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January Game Commentaries
Bucs at Omaha Lancers I decided to run into Omaha and scalp some tickets; I planned it kind of late. I did get in though, and had the privilege to sit next to the "Skunkman." All the people I sat next to were wonderfully nice and asked me to come back and visit during the play-offs. Note: If you don't want to hear over and over again about Scott Clemmensen, don't read this rant; this rant has to be devoted to him. He was the biggest star of the game. The plain truth at the beginning of the first period was that Omaha was out playing us. We would have had no hope but for Clemmensen. He was simply amazing. Marcel Kuris did his duty too, that is when the Bucs put a shot on goal. You can tell that Omaha loves Andrew Tortorella. When he came in alone to shoot on net and shot wide, Omaha fans still stood up and cheered for him. At 13:51 Mike Lephart came close to getting a goal on a one-timer, but was stopped by Clemmensen. Again at 12:33 as the Lancers set up another play, Clemmensen stopped it. The fans around me started mumbling about how good he was. That was only the beginning of their mumbles. With 9:45 left in the period Scott Clemmensen was doing more than great, even if the team itself was asleep. I guess we know why Clemmensen is going to the all-star game! At 1:01 behind Clemmensen both Alex Kim and Neil Breen got called for roughing coincidental's. Not only did they get called for the two minutes, but Christian Laden also got called for tripping, giving Omaha the power play. No fear though, Clemmensen was solid on that power play. A minute and five seconds into the second period Scott Matzka scored through the five hole on Clemmensen (assist to Neil Breen). I knew it was a matter of time before they scored. However I wasn't sure how many more goals they would (rather could) score, Clemmensen was too hot. This game...a battle of the goalies perhaps? Only if we would test Marcel, which we were not. Both Kuris and Clemmensen will be playing in the all-stars together. Very, very good. At 12:03 I saw a goal that was simply beautiful. Derek Robertson scored a powerplay goal as Alex Kim passed to Dave Boehm, who passed to Robertson in front of the net (assist to Boehm and Kim of course!). Kuris was completely off guard. I couldn't believe how many times the puck left the playing surface! Kuris sent it flying out at 9:38 and was given a "delay of game." Nate Mauer served that one for him. Ahh... the life of a goalie! Not having to serve your penalties. With 1:23 left in the period the red light went on and the Lancer building stood up to cheer for what they thought was a goal. But as the clock kept ticking people sat down, grumbling as they did. Well, wouldn't you have been embarrassed? To give you an idea of how well Omaha was playing the total shots for the first two periods for Omaha was 29, Des Moines had only 8. Gotta say a big "Hi!" to Chenea Green! Chenea (a Buc fan) was in the jeep shoot out during the second intermission in Omaha. She had traveled with her other friends and then got to shoot in front of a Lancer crowd. We got a power play in the third period (not that we hadn't already had a few) but nothing happened. And I thought we had a good power play? Clemmensen just continued his outstanding play through this period too. At 12:16 he almost let one slip under him, but he twisted over backwards and smothered the puck with his glove. I was beginning to day dream, I guess that's what happens when you stay up to late on AOL the night before! Just as it was looking like it might go into overtime (hideous thought) Bobby Haglund scored on a breakaway down by the red line at 9:44 (assist to Garrett Stafford). He went to the backhand and beat Kuris through the five hole. There are a lot of unhappy fans in Omaha with Adrian Fure. I had to listen to complaints, honestly I didn't have anything to do with Fure's acting! (Maybe Fure learned a few tricks from Omaha's thespian, KJ Vorhees). Fure got cross checked from behind and fell in a heap behind the net. Nate Mauer was given a cross checking penalty and a ten minute misconduct. Fure continued to lay there, not moving a muscle. The crowd wasn't a bit happy about this call. Maybe it didn't help that he was going to come back out and play right after acting like he was so hurt. Yes he was cut and bleeding. You know, there are three general rules in every hockey barn. 1) Your team is perfect and true 2) the other team is evil as sin 3) and the ref's can never do anything right. With 3:14 left we were about to add another penalty to the scoreboard. Pete Fregoe was already in for slashing and the ref called a penalty on Clemmensen. This one I didn't agree with. I realize how many people in the arena (Lancer fans) said that he did it on purpose, they saw it. Here's what I saw. A Lancer and a Buc were near the net, I saw the Buc fall down and Clemmensen started to lose his balance. Clemmensen started falling back into the net and all of a sudden the net went as Scott fell also. He was called for a delay of game. Clemmensen just lifted his glove as if in question. We were now down two men. We killed off the Fregoe penalty and had 1:07 left on the other penalty (Boehm was serving this). People poured out of the arena with 42 seconds left and Omaha pulled Marcel Kuris. How could these people leave? I've seen team's score with .5 seconds left. Well it didn't happen this time, but that's okay. So you see, there wasn't much more to talk about but Clemmensen. Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 2 - Omaha 1
