Pre Game
It was a nice night Thursday night. The sun had been shining earlier and the air was still warm with a hint of a cool breeze and a taste of spring. Ahh, the playoffs - that time of year when you can feel summer coming. The playoffs and spring; synonymous with each other... The highlight of the evening was when the zamboni (just one of them, because there are two) stopped in front of the penalty bench, it seemingly ran out of gas. Jeff Lindquist said "It broke"... Matt Libby's back!!... Jayme Platt was starting in goal for the night.
First
Within the first minutes of the game we were being outplayed, it looked like North Iowa was on a power play. As I looked up at the stands, I noticed whole sections of the arena were empty. At 13:48 Lionel Crump scored on a rebound (assist to Shane Fukushima). It was actually a very beautiful goal and Jayme had no chance. Jon Cullen soon scored again for North Iowa (assist to Keith Anderson and Jay Kopischke). When Erik Cole was torqued at 9:23 from Paul Murphy, Murphy was given a penalty for interference. Alex Kim scored at 8:14 (assist to Sean Austin and Derek Robertson). After this goal there was some life. Jayme made some really great saves at this time. With 5.6 seconds left a fight around Jayme started after a save was made. Keith Anderson was given a cross checking penalty and Peter Cullen and Austin went for roughing coincidental's. Saves of the period... Naumenko, 8... Platt, 13.
Second
The second period changed everything. The first half was littered with penalties, mostly to our players. At 7:57 Pete Fregoe scored (unassisted) on a great breakaway. It was perhaps the prettiest goal the Bucs had in the game. With five minutes left it all turned around. Shaun Winkler scored at 4:49 (assist to Tom Nelson and Mat Snesrud). Then about two minutes later Anderson scored (assist to Jon Cullen and Mat Snesrud). One minute after this and North Iowa finished the rampage of the period, with a goal from Tom Nelson (assist to Mike Skogland and Nate DiCasmirro). Saves of the period... Naumenko, 10... Platt, 8.
Third
Clem was put in goal at the start of the third period. It was a half-hearted attempt to give us some fire, I say half-hearted because you can't have heart when the team has no heart. The Bucs scored at 10:34, this goal going to Robertson (assist to Searles and Christian von Trzcinski). But North Iowa came back and attacked and the Bucs let them have another goal. Paul Murhpy got that goal at 9:03 (assist to Fukushima). The Bucs did fight back (is fight the right word?) with one more goal, with 3:51 left a hard-working Searles scored (assist to Pete Fregoe and Derek Robertson). With 1:23 left Des Moines called a time out. With Clem pulled North Iowa scored with 1:07 left, Mike Skogland scored on the empty net (assist to Nate DiCasmirro). Saves of the period... Naumenko, 10 = total, 28... Des Moines, 7 = total 28. Written by Sarah Bendy.
Des Moines 4 - North Iowa 7
After Thoughts: The ship is sinking. Captains to the rudder please, one last hurrah before it goes down to the shadowy depths!? I don't care what anybody else says, last nights game was terrible!!! I have never seen so many loyal fans get up and leave before in my life! They had every right to do that. People don't pay good money to watch a team that isn't even a team. They don't come to watch a bunch of hockey players dressed up in Buccaneer uniforms calling themselves the Buccaneers! They came to watch a team, their team. And the way their team has been playing is not acceptable.
Bucs at North Iowa Huskies
Friday, March 21, 1997
Pre Game
A couple of hundred fans came up for the N.I. game in Mason City, while N.I. itself has only about 400 fans. So it wasn't a big crowd on hand... Our Buc fans made plenty of noise though!... Erik Strand was dressed.
First
16:22 to go in the first and the Bucs still had no shot on goal... yet they weren't doing a bad job at all. With 14:20 to go the Bucs were getting out shot by 4-1. As the period wore on the Huskies continued to out shoot the Bucs. The North Iowa goalie, Darren Henry had 22 saves on the season for the Huskies. Not only was Clemmensen doing a good job, but the defense was clearing out much of the garbage in front as well. Late in the first period, the Buccaneers stepped it up and the offense got going. We brought up the shots on goal and trailed the Huskies with only two shots on goal. Not much happened in the first period. Saves of the period... Henry, 8... Clemmensen, 10
Second
The Huskies got the first power play when Fregoe went for interference 4:41 into the second. Erik Cole had a short handed try on this penalty and after he beat Henry he hit the post! At 8:16 into the period Cole got a goal (assist to Sean Austin). It was a weird goal, it bounced off the back of Henry. With 10:41 to go a few penalties were being dished out as a little tizzy started. Midway into the period Nate DiCasmirro went for tripping. We went into the final minute of the period and the Bucs were playing dump and chase because they couldn't keep it out of the zone. Saves of the period... Henry, 9... Clemmensen, 11.
