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2004 January Game Commentaries Green Bay Stops Buc Winning Streak Green Bay, WI (1.2.04) Period 1: Bucs start Dwight LaBrosse tonight in net against Green Bay's Brad Smith. This will be LaBrosse's first start wearing a Buccaneer sweater. The Bucs get on the board first with a power play tally from Samir Saliji with assists to Jesse Lane and Davis Drewiske at the 8:43 mark. Green Bay ties the game up before intermission at the 18:24 mark with an even strength to make it 1-1. Period 2: The Gamblers' Nate Dey gives the Gamblers the lead at the 9:39 point with the only goal of the period, with helpers to Mitch Ganzak and Brandon Longley. Period 3: Victor Oreskovich got the lone goal of the period to put the Gamblers up by 2, 3-1. The Bucs pulled their goal for the last 90 seconds but were unable to get one past Brad Smith has Smith gets his second victory of the season stopping 31 of 32 shots, while LaBrosse made 39 saves in his Buccaneer debut. Written by Kevin Kasel.
Bucs home winning streak stopped by first place Storm Urbandale, IA (1.3.04): The Des Moines Buccaneers played well enough to win their fourth consecutive game at the Metro Ice Sports Arena Saturday night. Unfortunately, a strong effort isn’t always enough to win a hockey game, as the Bucs fell to the Tri-City Storm 4-1 in a game that was played much more evenly than the final score indicated. The Storm became the first USHL team to take a lead on new Buccaneer goalie Pat Watson, scoring the game’s first goal, two minutes into the first period. Mike Erickson answered for Des Moines less than five minutes later, but another Tri-City goal late in the first period put the Storm ahead for good. The Bucs kept the score within one for nearly all of the second period, successfully killing all four penalties in the period. Tri-City finally put an insurance goal on the board with just over two minutes to go in the second frame. The Storm finished off the scoring midway through the final period. Watson played another solid game in net for the Bucs, knocking down thirty-seven Tri-City shots. Written by Dustin Godsey.
Bucs top Stars, inch closer to playoff spot Urbandale, IA (1.9.04): The Des Moines Buccaneers looked sharp on the ice Friday night, and it wasn’t just the brand new uniforms they were sporting. The Bucs dominated on both ends of the rink, and defeated the Lincoln Stars 5-1 at the Metro Ice Sports Arena. Des Moines took control of the game immediately after the opening face-off, when Mike Erickson put one into the net just nineteen seconds into the match. Adam Miller put the Bucs up 2-0 ten minutes later, and that was all the cushion that goalie Dwight Labrosse would need in his first start at home for Des Moines. The Bucs offense wasn’t done though, picking up another goal before end of the first period, off the stick of Brad Peterson. Tom May scored the lone goal of the second period on a powerplay less than three minutes into the frame. The Stars put up twenty-two shots in the second period, to the Bucs’ eleven, but LaBrosse stopped each one. LaBrosse’s shutout attempt was ended early in the third period, when he launched a shot from the blue line that deflected off the goalies glove and trickled into the net, making the score 4-1. He would finish the game with thirty-eight saves. Des Moines regained a four-goal lead with a Samir Saliji emptynetter with less than two minutes to play. The goal prompted chants of “We Want Doughnuts” from the Buccaneer fans, who were one goal away from receiving free Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the second time in three games. The win moves the Bucs back within eight points of the USHL West Division’s final playoff spot. The Buccaneers play their next five games on the road, but return home to play the Sioux City Musketeers on January 24th. Written by Dustin Godsey. Sioux City, IA (1.10.04): Period 1: Pat Watson starts in his first road game for the Bucs. Adam Miller gets the Bucs on the board first with a power play tally at the 7:29 mark with assists to Samir Saliji and Travis Anderson. The Bucs ended the period killing off a J.P. Platisha elbowing penalty that carries over to the next period. Period 2: Sioux City's Troy Brummett ties the game up at the 3:56 mark. And at the 14:35 point Michael Hodgson scores on the Sioux City power play to give the Muskies the 2-1 lead. Then with 0:29 left in the period Tom May ties the game up with assists to Platisha and Brad Peterson. Period 3: At the 6:52 mark, the Bucs do something they have never done this season, score two road power play goals in the same game. The Bucs have scored three of their five road power play goals this season in their last two road games, one on January 2nd in Green Bay and the two tonight in Sioux City. Mike Neilon scores the power play goal for the Bucs with an assist to Mike Erickson. Late in the period the Muskies pull their goalie for the extra attacker, but Erickson makes it 4-2 with an empty-netter with assists to Peterson and Pat Borgestad at 19:46 mark. At the same time there is some "extra activity", as Rory Farrell gets called for a minor for roughing and Sioux City's Matt Hartman gets major and game misconduct for "butt-ending". The game ends 4-2 in favor of the Bucs. Watson had 36 saves for the night, while the Bucs only managed 21 shots on goal. This is the first time the Muskies have lost at home when they out-shot their opponent this season, they are now 8-1-0-1 when out-shooting their opponent at home. Written by Kevin Kasel. Bensenville, IL (1.16.04): Chicago's Shane Connelly prevents Fergy from winning number 500, as the Bucs fall 5-0 to the Steel in Bensenville, IL. The Bucs get a lot of pressure during the 1st period, but Connelly was able to turn each of the 16 shots away. Dwight LaBrosse turned away the eight shots he faced in the opening stanza as well. It took a Chicago power play to remove to goose eggs from the board, at 4:44 mark, Danny Charleston was able to put home a rebound to give the Steel the 1-0 lead. 0:16 after the goal, LaBrosse, shot the puck over the galss to give the Steel power play #2 which they converted a minute later when Matt McIlvane found myself alone in the low slot with the puck and buried the biscuit to give the Steel the 2-0 lead. 1:21 into the 3rd period, Chicago's Kevin Roeder puts in a centering pass from Topher Scott and Charleston to make it 3-0. About seven minutes later, Steel's John Kearns gets his back-hander past LaBrosse to make it 4-0. The final scoring came from the Steel's David Marshall at the 19:21 mark with the goalie out of position to make it 5-0. The Bucs look to get the Fergy #500 in St. Louis tonight. Bob Ferguson reaches the 500 regular season win mark in the USHL St. Louis, MO (1.17.04): Ryan Raven gets the Bucs on the board first at the 3:23 mark with a helper to Chad Costello. About five minutes later, St. Louis capitalizing near the end of their first power play opportunity, with a goal from Colin Vock at 9:40. Just prior to that goal, the Bucs almost had a short-handed goal, which lead to an odd man 2-on-1 rush for the power play tally. The first period ended 1-1. The second period saw the Buccaneers with chances, but nothing to show forth on the scoreboard, as St. Louis' netminder, Michael Zacharias turned away all 19 Buccaneer shots in the period. Pat Watson stopped all five of the Eagles shots in the period to keep it a 1-1 game heading into the third period. Mike Erickson gets his blast from the blue line past Zacharias to give the Bucs the 2-1 lead at the 5:24 point of third period. This turned out to be the game-winning goal as the Bucs hold on to the 2-1 victory. Bob Ferguson's Coaching stats in the USHL.