Bucs vs Twin Cities Vulcans The crowd seemed especially loud Saturday night. Everyone seemed very... emboldened. They were ready to be entertained. Alex Kim was out for the night due to a back sprain. This meant that Erik Strand got to play, it's a good thing too. At 16:39 Todd Kelzenberg had to fix his skate blade (perhaps he was just looking at it, you know, getting a breather) and while he was doing this the linesman borrowed a water bottle off the Bucs bench. He was so thirsty with all that hard work! At 12:11 Peter Fregoe saved a breakaway and tripped up the Vulcan. Of course he was given the penalty. Bobby Haglund first put the Bucs on the board With 11:27 left in the first period (assist to Matt Libby and Sean Austin). Then at 9:06 Erik Strand scored his second goal of the season (unassisted). With 3:36 left in the period Doug Schueller and Derek Robertson both slid into the net and were called for roughing. They didn't just slide into the net, Schueller slugged Robertson while he was in there. I couldn't see what happened after that because a swarm of players gathered around them. Through all the pushing and shoving the ref and linesman eventually sorted it out. Surprisingly in the first period Twin Cities had more shots on goal than Des Moines, with 14 to our 8. I have to mention that Tiffany Rice was chosen to shoot for the All Sports Cash Shot during the first intermission. Her first shot was for twenty-five dollars. Having made the first shot, she went on to shoot for fifty; alas, it went wide. However she got a gift certificate for it. It seemed like at the beginning of the second period we were a little sluggish. But at 13:19 Adrian Fure scored (assist to Yvon Hopps) so they weren't doing too bad. Mike Pudlick for Twin Cities was having a hard time sitting down in the bench. With 9:52 left he sat down and missed the bench. With arms flying in the air he disappeared from sight. How embarrassing. 10:28 into the second Erik Cole scored (assist to Adrian Fure). The Bucs were ahead 4-0. It's easy to be happy and cheer when your team is winning four to nothing'. You know, I love my Da (father), but he's one of those annoying fans, you know 'em. Every sport knows 'em. He's kinda loud. Oh well, I've seen much worse. With 1:41 left Clemmensen was on the ice hurt. He was holding his helmet as if in pain. Not only did the fans put up a fuss, but the team huddled around him as Marty took a look at him. The Urbandale native has become well loved. I understand that what a ref see's and what you might see is completely different, but really! At 13:03 Strand was called for holding, but Nick Stephens had hit him from behind. Well, at least Stephens was also called for roughing. As the game progressed and Clemmensen continued to save everything that came his way the crowd started getting to their feet for him. Then 12:57 into the third period Hags got his second goal of the night (assist to Mikhail Saliyenko). When Fregoe was checked from behind by Corey Hessler (6:15 left in the game), Hessler was taken out of the game. He not only got a checking from behind but also a five minute major and a game misconduct. Fregoe just lay on the ice completely still. When Fregoe finally did get up he didn't finish the rest of the game, but went back to the locker room. Derek Robertson 16:57 into the third period scored the Bucs final goal on the power play (assist to Haglund and Dave Boehm). With 43.4 seconds left in the period the Vulcan club looked defeated. It was just seconds before Clemmensen was to get his much deserved shutout, his first with the Buccaneer team. And when the seconds did tick away and the buzzer sounded the whole team came out and celebrated with him. Clemmensen ended up being defenseman of the game. However, did you realize that the Vulcans still out shot us, 37-29? Makes it all that much sweeter doesn't it? Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 6 - Twin Cities 0
Bucs at Dubuque Fighting Saints Scott Mikesch, former coach of the Waterloo Blackhawks, took over the coaching job for the Fighting Saints on November 24th. Dubuque is a team that's looking towards next year and is very defense minded. Jayme Platt would be starting in goal tonight, for the first time since December 28th. Despite being out for so many games he's still the top goalie in the league with a 93% save percentage. Josh Blackburn for Dubuque is also a good goalie and he is headed to the all-star game, despite the many games his team has lost. Pete Fregoe was out for unspecified a "violation of team rules." As coach said, "he's taking the night off." 1:10 into the first period Dubuque got their first penalty, giving us a power play. We are second in the league on the power play and Dubuque is ninth on the penalty kill. In the early going's of the first period Platt only had to stretch his limbs to save one shot, because the Buc's were putting the pressure on with five shots already on Blackburn. But at 10:02 Platt started to prove himself as he made many outstanding saves. At 17:51 we were working on our second power play, Matt Doman of Dubuque being in