of two Judson goals, the Pacific Division-leading Bullfrogs (14-2-1) scored five times within a five-minute span during the latter part of the third quarter and looked to be headed toward a runaway after taking that 9-4 advantage.

But San Jose’s Greg Hadden got a shot past Bullfrog goaltender Rob Laurie with seven seconds left in the quarter and that got the Rhino comeback going.

Judson added his fifth goal with 10 minutes left, but the Rhinos, playing without injured starter Denny Purdie, countered with four in a row. They trailed, 10-9, with 5:51 to go.

Sonier couldn’t call timeout fast enough. The usually confident Bullfrogs looked stunned. Sonier lit into them for the first time in front of the bench.

“They had our backs against it,” said Todd Wetzel, the team’s leading-goal scorer. “They had us on the ropes and we were scared.”

Gervais said the team got selfish after taking such a big lead.

“We got cocky. Everyone wanted to score.”

Laurie, who was uneven in earning his seventh victory against one loss and one shootout loss, made a couple of good stops. MacPherson struck off a pass from Savo Mitrovic with 1:34 to go. He added another 16 seconds later after receiving the puck from Darren Perkins.

MacPherson said he and many of his teammates became ‘scared’ after San Jose (10-7), the front-runner in the Northwest Division, rallied.

“It really raised a few eyebrows around here,” he said. “It put the fear in us.”

The Bullfrogs, who play the Blades on Thursday night at the Forum, out-shot San Jose, 55-35, and scored on three of six power plays.