Third
There was a lot of pressure put on by the Bucs in the third period. Just as North Iowa thought they'd scored, it was waived off due to a high stick. Mike Skogland thought he had the goal at the 15:20 mark, but it was tipped in with a high stick. You have to give Henry some credit for trying to pull a penalty. He went down to the ice losing his stick and gloves. You could hear the fans in the background, most of them Buc fans cheering for their team. It wouldn't be long until the time on the clock would run out and even if the Huskies tied the game we had the momentum, no matter how little we lead by. When the last seconds were still on the clock and Henry was out of his net and back on the bench for the extra attacker Pete Fregoe went off for the empty net. He missed it wide. The Bucs won the first game of the series and Clem got himself another shut out! Saves of the period... Henry, 4, total = 21... Clemmensen, 6, total = 27. Written by Sarah Bendy.
Des Moines 1 - North Iowa 0
Player of the Game: Scott Clemmensen; for the shut out of course!!!
Bucs vs North Iowa Huskies
Saturday, March 22, 1997
Pre Game
The rink was decorated for the big game, tonight we had to win, at least we had to be strong... The loudest section contest was tonight too...
First
We working fairly hard for a change in the first period. At 14:23 North Iowa almost got a goal, but they hit the post. They were so busy celebrating that when the ref told them "no goal" they complained. At 9:04 Dave Boehm and #4 went for slashing coincidental's. With 3:32 left in the period we had a great rush and North Iowa took a penalty by tripping up Erik Cole. Mike Mansson went for another penalty. On this power play Alex Kim scored a goal with 2:36 left in the period (assist to Dave Boehm and Matt Libby). Kim beat him high to the glove side. Saves of the period... Naumenko, 9... Clemmensen, 15
Second
Pete Fregoe went for holding at 19:29 and North Iowa scored on this penalty. At 18:48 Jon Cullen scored the goal (assist to keith Anderson). The Bucs let Lionel Crump just skate in and he scored on this break at 13:45 (assist to 33, Murphy). We were starting to fall apart with two quick goals. Within the next five minutes we were handed three penalties that we did not capitalize on. It wasn't until the end of the second period that we started to put the shots on the net. With 1:26 left we were putting some pressure on the net and attacking it with some force. A tizzy resulted of all this and Jon Cullen and Erik Cole were handed roughing coincidental's, after they were put in the box they were still jawing back and forth. Saves of the period... Naumenko, 15... Clemmensen, 8.
Third
North Iowa started early in the third period by scoring at 18:15 with Shane Fukushima (assist to Paul Murphy and Lionel Crump). Then Cole scored 2:48 into the period (assist to Mike Hanson and Sean Austin). I guess they weren't dead yet! At 14:30 Lionel Crump went for interference. Then 7:12 into the third Derek Robertson scored on that power play (assist to Alex Kim). At 12:10 Hanson went for checking from behind and also got a ten minute misconduct. Just seconds later Mat Snesrud scored (assist to Jon Cullen). At 11:48 Keith Anderson scored (assist to Jon Cullen and Mat Snesrud). Jake Searles scored at 11:19 (assist to Derek Robertson). We only needed one goal to tie the game. The crowd suddenly came alive and soon the announcer was helping us by starting the Buc chant on each side (East and West). Section 9 won the loudest fan section at 5:57, of course I didn't expect the whole ice level section to win, but it would be nice! Des Moines took a time out with 32.1 seconds left. Saves of the period... Naumenko, 14 = total, 38... Clemmensen, 10 = total, 33. Written by Sarah Bendy.
Des Moines 4 - North Iowa 5
After Thoughts: The Bucs played very well, they worked hard and didn't give up. Also the fans were into the game, and I mean they were really into it. It was the loudest I've heard in that arena for a long time
Player of the Game: The whole team, for playing together as a team.
Bucs at North Iowa Huskies
Wednesday, March 26, 1997
Pre Game
There were plenty of Buc fans up there, however not as many as last Friday... Could you imagine having to walk down the stairs in skates to get to the ice? I mean one fall would be embarrassing, not to mention painful!... Jayme Platt was in goal for the Buccaneers and Darren Henry was in goal for North Iowa.
First
1:42 into the game Mike Mansson scored, the Huskies had all the pressure. Things didn't change and at 10:14 Jay Kopischke got a clean shot away (assist to Jon Cullen and Peter Cullen). Lionel Crump got a penalty at 6:14 for what I believe was "holding a stick!" With 5:41 left Keith Anderson took off on a break, but he deeked it against Platt's pads. Some power play for us! With 1:31 left Christian von Trzcinski went for roughing. Platt was making many, many saves, but that meant North Iowa was getting a lot of shots on goal. Shots on goal... North Iowa, 21... Des Moines, 7.