the box. By the end of the period there was no score and Platt had made six saves to Blackburn's twelve. You know as you start looking at the standings you begin to wonder who else will make it in the playoffs. You wonder with only a half interested mind set. I remember watching the standings last year and wondering if we would make it - Plotting who would have to lose. I don't have to worry this year. I just sit back and watch. At that point in our game (beginning of second period) the other two teams we'd be playing this weekend were losing. That was good, very good. As for us, we weren't losing... but we weren't winning. It was a tight, defensive game. With 6:28 left in the second period Sean Austin gave Dubuque their first power play when he went for holding. The Bucs then went down another man at 15:14 into the second. This was caused by Matt Libby who went for high sticking. For a few seconds the Saints would have a five on three at their disposal. It seemed only appropriate to mention that the Bucs are second in the league in short handed goals. Rochester being ahead of us with six short handed goals. Unfortunately for us, Fregoe has two of the three short handed goals . He was definitely missed in this game, that's all I'll say on that subject. We were being out shot already 15-4 in the second period alone. By the end there was still no score and Blackburn had made a total (from two periods of play) of 15 saves. Platt had made a total of 21. It was a good period for Dubuque, not for us. In the third period Libby was playing goalie. He made a great save when he swept the puck out of the crease. Platt had originally saved it, but when it came loose it soon became dangerous. Libby fortunately took care of it. You know sometimes it seems like you just can't get away from Andrew Tortorella! While listening I heard that Tort got three goals in the Omaha game against Lincoln. Omaha was leading Lincoln 5-1. So far it had been a boring game...I wondered if Platt would be getting a shut out. Then at 10:06 things changed, for the better. Erik Strand got the first goal of the game (assist to Yvon Hopps). It is his second in the last two games he's played, see what happens when he plays? He beat Josh Blackburn high over the shoulders. Jayme had now recorded 32 saves, it was proving to be a good game for him. Then at 12:00 even, Mikhail Saliyenko came out of his drought when he deeked Blackburn out after skating around defenseman Kris Harris (assist to Dave Boehm and Garrett Stafford). The Buccaneer defense was doing a good job. Jed Holtzman went for holding at 4:19, it would be the Bucs third power play. They had been unsuccessful on the first two. But 16:37 into the period Matt Libby scored on a one timer to give them the power play goal (assist to Adrian Fure and Erik Cole). We were 60 seconds away from win #11, the longest winning streak in Buc history. Platt was also close to a shut-out, but with a mere 28 seconds left on the clock Dubuque scored. Tom Puorro quickly scored the Saints first... And only...goal. We had almost gone eight complete periods of without letting in a goal! What a wonderful game for Jayme Platt! Even if he didn't get the shut-out, welcome back Jayme. Platt had a total of 36 saves to Blackburn's 23 saves. So we won, 3-1, would you have guessed the outcome at the beginning of the third period? Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 3 - Dubuque 1
Bucs vs Green Bay Gamblers As everyone (possibly) already knows, Mikhail Saliyenko was traded to Dubuque after Friday's game. We got Tom Puorro in his stead. Puorro a 6'2'', 200 lbs forward is from Amesbury, MA. Tonight the Bucs would be looking for their twelfth victory in a row. With 15:33 to go in the period, Puorro got his first penalty as a Buccaneer. He was called for checking from behind and was also given a ten minute misconduct. With just seconds left on the penalty (6:22 into the first) Matt Golden scored the first goal of the game (assist to Komar and Gordon). The third place Gamblers (first in their division) were ahead 1-0 . But with 12:07 to go in the first period Mike Hanson scored his first of many goals on the night (assist to Cole and Austin). Again, with 8:43 left, Hanson scored (assist to Cole and Trainor). At 7:52 not only did Green Bay get a goal, but Adrian Fure was called for roughing. Jason Cupp got that goal (assist to Pugliese and Granato). Almost every game a call for someone to move their car is blasted across the loudspeaker to belittle them. This time it was the Green Bay bus! A call for the bus driver rang out, "please move your bus, it is illegally parked." With 4:26 left in the period Chad Stauffacher got a penalty for high sticking. We needed a power play, actually we needed to score on one, but it wasn't happening. Hanson was so close to getting his hat trick, but then he and Craig Pierce were both put away for coincidental's. The crowd was into the game Saturday night, but they where not only into it, they where ruthless. When, with 2:52 left, Doc Berg was fixing a Gambler up the crowd set in (again) with "whiner!" They had been yelling quite frequently, and they weren't through. When we had a little over a minute and a half left in the period and Pete Fregoe got mugged by Ryan Forbes the crowd set in then too - especially when Pete was put in the corner for roughing along with