Stewart Fitting In With His New Team

The news was shocking.

Glenn Stewart, the Bullfrogs’ leading scorer and a crowd favorite, was traded to the New Jersey Rockin’ Rollers July 31, the final transaction in a series of house-cleaning moves that turned the Bullfrogs’ season around.

Now, Stewart will be helping the Rockin’ Rollers against the Bullfrogs in the first game of the Murphy Cup final at 7:30 tonight at the Pond. The championship series concludes Sunday in New Jersey.

The Rockin’ Rollers have won eight of nine games since Stewart arrived, and it was Stewart who got the winning goal in a mini-game last week to knock Orlando, the defending Murphy Cup champion, out of the playoffs.

“It’s nice to be with these guys,” Stewart said of his New Jersey teammates. “I’m trying to fit in, find my place. I’m scoring about a goal a game. I don’t have to shoot as much, because this is a loaded team and we have guys who can get the job done.”

A month ago the clubs, both of which eventually finished second in their divisions, never figured to get this far. They had fallen into fourth place and neither seemed to be able to right the ship.

Stewart said he had become disgruntled because of a lack of playing time in Anaheim and that players who weren’t working as hard as he was were nonetheless playing more.

In late July, mired in a five-game losing streak, Bullfrog Coach Brad McCaughey decided to make some changes. He cut a few players, signed a couple of free agents and went after several members of the Canadian national in-line team that won the silver medal at the second In-line Hockey Championship.

One player was forward Glen Metropolit, who was sitting out the RHI season, but whose rights still belonged to New Jersey.

Chris McSorley, Rockin’ Roller player personnel director, wanted more firepower. A shrewd businessman and the coach who led the Bullfrogs to the 1993 Roller Hockey International title, McSorley reportedly wanted Bullfrog forward Todd Wetzel. The Bullfrogs wouldn’t consider trading Wetzel for a couple of reasons. They were keeping it a secret that Wetzel, who accounted for 56 points this season, had signed to play ice hockey in Europe and had to leave the country, whether the playoffs were concluded or not, by mid-August.

And Bullfrog team owners, gambling on the future of the league, said they didn’t want to trade Wetzel, 23, according to Stuart Silver, because they felt Wetzel still has a few good years left in him. They weren’t so sure about Stewart, 27, despite the fact that Stewart led the Bullfrogs with 33 goals in 1996 and was the leading scorer when he was traded (24 goals, 23 assists).

New Jersey Coach Don Shedden, meanwhile, said he isn’t sure there will be a next year for RHI, so he was happy to get Stewart, a player who made a positive contribution right away.

“He has been a welcome addition,” Shedden said.

There is no doubt that Stewart had developed a reputation as a shooter, and not as a defenseman.

“Stewart’s shot on the power play is his greatest asset,” said Grant Sonier, who was an assistant to McSorley in 1993. “He shoots the puck as good as anyone.”

Shedden says Stewart hasn’t been a defensive liability, as he was led to believe.

“It was no surprise that he was a scorer,” Shedden said. “When he came here I told him we needed him to work on both ends of the floor. He has worked real hard on defense and it is working out well for us.”

Stewart is looking forward to his return to the Pond.

“It’s pretty exciting,” he said. “I like the fans there. It was a nice to play there for a year and a half, a nice place to stay.”