Bullfrogs Finally Fall; Orlando Wins Shootout

The Bullfrogs’ bid for a perfect Major League Roller Hockey regular season came to an end Thursday night at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, thanks to an old nemesis.

Gerry St. Cyr, who throttled the Bullfrogs several times as a member of the Sacramento River Rats of the former Roller Hockey International, slipped a back-handed goal past goaltender Rob Laurie during the fourth round of a shootout and that proved to be enough for the Orlando Surge to post a 9-8 victory.

After a season of blowouts in a second-year league yet to decide where it is going, this game, at least, proved to be exciting for the announced crowd of 6,471.

Most expect the Bullfrogs and Surge to have another shot at each other in the league championship scheduled at the Pond later this month.

Bullfrog Coach Todd Gordon criticized his team for a lack of discipline in the first half, but he seemed to take the result in stride.

“This was a good lesson for us going into the playoffs,” he said.

The Surge (18-1-1) was just returning the favor on the Bullfrogs (19-0-1), who took a 6-5 shootout victory July 5 in Florida.

Under league rules, a team that wins a shootout gets two points and the loser gets one.

In the July game, the Surge took a 5-1 lead, only to have the Bullfrogs mount a comeback to tie the score in the final seconds.

It was a similar story Thursday, only this time the Surge rallied for the victory.

And it was St. Cyr, playing his first game of the season, who did the trick. His goal with 5 minutes 34 seconds left in the second quarter gave the Surge its first lead, 3-2, and it went on to to take a 7-3 lead into the fourth quarter.

But the Bullfrogs, who went 16:43 without a goal over parts of three quarters, rallied with four fourth-quarter goals by John Hanson. Hanson’s power-play shot with 3:11 left in the game tied it, 8-8.

But Hanson wasn’t around to participate in the shootout. He was kicked out of the game for fighting with the Surge’s Kyle Reeves shortly after his tying goal.

Notes

Negotiations to bring the Reno Rage minor league ice hockey team to the Anaheim Convention Center continue. Bullfrogs President and CEO Stuart Silver, who placed a $250,000 takeover offer with a bankruptcy trustee, hoped a deal to take control of the West Coast Hockey League team would be completed Thursday but negotiations have gone slower than planned. Canadian sports agent Al Howell, who accompanied Silver to Nevada, said he remains confident that Silver’s offer will be accepted. Silver also put up the $350,000 application fee required by the WCHL. League President Mike McCall said that the WCHL front office will take time to review Silver’s application before it makes a recommendation to owners. . . . The Bullfrogs’ first-round game in the Major League Roller Hockey playoffs will be held next Thursday at the Pond against the winner of Monday’s Washington Power-New York Riot game.