Forbes. But you see, the only reason Fregoe didn't fight was because he wasn't able too! He got a few scratches in, but Forbes smelled blood and went at him before Fregoe had a chance to even breathe. With a mere 28.6 seconds left Erik Cole got a goal (assist to Hanson and Trainor). It sure is fun to watch Cole celebrate after he scores! He dances all the way to the bench and then goes crazy with the other team mates, giving them high five's. During the second period we went down two men within seconds of each other. It was Christian Laden and Fregoe who went, around six minutes into the period. Laden went for roughing and Fregoe went for tripping. I guess Green Bay decided to test our penalty kill? Robertson, Hopps, and Fure among some of the others were helping to kill it. They were (most) excellent! When the Bucs finally killed off the penalty the crowd got to their feet and cheered. It was louder than I've heard it in a long time. Perhaps it had something to do with the number 12. But when Green Bay tied it at 10:40 with Bucky Gruber (assist to Golden and Fontas) the crowd got quieter. It was a frustrating game in the way of officiating. It seemed like the ref missed everything. I suppose that's normal, eh? But Green Bay did get their share of penalties at the end of the period. With 21 seconds left on a roughing penalty to Pierce, Matt Golden went for high sticking. The Golden penalty would carry through to the third period since there were only 13 seconds left in the second. I have this thing with ice cream, and when the sign said "peanut butter fudge" I couldn't help myself! And so, though there was much action and mostly in front of me (not good since that was Clemmensen's end) I was paying more attention to the cone at the beginning of the third period. I finally finished it with 12:02 left. There wasn't much in the way of notes before this! At 11:29 Chad Stauffacher got a penalty for cross checking. This was quite a power play for us and Garrett Stafford did a great job keeping it in the attack zone. We didn't score on it though (we didn't score on any power plays) and when it was over we jumped ahead with the lead. Dave Boehm skated down to the net on a breakaway and scored at 12:19 (assist to Sean Austin). We broke the tie and were ahead 4- 3. About a minute later Mike Hanson put the biscuit in the basket and got his hat trick (assist to Bobby Haglund and Erik Cole). The crowd was simply ecstatic, and so was the team. Green Bay took a time out with 2:35 left, it would not help. The adrenalin was already rushing through the Buccaneer clan, team members and fans alike. Of course I was so excited that I had a stomach after that ice cream! Never eat ice cream when you have a close game like this one! As has lately been the story Green Bay out shot us 42-33. Though it's something that could be worried about we still seem to win, so it must not be too big a factor. Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 5 - Green Bay 3
Bucs at Lincoln Stars Our trip to Lincoln had to include Valentino's, the original Valentino's! The table we sat at was the same table my Dad and his buddies used to have in his... younger, college... days. Back when it was the "only" Valentino's. Our server, Aaron, was a fellow hockey lover. He'd played eight seasons of hockey in Omaha. His former team, the Knights, used to play against the Jr. Bucs. Hi Aaron! You know, somebody from Saskatchewan has a very noisy car (it's an Accord by the way) ! Before we even got into the arena the car alarm was set off twice. With loud siren's the light's flashed on and off. If you even looked at that Saskatchewan Accord, it would go off. I wonder which player belonged to it? The Ice Box was an old horse barn on the fair grounds and what a sound system they had! Very loud. They had quite a pro shop too, with plenty of merchandise. Enough about that let's get back to the Bucs. Erik Cole would still be playing, but with a broken toe. Alex Kim was still out with his back sprain. Adrian Fure was walking on his crutches, he'd sprained his ankle making a save the night before. So we were laden with injuries among some of our best players. At 18:02 Cole was limping off the ice, I wonder why? Section K in the Ice Box was the rowdy section. Unfortunately they forgot their "trick bag!" When Christian Laden (at 11:09) was called for hooking section K jeered him all the way to the box. Okay so he kinda took Chad Kline down, it was needed! 10:48 into the game Bryan Lundbohm scored (assist to Suderman and Shaw). Silly string floated down on top of us, do you suppose they knew we were Buc fans? With 2:14 left the puck hit the post and went wide. Boy did Clemmensen get lucky! But a minute later Lincoln got their second goal on a partial break by Nick Fohr (assist to Shaw). Lincoln out shot us in that period 15-7. With 18:25 left in the second period Justin Shaw wouldn't let go of our new guy, Tom Puorro. Both ended up going for...delay of game? We were really struggling, but we can always seem to win when we struggle. With Lincoln however.....? At 14:53 the net toppled over Clemmensen hitting him in the back, did a Star perhaps, send it crashing down? 11:16 into the second period Bill Trainor scored the Bucs first goal on a slick one-timer. (assist to Austin and Hanson). Christian Laden and Austin Messer were both down on the other end