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Pre Season Game Commentaries
Bucs vs Waterloo Black Hawks The leaves are turning brown, the ice is in, and ... do you really want to hear all this? Hello everyone! It's great to be back at the games again. I'm ready for a new season, new and fresh is always exciting. Yes, and they were fresh off a victory from Thursday night's game in Waterloo, where the Bucs won 8-6. For the starting lineup: At center Mike Hanson (#21), on the wings Bill Trainor (#23) and Erik Cole (#24), defense was Matt Libby (#3) and Christian Laden (#5), and in goal was Scott Clemmensen (#1). The line consisted of four veterans and two shall we say, rookies? In the beginning there was a fight. It broke out around six minutes into the first period. The crowd practiced their revolt as three of our players marched into the penalty box. These three players were #22 Bobby Haglund, #10 Chris Antzoulatos, and #9 Sean Austin. Promptly following this four of Waterloo's soldiers were marched into the opposing penalty box (can they really all fit in there?). The crowd followed up their practice with a cheer. Some minutes later we thought we were lost when Clemmensen went diving out of his net to the blue-line to save a breakaway. The puck went flying wide though and the breakaway was saved by his gutsy play. By the way, see my interview with Scott Clemmensen. It was quite a surprise to the newcomers in the crowd who thought the goalie could never come out of his net! With eleven excruciating minutes left to go, Waterloo scored the first goal of the game. I didn't see the goal, I had a linesman blocking my view. Oh well, I didn't want to see it anyway. However, Chris Cerella scored that goal (assists to Andrew Tortorella and Ryan Hale). We have no captain, at least no jersey holds the coveted letter 'C'. Mike Hanson has been doing the duties, so my guess is he'll soon be wearing that letter. Pete Fregoe and Jacob Searles have both been given an 'A'. It's been difficult tonight, I'm out of shape. I'm missing plays left and right. I haven't ranted since June! Humor me tonight if I seem slow or lacking in the details department. Of course the post right in front of me and blocking the net doesn't help either. The Blackhawks scored their second goal with Matt Romaniski at 13:39. Clemmensen in the splits looks behind him at the net and back at the cheering Romaniski. Joe Giacaione shot a wobbly one into the net behind Clemmensen as it just slipped beyond his glove and hit the cross bar sliding into the open mouth. "Feed me Seymour!" With four minutes left in the period Chris Antzoulatos gets a two minute unsportsmanlike conduct and on top of that a ten minute misconduct, he was psyched up for the game. The Bucs left behind a score of 3-0, not in their favor. Four and a half minutes in the second and Sean Austin was the first to score in front of the Des Moines crowds first game (assist to #17, Jacob Searles). Another minute and a half later and Erik Strand was put in the penalty box, 2 minutes for holding. This kind of confused me, it looked more like Strand was being sat on. Maybe he was holding on to the guy who was sitting on him, yeah, maybe that's it. The pressure was getting hotter, the Bucs were rolling better, the Hawk goalie was getting a little swamped. At one point he had a pile up around the net, and once the crowd dispersed the goalie sat there alone. His legs were tightly together, his arms at his sides, and he didn't move. When he finally did get up, it was to reveal a puck beneath him. With six minutes left #18 Alex Kim scored a short handed goal for the Bucs (assist to Matt Libby). The light went on before the puck even touched the net. As it was getting near the end of the second period Adrian Fure was adding a new meaning to his last name, Fure. The general comment of the crowd was that Fure won the fight. Of course that's from biased Buc fans. Fure went away with his jersey still intact, the other guy, well ... Both players were ejected, along with the usual two minutes for roughing and five minutes for fighting. At 16:10 of the period #19 Pete Fregoe sneaked past the goalie and tied the game (assist to Matt Libby). But the Blackhawks answered with a goal from their Mark Eaton on an unassisted slap shot. It was the third period and 49 seconds into it Pete Fregoe carried the puck in and, well, then I couldn't see the rest of the play (I had a few heads in the way). But I heard that Chris Antzoulatos scored (well who carried it in? That's who the assist goes to). Not even a minute later Chris Cerella scored again (assists to Andrew Tortorella and Kris Harris). The linesman must have realized I didn't want to watch Waterloo score, because with eleven minutes to go he stood in my way again and Chris Cerella got his hat trick. I used to think we had good fans, after going to Sioux City it was a definite change for the better, but tonight I was ashamed. Our crowd actually booed players as they got up after getting hurt. Tell me, what has become of us? Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 4 - Waterloo 6
