Bullfrogs Need Two to Win Playoff Series

Call it a double whammy. But if the Bullfrogs want to meet the Eastern Conference champions in the Roller Hockey International playoff series, they must beat the San Jose Rhinos twice at The Pond of Anaheim starting at 7:30 tonight.

“I don’t think there’s any secret about how I feel about the playoff format. I don’t like it. But the way we look at it, is that we have to play 60 minutes and five quarters if we want to win and go on,” Bullfrog Coach Grant Sonier said.

If the Bullfrogs win the first game, a short break is taken and then a 12-minute mini-game is played with the winner advancing.

Already burned, 11-4, by the underdog Rhinos in the first of the two-game playoff series Thursday, the Bullfrogs will take no chances tonight and will come out strong on offense, said Sonier.

“We came out very flat against the Rhinos and they jumped all over us,” Sonier said. “We have to worry only about the 12-minute quarters we’re playing.”

Against the Rhinos, the Bullfrogs’ top scorer, Victor Gervais, who leads the team with 79 points (24 goals, 57 assists), scored the game’s first goal 30 seconds into it and then was kept off the scoresheet. The Bullfrogs could only produce a goal per quarter the rest of the way.

“We were standing around a lot. The game is very fast and you need to come out with a lot more fire in your belly,” Sonier said.

Goalie Rob Laurie, who has been stellar in net this season and the playoffs with an 88% save percentage, was given a quick lesson in humility by Rhino forward Mark Woolf.

Woolf, who always seems to have good games against the Bullfrogs, had two goals and five assists Thursday. Woolf leads the Rhinos with nine goals and 13 assists in the playoffs.