of the ice picking on each other. When Laden was put into the box, Benny (Ryan Bencurik) hit him in the back of the head. Messer and Laden were both given roughing penalties and the only extra penalty dished out after all this was to Laden for hooking. What about Bencurik?! You know what I noticed? There's a touch of Omaha in the crowd. Perhaps it's fans who have defected from Omaha and traveled to Lincoln for their weekly dose of hockey. Garrett Stafford got his first goal with 2:35 left in the second period when he blasted it in from the point (assist to Austin and Cole)! They all celebrated with him as they gathered around him. What a beauty that goal was. With 1:51 left Rob Kellogg got a penalty, we needed this power play so we could try and take the lead away from them. Not even a minute into the power play Stafford was called for high sticking. This took care of the power play and when Jason Furness kept arguing with the ref he got called for a misconduct. You saw it coming the crowd could see it coming, but Furness couldn't stop. And he hung his head when it was called like he knew it was coming. Lincoln out shot us again, but not by as wide a margin, 11-7. It would have been nice to use my voice again, but by the third period my voice was practically gone. By 16:11 Clemmensen was making some great saves. Then with 15:29 left Chris Antzoulatos went for boarding. We were just getting too many penalties. At 14:45 Chad Kline scored on a garbage goal as Clemmensen was screened (assist to Rich Anderson and Chad Mazurak). We were behind again. Matt Libby took a high stick at 11:05 from Bryan Lundbohm. As Libby sat on the ice bleeding Lundbohm was given a five minute major for that one and a ten minute misconduct. (I thought it was supposed to be a game misconduct?) But a half minute into the power play Boehmer (Dave Boehm) got a penalty for holding. Then at 8:58 Cole went for roughing. That completely took care of our power play. I started to get that sinking-losing feeling. With so many wins, I almost forgot what it felt like. Hmm, I never have liked it! With five minutes left we had to tie it to even hope to win it. Lincoln took a time out with a minute left (actually a minute and two seconds). The fans got to their feet and cheered. And with 41 seconds left Derek Reynolds scored, it was over. They had beaten us for the fourth time this season. Lincoln had 19 shots on net that period, we had only 9. We play Lincoln two more times now, next time Lincoln, next time.... Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 2 - Lincoln 4
Bucs at Fargo Ice Sharks It's games like these that I don't even want to talk about, let alone write about! (Not that there is anything to rant about) We were getting some of our injured players back, Alex Kim and Adrian Fure were both playing again. Our new German player, Christian von Trzcinski , was on the ice. Von Trzcinski is a defenseman and the paper listed him as a 6'6" giant (he's not that tall!). We were playing against a team that is grounded in defense. There record at home is 10 wins and 5 losses (that's now changed). And did you know there's 58, count that... 58, inches of snow up in Fargo? I guess when the Sharks scored 31 seconds into the game it was bound to be ugly. The goal went to John Spicer (assist to Jerry Germander and Ryan Severson). Then about five minutes later they scored again on a wrap around with Jeff Panzer (assist to Benji Wolke and Andy Anderson). In the middle of the period a goal light wouldn't turn off. On examination they found out the goal judge kept the light on because they needed to fix the glass. The glass was broken and needed replacing. This delay took about five minutes. It was good, it gave the Bucs time to regroup and maybe the Sharks would cool down a bit? Guess again. Okay, sure, Bobby Haglund tried to score against the goalie, Goehring. But nothing happened. And then, when Erik Cole forced a penalty on Andy Anderson... nothing happened. Sure the Ice Sharks are 86% on their penalty kill, but? Our offense was asleep. Shots on net? Well the Sharks had double the amount with 14 to our 8. Cole was doing well in the second period, but he was given a double minor (along with a Fargo player, but he only got a minor) and that gave Fargo the power play. This wasn't good when we were struggling to even get shots on the net! With 2:40 left we were getting some opportunities, but that didn't help! We needed to score. Watch this one, here's the nail in the coffin! With 1:47 left in the period Mike Hanson and Wolke both got penalties, however Wolke got a double minor. This was all mixed up, first we thought he was just going to get a misconduct, then he was given the double minor. Anyway, this put us on the power play. But just seconds into the power play, and 18:28 into the period, Panzer scored short handed (assist to Chris Sikich). Now this was heart wrenching. Platt made a total of 19 saves for the two periods and Goehring had made a total of 16. Not too bad... But in the third period it just got worse. The Bucs where still struggling and getting absolutely nothing done. Jayme Platt (who had the start) was making some good saves, but that was about it. Both Cole and Bill Trainor had some chances, but nothing happened. Then Benji Wolke beat Platt by the five hole with 11:14 to go. Chris Antzoulatos and Josh Marino tied