Mistakes Costly for Bullfrogs

INGLEWOOD —  The Bullfrogs got away with assorted defensive lapses in their first two Roller Hockey International games, but Saturday night at the Forum the Blades exploited them.

Forward Kevin St. Jacques and defender Ross Harris had hat tricks and the league’s stingiest goaltender, Jeff Ferguson, stopped 35 shots as the Blades handed the Bullfrogs a 9-5 loss in front of an announced crowd of 4,329.

The Blades’ victory may have sounded, perhaps, like a new threat for the Bullfrogs. The Blades had beaten the Bullfrogs only four times in four years before Saturday night’s game, but they skated better than they have in past efforts against their Southern California rival. And they also managed to stay relatively penalty-free, a sticking point in the past. The Blades (0-1-1) had only four penalties.

And when they were shorthanded, the Blades did a better job than they have in past years of stopping the Bullfrogs’ power play tries. Anaheim (2-1), perennially one of the best in the league with a man advantage, came up empty on all four attempts.

Anaheim, which hosts Sacramento at 6 tonight at the Pond, must reassess its defensive lines.

“Some of us didn’t work too hard tonight, including myself,” Bullfrog defenseman B.J. MacPherson said. “The main problem we have right now is we have a lot of guys who haven’t played this game before and when we get on them offensively 3 on 2 or 2 on 1 and we are packed in around their goal, they get the puck out and go.”

Indeed, the Blades scored on several break-away opportunities and used their transition attack more effectively than the Bullfrogs. Both teams took 43 shots.

“I think the difference in the game was that they have some guys who have played the game before and we have some players who are just adapting to the game,” defender Joe Cook said.

Still, with the league down to 10 teams, the Blades and Bullfrogs meet six times this season.

The Blades never trailed. They led scored three consecutive goals to snap a 1-1 first-quarter tie and eventually led, 5-2, at the half.

The Bullfrogs cut the deficit to 7-5 on a 40-foot blast by Todd Wetzel, his second goal of the season, with 42 seconds elapsed in the fourth quarter, but a goal by Ian McIntyre, his first of the season and an empty-net goal by St. Jacques put the Bullfrogs away.

“We can skate and we have skill,” assistant Blade Coach Jimmy Fox said. He was filling in for Coach Mark Hardy, who is in Detroit for the Turner Cup finals with Long Beach.

“It’s just getting that mind set that we can play well and capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes,” Fox said.

Notes

Bullfrog defender Tom Menicci sat out his second consecutive game after receiving 28 stitches in his upper lip. He was struck by a puck in practice Friday and is listed as day to day. . . Sacramento forward Craig Chapman is doubtful after being slashed on the ankle in Friday’s 8-5 loss to Anaheim. . . The knee injury to all-time leading scorer Victor Gervais was not as bad as originally believed, Bullfrog Coach Brad McCaughey said. But the thing that most changed Gervais’ mind about returning to play for the Bullfrogs was his ability to get out of a contract with a German ice hockey team. The contract called for Gervais to be in Germany by the first week of August, about the time the Bullfrogs could begin playoff action. Gervais is expected to be ready for Saturday’s game with St. Louis at the Pond.