A Will to Win : Mitrovic Could Have Been a Scorer, but He Does Everything Else Instead

Every successful team has a guy like the Bullfrogs’ Savo Mitrovic.

Savvy. Smart. Unsung.

But when the Yugoslavian-born forward first set eyes on the Pond four years ago, he didn’t see his role that way.

“No question, I like to score goals,” he said. “I’m not known as a goal-scorer here. But everywhere else I had played I was known for that.”

The Bullfrogs, who play at Oklahoma tonight, were so loaded with explosive ice hockey players that Mitrovic quickly found a role as a decoy and a passer. He often set up the puck for someone else, averaging about three assists for every goal he scored.

Mitrovic is third in career points for the Bullfrogs, yet he has averaged fewer than 15 goals a year. He has nine goals in 20 games this season.

And he has never avoided a good check, either, particularly away from the puck.

“There were so many good scorers when I got here, that I became a banger,” he said. “I scored when I could, but guys like me and Darren Banks and B.J. MacPherson go out there to play physical.”

His contributions haven’t been lost on his teammates.

“We have to have him in the lineup to win,” said Victor Gervais, the third-leading scorer in Roller Hockey International history and a big beneficiary of Mitrovic’s passing. “He’s a sparkplug for us.”

Mitrovic sat out a recent loss at San Jose to nurse some bumps and bruises. The team wasn’t the same.

“We really missed him,” Gervais said. “Overall, he’s one of the best skaters in the league. He gets us going.”

In Sunday’s 7-6 victory over Vancouver, Mitrovic played out of position most of the night because of a suspension to defenseman Joe Cook and the injuries of others. Mitrovic set up the game-tying goal late in the fourth quarter with a nifty pass through traffic to Todd Wetzel, who fed Gervais for the score.

“Every year he comes here and takes second billing,” Coach Grant Sonier said. “He gives the team the will to win. He finds a way to do what needs to be done.”

Born in Belgrade, Mitrovic, 27, was a baby in 1969 when his family emigrated to Toronto. He started playing ice hockey when he was 8 in youth leagues.

He played ice hockey at the University of New Hampshire. The Pittsburgh Penguins drafted him in 1992, but shipped him to Cleveland of the International Hockey League that fall. Later, Cleveland sent him to Detroit of the Colonial League.

Mitrovic joined a German club team in 1995, but returned to Cleveland this spring, where he had 21 points (but only five goals) in 29 games.

Sonier, a Detroit assistant coach, joined the Bullfrogs as an assistant in 1993 and brought Mitrovic with him, luring him with visions of a California beach summer with a little in-line skating mixed in.

“Mitrovic is just such a smart player,” said Bullfrog assistant Coach Brad McCaughey, who retired as a player after last season. “He just hates to lose.”

But Mitrovic said his future with the team is up in the air. RHI expanded to 24 games in 1995, 28 games this season and might add even more games in 1997. Mitrovic says he is tired and banged up from four years of ice hockey in the winter and roller hockey in the summer.

He was upset and sore after the Bullfrogs lost last season in the Western Conference final to eventual Murphy Cup titlist San Jose, and it took a pep talk from Sonier to get Mitrovic back this year.

“You have no idea the toll that four years of playing 365 days a year does to your body,” he said.

Mitrovic would prefer to help the Bullfrogs win its second championship and retire.

“When the playoffs come around, we should spark ourselves,” he said. “We’ve put too much time into the last two seasons not to come away with something.”