up, I mean they really tied up. A long fight ensued. I felt sorry for Josh, because Antzoulatos worked him over. After this little incident the refs decided to give us another penalty for instigation (Antzoulatos). This is when it got ugly. Around the ten minute mark Chris Sikich scored, and after this it was all Sharks. There little fins cutting through the ice as they came towards you. Wouldn't you get scared if you saw that coming at you? Now do you see what media has done to us? Because of Jaws we now have this fear of sharks! I told you there was nothing to rant about.... With 5:25 to go Shawn Endres scored the Sharks sixth goal. I was beginning to wonder if the Bucs had stayed in Des Moines, did they even come up? When you thought it couldn't get worse it did (it always does you know). Jerry Germander scored 15:37 into the period (assist to Spicer and Severson). Was one goal too much to ask? All we wanted was one goal! I have a favor to ask of you fans. Would someone please send Michele new questions? The feature of Ask Michele (who will then ask the Buccaneers) for the Fox Kids Club has been stuck on the same question for three months! It starts sounding like a broken record. Well, with a minute left in the period and still no goal from us, you begin thinking about tomorrow night. Let's hope we do a little better, tomorrow all I ask is for one goal, just one. By the way, it was Karl Goehring's third shutout of the season! Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 0 (don't look at that awful 0) - Fargo 7
Bucs at Fargo Ice Sharks Would we dominate tonight? After Friday night's slaughter would we have enough strength to come back? I would have been mad if I had lost 7-0. Christian von Trzcinski told us they were very mad. He said something about wanting to be number one, and only number one. At least Saturday night I was hearing our players names over the broadcast. Friday night it was all Fargo, Saturday was a different story. Garrett Stafford, Erik Strand, and Erik Cole were all sitting out. Scott Clemmensen was getting the start. With 5:07 to go in the first period Alex Kim scored (assist to Sean Austin and Dave Boehm). This was also a power play goal that was scored eleven seconds into the power play. I didn't realize just how much we've missed Kim. 18:08 into the period Mike Hanson scored (assist to Chris Antzoulatos and Christian Laden). I heard that many members of Hanson's family were there, it's always great when you can score in front of your family. In the first period Goehring had made 12 saves and Clemmensen 9. That means we had 14 shots on net, sounds better than the last couple of weeks eh? When Yvon Hopps took a penalty at the beginning of the second period Clemmensen was peppered with shots. Fargo fans were sure several times that the puck had gone into the net. Clemmensen got lucky too, when he missed the puck with his glove it just went over the cross bar. At 3:43 Austin and Ryan Severson both went for coincidental's. Austin has been a little feisty lately. Unfortunately the Sharks Josh Marino scored 16:46 into the second period (assist to Chris Sikich and Jeff Panzer), the Bucs hadn't completely cleared it out. The momentum was switched in the second period because Clemmensen had 14 saves to Goehring's 8. With 15:42 to go in the third period Panzer was attacking Clemmensen. After he skated in on a break putting his first shots on net he put several more on net, Clemmensen stopped all this. Matt Libby was then given a penalty at the end of Panzer's attack, which the Bucs successfully killed off. So far the Bucs had only one shot on net. At 10:49 Andy Anderson was given a penalty. 56 seconds into that power play Jeff Panzer scored a short-handed goal (unassisted). It was the second night in a row they got a short handed goal. We put on some pressure right after this goal, but Fargo continued to roll. 12:45 into the period Benji Wolke scored (assist to Jerry Gernander and Panzer). Fargo was ahead of us 3-2. A little over a minute later Derek Robertson scored (assist to Jake Searles and Adrian Fure). This was good to see, since Robertson lately has been in a rut. At 4:29 we were sure Fargo got another goal, but Clemmensen made a "big save!" With 1.7 seconds left the game was tied at 3, would we go into overtime? I think so. It would be a five minute over time and shoot out if nothing was resolved in those five minutes. With 1:50 left in over time still nothing had happened. Josh Marino had a nice shot on net, but it was swept away by Haglund. You could hear the crowd cheer as the Sharks came into the zone with Shawn Endres. They quieted as nothing happened. It was to be a shoot out. I really hate shoot outs! We have not won one yet. It was Goehring against Clemmensen and five other players from each team were to be picked. Fargo shot first with John Spicer and on a wrist shot he scored. Tom Puorro for the Bucs was next, Goehring saved the wrist shot. Jeff Panzer shot against Clemmensen as Fargo's second shooter; he scored. Bill Trainor was our second choice and he scored on a wrist shot. Jerry Gernander next shot for Fargo and forced Clemmensen down then shot in the empty net. As Derek Robertson got ready to shoot breathing room was getting pinched tighter. Goehring stopped Robertson's shot. Fargo started pouring out of their box celebrating, but it wasn't over yet. Ryan Severson got to decide whether it was over or not. As he skated down to Clemmensen, he scored. Now it was over. With another shoot out ending much the same way as all the others had. We are a very skilled team that had managed only one goal during that shoot out, that goal coming from Bill Trainor. Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 3 - Fargo 4 (with the bonus point for winning the shoot out)