Bucs vs Dubuque Fighting Saints Did the crowd forget to show up tonight? The showing we did have was dismal and they didn't even have the heart to cheer. At least it started out that way, until Matt Herhal of Dubuque tripped as they announced him for the starting line-up and gave the crowd something to laugh about (and the refs, and the players, and the coaches, and himself). Hmm, how embarrassing. Everyone stood for the anthem, stillness, hats were off, a policeman stood to attention. People shifted and moved slightly as they stood straight, looking up, and the smell of burnt popcorn sifted through the air. Everything was calm, was it true reverence or just habit? Two minutes into the first period Pete Fregoe got the first penalty, it was for hooking. The only reason I bother to mention this is because after Pete served his time, he skated for all of thirty seconds before he got sent back to the box for an interference penalty. I didn't happen to see this penalty but I heard a rumor that it was for trying to uproot a player into the players bench. Bill Trainor was having a good night, working hard and making several great plays. At 12:28 the crowd decided to join us for the game as they came alive and protested the penalty to Jacob Searles. Several times Jayme Platt got bombarded by a barrage of players in the net, certain members of the team always helped him out. Alex Kim protected the net when Jayme got stuck to the side, he fought Josh Kern for the puck and won the battle. Team members helped each other out through out the night. Watch, can you see the camaraderie building up? Third game of pre season and already things are coming together. We don't need to question this team. Veteran players are becoming more of a force than in the past year. Adrian Fure for instance decided to talk to the ref about the recent call he'd made. Fure put his arm around the ref as if to say "Come on ref, we've been buddies for awhile, I know you'll see it my way." Exaggerated hand signals commenced as he showed the zebra exactly what he'd missed. The first goal was a killer, Mikhail Saliyenko received a pass at 11:46 from Searles as he rushed forward on a breakaway. He shot it under the pads of Dubuque's Josh Blackburn and veered back to the bench to enthusiastically high five every single hand that was thrust before him. America, (to borrow a phrase from Jay Boxer) isn't it a wonderful country? You get free stuff and goals! Mikhail was looking very good tonight, he has a quick wrist shot that looks deadly. The Bucs scored goal number two at 7:31 with Erik Strand (assist to Adrian Fure). Somewhere in the mess of the celebration Adrian Fure got called for cross-checking. Dubuque answered within a minute of this last goal and scored with Kyle O'Keefe. At 2:55 the Bucs got their third goal. The goalie fell on the puck, the puck disappeared, Alex Kim swung, for a long second we waited, then Alex Kim celebrated and the red light came on (assist to Mark Krueger). "Let's go Bucs!" was being echoed, and the sound of "50/50 Split tickets!" was being yelled, the clock was ticking down with nine seconds left, ahh... hockey season has started! At the end of the period something was brewing in the corner. Mike Hanson and Tom Cloherty broke out into a fight. This fight was won hands down by Mike Hanson, Tom Cloherty was down on his knees and Hanson was going crazy. Needless to say the poor Dubuque player will probably have a headache tonight. Dubuque had a big 6'3 player on their team, granted he wasn't as big as Eric Lindros, but it just seemed like he was always looking down. As Chris Antzoulatos was soon going to find out. This player was Alex Todd and he was mean, he took a roughing penalty at 17:46 of the second period and tried to go into the wrong penalty box. For two minutes we didn't have to worry about Alex Todd. In this time the play was wild and edge-of-your-seat. Matt Libby got sandwiched and Dad and I yelled "Hey!" simultaneously. Alex Todd was back out terrorizing people