Buccaneers Get Win to Finish .500 in Buc Bowl; Tri-City Named Champion

The Des Moines Buccaneers defeated the Green Bay Gamblers 5-3 in Sunday’s final game of the 2003 Hy-Vee Buc Bowl at the Metro Ice Sports Arena. The win gave the Bucs a 2-2 record for the tournament, and Green Bay finished 1-2.

The Bucs scored first, as they did in every game of the tournament, when Jason Weigel scored on a power play four minutes into the game. It was the Bucs’ first conversion on a power play since Friday, after going 0-10 with a man advantage in Saturday’s game.

The Gamblers scored the next two goals, and held a 2-1 lead until midway through the second period when Ryan Raven scored another power play goal for the Bucs to tie the game. Des Moines scored the next two goals of the game to take a 4-3 lead, getting a one from Pat Borgestad in the second and another from J.P. Platisha halfway through the third. The Gamblers were able to cut the lead to one with less than a minute to go, but Rory Farrell scored an empty-netter to put the game out of reach. Borgestad and Platisha each had three points in the game, each scoring one goal and assisting on two others. Platisha and teammate Marty Mjelleli tied with Chicago’s Topher Scott for the tournament scoring title with five points. The full statistics for the tournament can be found at www.pointstreak.com.

In the only other game of the day, the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders defeated the Waterloo Black Hawks 5-3, spoiling Waterloo’s perfect record. The Tri-City Storm was the only undefeated team on the weekend, going a perfect 3-0 and was named the 2003 Buc Bowl Champions.

Des Moines plays its final preseason game on Saturday, September 20th at the Metro Ice Sports Arena against the Waterloo Black Hawks. The game gets underway at 7:35, with the doors opening at 6:45. All tickets for the game are general admission and cost $5.