USHL All-Star Game & Skill Competition In the skills competition on January 20, the south team definitely dominated. However the north team had very strong goaltending. Des Moines Adrian Fure, Pete Fregoe, Derek Robertson, Alex Kim, Erik Cole, and Scott Clemmensen all made the All-Stars. Monday and Tuesday were busy days in the Buccaneer office and all the news channels had live previews and interviews. For fastest skater Rochester's Jeff Turner won the competition with a time of 13.8 seconds. The south squad beat the north team with an average of 14.2 seconds overall. In the team obstacle relay (stick handling) the south squad won again. Andrew Tortorella (Omaha) was the ultimate winner in the relay. Doug Schmidt from Waterloo recorded a 93 mph on the hardest shot and beat all competing players. The south's average with 89 won it for the team. On the accuracy competition our own Derek Robertson won it with 4 out of 6 shots. Team south won with an average of 35%. The goalies were tested next in the rapid fire contest. Andy Kollar of Fargo stopped all ten shots to win that contest. The north won the team competition with 73%. On the breakaway contest Josh Blackburn of Dubuque stopped 5 out of 6 and won that one. The night after the skills competition was the All Star game. Face-off was at 7:30. The North's head coach was Don Granato (Green Bay), the assistant coach was Doc DelCastillo of Rochester. For the south team Scott Owens (Des Moines) was head coach and the assistant Mike Hastings of Omaha. It was an all around fun atmosphere. The light's were turned out and smoke was coming from the entrances to the ice. Lights, colored and shaped flashed all over the arena. Music played as Andrew Tortorella got booed plenty, but everybody else on the south team were hero's for the night. 14:53 into the first period The north team scored with Jason Cupp of Green Bay (assist to Billy Pugliese also of Green Bay and John Peterman of Rochester). A little less than two minutes later Derek Reynolds scored off a feed from Erik Cole (assist to Erik Cole). It was the beginning of an onslaught by Reynolds of the night. Around the eleven minute mark Scott Clemmensen was down and just as the North team had a wide open net, they hit the post. Pete Fregoe scored the second goal for the South team at 10:55 (assist to Derek Robertson and Scott Matzka). There were plenty of T.V. cameras present. There were about four of them all down at the opposite corner following every movement of the puck, moving in unison. With over five minutes left Robertson had a breakaway, but he didn't score. Seconds later Kevin Swider and Andrew Tortorella both had a break and feeding off each other they tried to get another goal. It was missed. Mike Lephart (Omaha) scored just seconds later (4:52) giving the South a two goal lead (assist to Doug Schmidt and Kevin Swider of Omaha). 16:07 into the period Shane Kalbrener (Sioux City) scored on a beautiful play (assist to Brent Vorhees of Omaha and Jeff Carlson of Sioux City). About 45 seconds later the South scored with Jeff Turner (assist to Ryan Wetterberg of Rochester). Clemmensen was in goal for the first period and had eight saves. I have many reliable sources, I am also an observant person, and with all this on my side I completely forgot who was in goal for the North squad in each period. Since the stats aren't available yet, you'll just have to wait. Or if you can remember who was in goal in each period, e mail me and rub it in my face for not paying attention. For the North team ten shots were saved. At 4:18 of the second period Scott Matzka of Omaha scored (assist to Derek Robertson and Pete Fregoe). And who said that the Lancers and Bucs hate each other! The South team was ahead of the North team 5-2, but the North division was soon to cut the lead. With 12:47 left Doug Schueller of Twin Cities scored (assist to Tom Nelson of North Iowa and Keith Anderson of North Iowa). Nine seconds later the North team got their fourth goal from T.J. Guidarelli of Twin Cities (assist to Keith Anderson). Saves in that period were six for the North squad and twice the amount with 12 for the South. Josh Blackburn was in goal for the South team that period. The third period was all Southern. With 18:51 left Doug Schmidt scored (assist to Ryan Bencurik and Jeff Carlson). About a minute later Derek Reynolds got his second goal of the night (assist to Erik Cole and Alex Kim). 14:56 into the period Mike Lephart scored (assist to Andrew Tortorella). The last goal in the game was Derek Reynolds', with 1:37 left in the period he scored his hat trick (assist to Alex Kim). It was a high scoring game, but then that was expected for an all-star team. MVP of the all-stars: Derek Reynolds of course, with the hat trick. The happy forward was greeted by all fans and patted on the back by the team mates. He just grinned a lopsided grin and showed the gap in his front teeth. Written by Sarah Bendy.