and Antzoulatos had enough of him. The guy was a giant next to Antzoulatos but it didn't stop Chris. I think Antzoulatos lost the fight, as Alex Todd forced him down first. Okay, so Chris did much better than Edwards did in the legendary Philpott fight! For the second time in the night two players got ejected for fighting. Eric Lind at the blue line was in possession of the puck and tripped. Dubuque took the puck and flew out for a breakaway with Lind pursuing. Jayme Platt made the save amongst much deserved applause. We jumped ahead at 3:50 with a three goal lead as Erik Cole fed the puck to Jacob Searles to put us ahead with 4 goals (assists to Erik Cole and Eric Lind). Trainor was taking a lot of abuse tonight, he got dumped at the blue line and skated back to the bench dazed, then he got sandwiched and was roughed up by two players at the same time. Garrett Stafford and Matt Libby came over to protect him and one of the Dubuque players was sent to the box. This didn't stop the Bucs from scoring because at 12:34 Alex Kim got his second goal (assist to Eric Lind and Derek Robertson). The excitement of the third was unbelievable. If the rest of this season is going to be this way it's gonna be a good season! I don't care if we lose, it's gonna be fun! We have an amazing team this year. We got our final goal 15:20 into the period, there was a jumble, the puck disappeared and the red light went on. Derek Robertson got that goal (assist to Bill Trainor and Erik Cole). I have to give some credit to the Dubuque goalie Blackburn, considering what he was up against he made some pretty good saves. Tomorrow night I won't be able to rant on the game, so I'll hand the duties over to Zamboni. Have fun! Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 6 - Dubuque 1
Bucs vs Lincoln Stars Sooner or later, every team finds itself in a desperate position when the question must be asked, " Do we have what it takes to come from behind and win this game?" Often, the answer to that question defines a team - for themselves, the coaching staff, and the fans. The Buc's found themselves in a desperate position Saturday night against the expansion Lincoln Stars. At the end of the first period the Buc's were scoreless and down 3 goals. As the team skated to the locker room we all wondered what coach Owens would say, and how the team would respond. I don't know what happened in the locker room, but the Buc's came out on the ice as a team and on fire. The second period started with Platt in goal, Fure and Libby on defense, and Krueger, Strand, and Kim on offense. The Buc response took just 52 seconds when Bill Trainor fed Alex Kim for the Buc's first goal. After Kim's first goal, Lincoln's Shane Spears took a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and the Buc's were again on the powerplay. Eric Lind passed to Erik Cole to make the score 2 - 3. Less than 2 minutes had elapsed in the period. At the 4:58 mark Peter Fregoe was going in on a break-away when he was tripped by Louis Mass. Evidently the 6'3" 210 lb defenseman couldn't keep up with the speedster from Massena, NY and took a penalty to save the score. It was all for naught as Alex Kim (assists to Robertson and Lind) scored just 17 seconds later, knotting the score at 3 - 3. The Buc's kept the pressure on as Mikhail Saliyenko knocked the puck out of the air and went end to end only to be robbed by the Lincoln goalie from Winnipeg, Steve Briere. Mikhail was not to be denied as he scored on a beautiful play (assists to Hanson and Trainor) seconds later to give the Buc's a 4 - 3 lead. It was good to see Hanson get an assist as he has been working very hard the last three games. The Buc's had scored 4 goals in less than 7 minutes. The Stars began to fight back. Returning netminder Jayme Platt came up with some big saves, robbing the Stars from what seemed to be certain goals: At the 9:12 mark Platt poke checked the puck from a player at point blank range and then gloved a rising shot at 6:24. Jayme again used the "adjusting the equipment" routine to slow things down. The second period ended with a 4 - 3 Buc lead. The Lincoln Stars came out smoking and with just 56 seconds elapsed Eric Lind took a penalty to stop a scoring attempt. The first 7 minutes of the third period looked dis-organized as both teams took multiple penalties. The Buc's began pressuring at the 8:23 mark. One minute later Chris Antzoulatos was mugged by three Star players in front of the net. Chris is not the type to overlook the injustice, and a melee ensued. Spear, Reynolds, and Mazurak went