Second
There were 29 seconds remaining on the von Trzcinski penalty at the beginning of the second. Nine seconds into the period Jay Kopischke scored on the power play (assist to Peter Cullen). With 15:19 left Chris Antzoulatos and Ben Johnson both went for unsportsman like conducts. North Iowa scored their fourth goal at 15:02, the goal went to Jon Cullen (assist to Jay Kopischke and Matt Snesrud). Around the twelve minute mark the Buc fans attempted to start a Buc chant, at least we tried! With 8:42 left Paul Murphy went for holding. We didn't do anything with the power play, we just weren't playing. With 4:53 left in the game Erik Strand and #3 both went for unsportsman like conducts, Strand got an extra ten minute misconduct. It was all due to retaliation. The period ended with no signs of improvement. Shots on goal... North Iowa, 12... Des Moines, 9.
Third
The third seemed to pick up a bit, but it also was penalty ridden for the Bucs. At 19:20 Erik Cole went for slashing. Then at 18:04 Adrian Fure went for holding. For 44 seconds we had only three men to their five. At 17:46 Peter Cullen took advantage of the opportunity (assist to #7 and Mat Snesrud). At 14:45 Chris Antzoulatos decided to take on the giant Brian Gaffeney. Gaffeney is 6'5! Both were ejected for fighting and Antzoulatos was also given a ten minute misconduct. At 13:25 Cole went to the penalty box again, this time for slashing. One second short of a minute later Dave Boehm went for high sticking. We had just given North Iowa another 5 on 3 advantage. We were looking a bit better and we killed the penalty off, but it was too late, North Iowa had already done the damage. With 9:32 left we finally got our first goal from Matt Libby (assist to Pete Fregoe and Jake Searles). Mike Mansson fell to the ice at 6:45 and had to be taken out of the game when he finally got up. He had struggled on the ice for several seconds before they even got him up. Keith Anderson went for elbowing at 6:16 and Dave Boehm capitalized at 6:02 on that power play (assist to Alex Kim and Derek Robertson). Jason Furness went for cross checking at 4:11 and then with 49 seconds left Sean went for roughing. So we ended the game on a penalty. Shots on goal... North Iowa, 9 = total, 42... Des Moines, 14 = total, 30. Written by Sarah Bendy.
Des Moines 2 - North Iowa 5
Player of the Game: Erik Strand; for working so hard.
Quotes from fans: For the sake of the people who shared their comments with me I have kept all quotes anonymous.
"What happened? It's like two completely different teams!"
"They're playing worse than last years team!"
"Man, that sucked..."
"They sucked, it's the truth!"
"They're playing like... little kids, like pee wee hockey!"
"They played like sissy's."
"They're playing midget hockey, my brother could do better then them!"
"That was bad."
Bucs vs North Iowa Huskies
Friday, March 28, 1997
Pre Game
It was a do or die situation for the Bucs and I was sick with the flu...I certainly wasn't ready to watch another massacre... Clemmensen was in goal.
First
Exactly a minute into the first period Pete Fregoe went for tripping. North Iowa scored with 15:05 to go. Tom Nelson scored (assist to Nate DiCasmirro and Peter Cullen). 5:53 into the period Jay Kopischke got a penalty for holding. The good thing was that they looked better than they had in the previous games. At 12:42 North Iowa scored again, this time with B.J. Anderson (assist to Shawn Winkler). Sorry I didn't get more, but I had a hard enough time trying to stay awake! Saves of the period... Naumenko, 9... Clemmensen, 8.
Second
Yvon Hopps scored at 4:10 of the second (assist to Chris Antzoulatos). Dave Boehm went for roughing 19 seconds later. We were fighting hard. It was the first time I've seen a good second period. Sean Austin scored at 12:12 (assist to Chris Antzoulatos and Derek Robertson), the Bucs had the game tied. But with five minutes left Shane Fukushima got a goal that put North Iowa up by one more (assist to Paul Murphy). We started struggling after this, and North Iowa seemed to have the mental edge. Saves of the period... Naumenko, 6... Clemmensen, 17.
Third
The third showed a change, we couldn't break it out and the fire we'd had was waning. The only points we'd gotten were from the defense, the offense seemed dead. However Clemmensen was doing a good job. With 11:18 left in the game (unless we tied it, then there'd be more in the game) Clem stopped a puck with his helmet. As a result the helmet flew off his head! I give a lot of credit to the crowd, they were into the game from start to finish. They never let up! It was the best effort I've seen all year. Clemmensen was pulled with about a minute left and with 58.7 seconds on the clock we called a time out. It was a hectic last few seconds and the clock was ticking away, telling a tale of the last game. With only 3 seconds left it came as close as it was going to, to getting in that is. I swear it was in, but as the final seconds flew away the sad story was on it's last leg. The north Iowa players skated with hands in the air, jubilant in front of a quiet crowd. The players saluted their adoring fans once more before leaving the ice, in front of the home crowd for the last time. I cried along with some of the players. Saves for the period... Naumenko, 9 = total 24... Clemmensen, 13 = total, 38. Written by Sarah Bendy.
Des Moines 2 - North Iowa 3
Player of the Game: Yvon Hopps; for getting a goal before the season ended.
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