Urbandale, IA (1.24.04): Bob Ferguson wished for two things on the night he was honored for becoming the first coach in USHL history to win 500 league games: a sell-out crowd and win number 501. Buccaneers fans delivered on the first one, as 3449 fans packed the Metro Ice Sports Arena to see the Bucs take on Sioux City, and the players did all they could to take care of the second, but came just short and fell 3-2 in a shootout. Sioux City's Tim Kennedy got the visitors on the board first, five minutes and twenty seconds into the game, giving them a 1-0 lead that they would keep for nearly an entire period. The Bucs put their first score on the board at the 5:15 mark in the second period, when Mike Neilon put a shot past Musketeer netminder Jeff Lantz. (see photo above - courtesy of Ellis Moose). Neither team would score again until a minute into the final period, when Sioux City's Mike Curry was barely able to slip one past Bucs goalie Pat Watson. Mike Neilon answered the Sioux City challenge once again for the Bucs though, scoring his second goal of the game ten minutes later to tie the game at two. The teams would remain knotted up throughout the rest of regulation and the five-minute overtime period. The shootout, which was the third of the season between the two teams, saw extended action, as neither team had an advantage after the first five shots. It wasn't until their tenth shot that the Musketeers were able to finish out the game. Written by Dustin Godsey. Bucs Beat Tri-City in Shoot-out Kearney, NE (1.30.04): Period 1: Tonight we see Dwight LaBrosse in net and the first game as a Buccaneer for newly acquired forward/defensemen Brandon Longley. Des Moines acquired Longley via a trade with Green Bay for forward, J.P. Platisha. Tri-City's Nick Pernula puts the Storm on the board first with a tally at the 1:44 mark. Then a little after the midway point of the period, the Bucs make an errand pass that former Buccaneer, Ryan Dingle intercepts and finds the back of the net to give the Storm the 2-0 which is how the period ended. Des Moines is currently 2-8-1-1 when they don't score the first goal of the game on the road and Tri-City is 10-0-1-0 when they score the first goal of the game at home. Period 2: Not sure what happened, but something happened during intermission because the Bucs come out and score four goals in the period on the road and two of them are power play goals. Prior to tonight's game, Des Moines had the worst road power play unit with 5 PPG on 71 tries for 7.04%, while the Storm have the best home penalty kill unit at killing off all but 4 of 88 attempts good for 95.45%. Mike Erickson gets the Bucs on the board first with an even strength marker at 5:21. Less then five minutes later at the 10:16 mark, Erickson scores his second of the night, this one on the power play with an assist to Pat Borgestad. 35 seconds later, Adam Miller joins in on the scoring with assists to Marty Mjelleli and Samir Saliji to give the Bucs the lead, 3-2. Miller wasn't don't with his name on the score sheet, at 17:24, he notches another Buccaneer power play goal with assists to Mjelleli and Saliji to give the Bucs the 4-2 lead. Period 3: At the 8:21 mark, Tom Pohl cuts the lead to 1 goal with helpers to Chris Zarb and Jake Obermeyer. The Storm are able to tie the game up late in the game at 16:15 with the tying goal to John Dingle and assists to Doug Conley and Bill Thomas. Overtime: There was no scoring in the overtime, but some chances for the Storm, but LaBrosse was up to the challenge. Once again the Storm outshot their opponent at home. They have never been outshot at home, only once did they have the same number of shots on goals as their opponent. Storm had 39 shots on goal, compared to Des Moines' 22. Shoot-out: Des Moines' first shooter, Phil Fox gets one past Tri-City's Eric Aarnio and LaBrosse stops the Storms first shooter. Each of the next two shooters for both teams were unable to get one in the net. The Bucs' fourth shooter, Mike Neilon gets one past Aarnio, but the Storm's fourth shooter Doug Conley gets one in the net, to keep the shoot-out going. Erickson was unable to convert on his chance, but LaBrosse stops Tom Pohl to seal the 5-4 shoot-out victory for the Bucs. This marks the Bucs first win over the Storm this season. Written by Kevin Kasel. |