for Lincoln. Chris sat out for the Buc's. The Lincoln bench complained which only encouraged the ever-popular "Whiner" chant from the crowd. Thirty seconds into the power play Robertson found the net on an absolutely brilliant cross-ice pass from Kim (Lind also assisted). The score was now 5 - 3 in favor of the home team. The Stars scored less than a minute later to bring the score to 5 -4. The Buc's kept the pressure on and had several quality scoring chances. For the second game in a row Kim had two goals, missing a hat trick when Justin Shaw tripped him to avert his break-away. The game ended with the crowd counting down the seconds and a huge celebration by the Buc's on the ice. The Buc's had proven that they are not quitters and have the scoring punch to make things happen. Coach Owens has done a great job recruiting players this year. It's going to be a fun year. By the way, if you haven't already heard, team USA won the World Cup. Note: This rant was written by the Steve since Sarah was in Omaha attending her friends wedding. Written by Steve Bendy. Des Moines 5 - Lincoln 4
Bucs vs Dubuque Fighting Saints Take note: Two new guys. #15 Dave Boehm, a 5'10, 170 pound, forward. #20. Jason Furness, 6'3, 210, forward. Dave Boehm was acquired from Waterloo, who owed us one. Jason Furness came from Lincoln; supposedly we traded Ryan Bencurik for Furness. It's a little confusing, but we still owned the rights to Bencurik. Anyone else remember Jason Furness? I do, all too well! Thank goodness he's playing on our team now! I apologize early for any inconsistencies in my writing, for starters I have a cold and don't feel well, for another thing I have my dad down the row bugging me. You see now that we're official - it's a job. Enough picking on my dad, here's the game. For the first period they announced the starting lineup and they announced Adrian Fure as Team Captain (or did they say Assistant Team Captain? Everything's a little foggy). After snooping around before the start of the game to find out scores from the previous games, (finding a big blank) the announcer announced over the loud speaker the scores. I had already asked him! Waterloo had downed North Iowa 5-4, Lincoln beat Rochester 5-2, and Omaha won 5-1 against Sioux City. Jason Furness' first shift, the Dubuque guys might have well just laid down before him. One, two, the guys just fell before him as he hit them hard. Of course, you can imagine how much the crowd loved it! He'll be a favorite. Chris Antzoulatos got a roughing penalty midway into the first. Ahh...that was just a facial! A little rough and blatant maybe. Saves for the period: 11 for Dubuque and 5 for Des Moines. The second period started, I was freezing, not feeling good, suffering from this bloody cold. Forty seconds into the period Hanson took the pass from Trainor and rushed into the attack zone carrying in the puck. He stopped in front of the net (the Dubuque player kept going to his left) and shot on net. The goalie made the save, but it was a great play. At 13:31 Dubuque got their first penalty for tripping Haglund. With 31 seconds left in the power play Des Moines scored. Eric Lind shot it in on a rebound (assists to Alex Kim and Derek Robertson), it felt like they'd never worked so hard for a goal! It was good to take a breath. You know we really got to do something about this hooking that's going on. Tom Rouleau took a ride on a Buc, all the way down to the other end of the ice. Dubuque tied the game at 8:47 on a penalty to Dave Boehm, Matt Doman put it in (assists to #10, didn't get his name and Ken Marsh). Tied, at one a piece, both goals were on the power play. Dave Boehm got his first goal as a Buccaneer at 2:44 (assist to Alex Kim). In the third period I was run down and got woken up halfway through the period when Mark (the used to be Music Man) showed up behind us. Of course the action out on the ice helped too. At 10:59 Eric Lind got an unjust penalty, two minute roughing. However I don't know why it was unjust, seeing as I couldn't see what happened. But how can a whole crowd be wrong? One of our Bucs dropped his stick and Tom Cloherty decided he really didn't need it, so he pushed it away from him. He was put in the corner for two minutes to think about what he'd done. The power play was a good one with plenty of action. At the end of the power play the goalie stopped the puck and the play was over. Dubuque called a time out at 4:32, 2:00 minutes were on the clock for Jacob Searles who sat for slashing. One minute left and the Dubuque goalie was pulled. The crowd went crazy; the players looked crazy (no offense). The score stayed the same 2-1, in our favor. Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 2 - Dubuque 1