Bucs vs Rochester Mustangs Rochester as of late hasn't been playing well. They had moved from the top to the bottom of their division within several weeks. We needed a win since the weekend before we lost a double-header to Fargo. Erik Cole, Christian von Trzcinski, and Erik Strand were all sitting out. Jayme Platt was getting the start. The Bucs came out hitting, especially Bobby Haglund who was checking and hitting hard! Yep, Hags was hitting hard; at 15:55 he was called for boarding. The Bucs looked good, their passing wasn't crisp and their play wasn't finesse, however they played with emotion and they played hard. It was a dump and chase style game. At 7:46 Mike Hanson and Chris Zaleski both went for roughing. With 3:31 left in the period Derek Robertson and Jay Vancik also went for roughing coincidental's. When Bobby ran over Dean Weasler he was called for interference and Weasler were called for roughing. Rochester's Weasler had six saves and Platt had seven. At 17:06 of the second period Hags hit a Mustang, and as he and the player went flying Bobby looked as dazed as the Mustang himself. Jeff Bernard went for interference at 13:25 as he ran Boehmer into the net. 11:18 into the second Pete Fregoe scored the first goal (assist to Robertson). There was plenty of roughing going on, #4 Brad went for roughing with 5:01 left. Before this Yvon Hopps and Zac Gross had both gone for coincidental's. With 4:03 left the Bucs were on the power play, the Bucs had plenty of pressure. Rochester had ten saves and Des Moines had twelve. The Bucs weren't out shot by as wide a margin this time, only one shot. In the past month we have been continuously out shot. Thirty-three seconds into the third period Rochester scored trying the game at one. Aaron Coleman got the goal as Jayme was down, putting it up into the net (assist to Jeff Bernard and Mike Stuart). The Bucs cooled down after this. With 2:24 left in the third Garrett Stafford changed the whole atmosphere when he blasted the puck in (unassisted). The whole team was celebrating, Coach Owens was clapping, and the crowd was going wild. Rochester took a time out with a minute and thirty-two seconds left. The crowd kept cheering and making a racket. With 20 seconds left until our victory the noise in the crowd increased. Now I realize I don't always say wonderful things about other players of other teams, but honestly Jeff Turner, you don't have to do that! Because with 15.3 seconds left he knew it was over and slammed his stick on the glass in front of me. And for the third time that night I got sprayed by water from between the boards (at least I hope it was water). Fregoe got offense of the game and Stafford and Platt shared the honors of defensive players of the game. Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 2- Rochester 1
Bucs vs Fargo Ice Sharks Pre-Game First Period Mike Hanson scored 2:57 into the first period (assist to Bill Trainor). I like it when the play is down on the opposite end of where I sit, which is the first and third period. We got a power play at 8:39 when Tim Murphy got a roughing penalty. Benji Wolke went after the ref at 7:10, he blew up and went wild. It took a linesman, his coach, and his team mates to keep him away from the ref. Alex Kim had given him a high sticking. As a result of this Kim was tossed with a game ejection and a four minute high sticking (sound familiar?). You should have seen the way the coach jumped out to Wolke and then how Wolke acted once he regained his strength. Tell me, can someone that hurt respond with that much passionate dislike to the ref? Wolke acted like a baby out there and ought to have gotten a misconduct for his frenzy. At 4:11 Josh Marino took Erik Cole down and was given a hooking penalty. We were on the power play, but that helped little. Fargo had a total of fourteen saves and Des Moines had twelve. Second Period The fans disliked Benji from the moment he pulled his little....fit, for lack of a better word. So in the second period when Wolke got put in the box for a two minute cross checking the fans booed him all the way to the box and gave him a loud reception when he stepped into it. It was all very heart warming and touching. Crazy Larry was called down by the crowd around fifteen minutes into the period. They chanted his name until he obliged them by stepping out and starting a cheer. Just as the cheer started the Sharks tied it up with 4:02 left in the second with Ryan Severson (assist to Jeff Panzer). Larry was silent and so was the crowd (except for the lone Shark fans who made the long trip). Mike Hanson came to the rescue with 3:52 left in the period when he scored his second goal (assist to Erik Cole). We out shot Fargo again in that period with twelve shots to their 9. Third Period You know I really hate colds! I have one now and this stupid cold causes me to stop and blow my nose every five minutes. It's a terrible thing! You know how it is? I'm rambling, which is not uncommon for me so let's get back to the game. 7:39 into the period Wolke slashed Clemmensen (who was in goal by the way and did a great job!). Boy, did the crowd hate him then! I'm sorry, but when you slash the towns beloved Clemmensen you better hope you have an escort out of the building. Benji Wolke must have been in a bad mood! With 3:57 to go Jerry Gernander scored (assist to Shawn Endres and Chris Sikich). You should have seen Wolke show off! Then with 2:38 left both Sikich and Christian von Trzcinski got roughing coincidental's. Sikich knew he was to sit in the box, but he tried going back to his bench anyway. Von Trzcinski went back also, however, I'm not sure he knew what was going on. Sikich complained all the way to the box. When Christian was fetched he looked confused, then his mouth started going. He was speaking German. Erik Cole broke the tie 17:40 into the period when he stepped in front of the goalie and put it in. We were on our way, we had been leading by an edge the whole game and it was almost over. With a measly 44 seconds left Cole dumped a player over the players bench and was called for roughing. As Cole sat in the box Coach Owens just looked at him with his head shaking. Fargo took a time out and prepared to attack us with an empty net and two extra attackers. We kept them at bay and won the game. Saves for both teams were even at 31. Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 3 - Fargo 2
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