Bucs vs Sioux City Musketeers Did Sioux City actually beat Omaha earlier during pre-season? That's not saying much for Omaha, because, well you'll just see... Game two of the Buc-Bowl for the Bucs. The Bucs had won their first game, Omaha had just completed their second win over Dubuque a half hour earlier. Thirteen seconds into the first period Sioux City knocked off the nets moorings. Jayme Platt sat on the ground seemingly offended. Forty-six seconds later the Bucs scored the first goal from Chris Antzoulatos (assist to Derek Robertson). At 13:49 Urbandale's own Christian Laden put a shot on net that deflected off the goalies stick into the net (assist to Garrett Stafford and Bobby Haglund). The crowd went wild. A minute and a half after this Mikhail Saliyenko skated in front of the goalie and scored (assist to Adrian Fure). At first they announced the goal as a Sean Austin goal. However I knew it was Saliyenko's, so did the people on both sides of me. 5:33 of the period Sean Austin did get a goal (assist to Derek Robertson). Meanwhile Jayme Platt should have been setting up a rocking chair, he didn't have much to do or worry about it. I was noticing that Eric Lind was doing good, so I made note of this, as I jotted it down Sioux City scored. Ryan Forbes scored and as I looked for his name I missed the assists. Sioux City had some nice names on their team, Weasel (actually it was Wiesel), Macintosh (Mc Intosh), Bye. Sorry, just passing the time. At 18:17 of the second period Robertson was working hard, he shot on net, got knocked down, the goalie saved it, but it didn't stay under the goalie. The puck snuck in anyway. Derek Robertson was credited for the goal (assist to Jacob Searles and Sean Austin). Something I've noticed about Alex Kim is that his eyes never leave the puck, this isn't even mentioning his stick handling. Sioux City's Ryan Rentz scored at 15:03, giving them two goals to our five. Seven minutes later Bobby Haglund skated in short handed and slapped it in from the face-off circle. Right in through the goalies legs. It was an unassisted goal. Derek Robertson made another play of diving down to the ice to stop the puck from the defense. After he limped back to the bench the puck went bounding out. Alex Kim shot it in 14:41 into the period (assist to Dave Boehm and Jason Furness). Kim sheathes his sword afterwards, the beast was killed. Former Buccaneer Terry Harris took down Sean Austin, he was promptly serenaded into the box by the crowd for high sticking. The eighth goal was a great goal! Tic, tac, toe. Sean Austin in front of the net, to Derek Robertson beside the net, to Eric Lind on the other side in front of the net. The goalie had no chance! For the sake of conformity Eric Lind got the goal (assist to Derek Robertson and Sean Austin). There wasn't too much action at the beginning of the third period. At 12:28 we got an overload of action. The whole line (except Alex Kim and some other Sioux City player) were fighting. Yvon Hopps started with Terry Harris, we got a view first hand of the action. They were right in front of us. As we watched, Chris Antzoulatos went, then Sean Austin, then Jacob Searles. You starting to lose sight of any of the players in the jumble of green, yellow, blue, red and white. All the mad faces looked the same. The only difference was the ref and linesmen. There was no mistaking the black and white stripes trying (in vain) to separate the players. Pushing themselves between the bodies. You know they put their bodies through a lot! Derek Robertson was meanwhile trying to hold back a guy that was much to big for him. He did a good job, but this Sioux City player decided he'd had it with Robertson. The other players were done fighting and watched as Robertson and the Sioux City player fought. Poor Robertson got the worst and it wasn't his fault! Of course that's what they all say. The other players laughed as they watched. The fighting was over, they were friends. Two players on each team got tossed, while the others got stuffed (and I do mean stuffed) into the penalty box with fighting majors and misconduct's. It certainly didn't stop the Bucs from scoring, because not a minute later (8:07 into the game) after all this Mike Hanson scored (assist to Erik Cole). At 6:29 Shane Maher of Sioux City cross-checked Bobby Haglund. Haglund bowed over on the ice and eventually skated hunched over to the bench. Shane did get penalized. The rough stuff wasn't over, with a minute and 39 seconds left Adrian Fure and Shane Kalbrener were down on the ice. All I could see were feet kicking from behind Platt and the net. They both got roughing. There was room for the Sioux City player in the penalty box. Adrian Fure couldn't fit in our box, so he was escorted out off the ice. A few seconds later Bill Trainor was fighting for the puck at the blue line, he lost it and kept fighting two Musketeer players for the puck. He got it, lost it, got it again and took of across the red line on a breakaway. He skated hard all the way down the ice and shot it right through the goalie to put the Bucs to 2 digits. Bill is looking very good this year. Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 10 - Sioux City 2
Bucs vs Omaha Lancers I forgot to tell everyone that I wouldn't be able to make it to the game on Saturday night. However I found someone to take notes for me so there is still a game summary. We'll see how good I do with just notes, not having seen any of the game. The notes are great and my cohort did an excellent job letting me know exactly what happened. So here goes... Starting lineups were as follows: Des Moines, Scott Clemmensen, Yvon Hopps, Sean Austin, Jacob Searles, Chris Antzoulatos, and Derek Robertson. Omaha, Graham Melanson, Jami Yoder, Brent Voorhees, Jason Urquhart, Nate Mauer, and Scott Matzka. The Bucs got the first goal 5:19 into the period, scored by Adrian Fure (assist to Erik Cole and Eric Lind). Penalties abounded through the first period (actually through the whole game), Omaha's Mike Lephart and Alex Kim got sent away for two minute roughing penalties. Lephart got an additional two minute interference to make it a double minor. 18:26 into the first Erik Cole and Jami Yoder got five minute fighting penalties, Yoder got the two minutes for instigation. Omaha evened out the score with 20 seconds left in the period. Mike Lephart got the short handed goal (assist to Scott Matzka). There were a lot of penalties, but it was a good hard fought period. 5:25 into the second period Christian Laden and Mats Carsberg both went for roughing. At 12:10 Jacob Searles scored to put the Bucs back into the lead (assist to Sean Austin). Omaha's Nate Mauer got a two minute misconduct 9:33 in the period to give the Bucs a power play. One minute into this power play Pete Fregoe scored (assist to Mike Hanson). Adrian Fure scored with 41 seconds left in the period (assist to Jason Furness and Pete Fregoe). The Bucs played a good period. The Lancers had trouble with too many penalties. Both teams hustled. Scott Clemmensen played a solid period and saved 7 shots. The Bucs scored another power play goal on a penalty to Luke Duplessis which had carried over from the second period. Derek Robertson got the goal (assist to Dave Boehm). Eight minutes into the period and both Chris Antzoulatos (high-sticking) and Dave Boehm (cross-checking) were in the penalty box. Omaha had a 5 on 3 power play. They scored 8:52 into the third period with Mike Lephart (assist to Scott Matzka and Jason Urquhart), giving themselves two goals on the scoreboard. The Bucs scored on yet another power play goal with 6:48 left, for their sixth and final goal. Mike Hanson scored the last goal (assist to Sean Austin). Omaha's last goal came on a power play (Bobby Haglund, 2 minutes for holding) 18:34 in the period. Brent Voorhees made the final score 6-3, not in their favor (assist to Matt Murray). * The Bucs won 6 to 3 to meet Waterloo in the finals on Sunday. The third period was extremely bad for the Lancers, mainly due to penalty trouble. The officials calls were questionable in a few cases. The comment circulating through the Omaha crowd was that Coach Owens had paid the officials off. Clemmensen had a good game for the Bucs and was backed up by good defensive play. There was a lot of excitement in the building for a pre-season game. This rivalry will continue throughout the regular season. Look for an exciting final between the Buccaneers and Waterloo Blackhawks. Both teams play a physical rough and tumble game. Written by Sarah Bendy. * These last sentences were the note-takers own thoughts on the game not Sarah's. Des Moines 6 - Omaha 3
Bucs vs Waterloo Black hawks - Buc Bowl Championship Game I make mistakes often, I'm only human, but I hate making them. Many times I don't correct them, because I don't realize I made them, or it's too late to correct them. This time the mistake wasn't all my fault, I was dealt with false (rather, incorrect) information. I knew where Jason Furness came from, I watched him last year and knew he played on Waterloo's team. I spaced that off. It wasn't until I was reading an older Waterloo roster for the championship game that I realized that Jason Furness didn't get traded from Lincoln! I inserted the information about the two new players without checking up on it. So I goofed again, this time I'm making sure I correct it. Furness came from Waterloo, Boehm must have come from Lincoln (through the trade of Ryan Bencurik). I feel better now. Anyone who has ever watched the Blackhawks knows Andrew Tortorella. The feisty 5'5" player is not to be missed. To make up for his size he plays with such speed, force, and vigor that he's easily spotted on the ice. It was no different yesterday. First period he trips himself (his stick got caught in the net) and tries to pawn it off on the Bucs, his head goes crazy as you see him skating around. You know he's arguing. One of the fun things about a new season is watching players from the previous year step up and become more aggressive. Christian Laden has been one of those players this year. He's taking more chances this year, putting up more body, and seems to be in the middle of many of the brawls. Jayme Platt was making some good saves, but he still looked nervous. Waterloo was playing much better than the Bucs, who couldn't get anything done. The Blackhawks scored first with Ryan Hale (assist to Chris Cerella and Andrew Tortorella). At 12:01 Mike Hanson tied it (assist to Bill Trainor and Mikhail Saliyenko). The Waterloo goalie, Jeff Melnechuck was doing a good job, making great saves. The Bucs scored again about seven minutes later, Eric Lind's shot bounced over the goalie (unassisted). The Bucs were leading, but they didn't look in control, Waterloo was still playing better than they were. Near the end of the period the Blackhawks started looking worse. A few of the Hawks ran into each other, Chris Cerella got double teamed by Adrian Fure and Eric Lind, but the goalie was still playing solidly. Derek Robertson got pulled down on a breakaway with nine seconds left on the clock. Joe Heinbecker got the two minute interference penalty. Three minutes into the second period Jason Kroffat was wide open and uncovered. He scored with an assist to Chad Poliquin. Not long after this Waterloo scored again. The puck slid in after Jayme made the initial save on a shot from Jayme Adduono (assist to Matt Romaniski and Doug Schmidt). With about fourteen minutes to go Jayme Platt made an outstanding sliding save to block the open net. Halfway through the period Andrew Tortorella was making more noise and commotion on the ice, he got sent to the penalty box. The Bucs now had a good chance, they had five minutes of power play due to the Tortorella major for high-sticking. The play was intense from this point on and the Bucs were outplaying Waterloo. They were a different team from the period before. 3:27 into the power play the goalie was down, the net was open, the defenseman was down. Alex Kim maneuvered around the player on the ice and right up to the net. It should have gone in, but it didn't get off the stick fast enough. It was so close! Pete Fregoe finally scored on the power play tapping it gently in before twirling his stick and sheathing it on his knee (assist to Bill Trainor and Mike Hanson). At 6:31 Erik Lind scored (assist to Mikhail Saliyenko and Garrett Stafford) they were now ahead by a point. At this point Waterloo started falling apart, they started taking penalties and the goalie started losing his temper. After the play Jeff Melnechuck smacked the puck all the way to the other end. The ref comes up to Melnechuck as he leans on his net and gives him a talking to. Melnechuck ducked his head away from the ref and played with the ice shavings with his stick. I can just imagine the look on that goalies face. Derek Robertson got taken down on another of his breakaway's. Mark Eaton took him down by the neck and got a called for holding. Andrew Tortorella was playing again and trying to recover the ground he his team had lost by his sitting in the box. He skated into the attack zone quickly and shot wide. Skating behind the net he retrieved the puck and keeps going around the net to put another shot on net. Jayme saved that one. All afternoon they had been having trouble with the South end goal crease. They continuously fixed the chippy ice. They were fixing it again at the beginning of the third period. Waterloo resumed their tirade of frustration. After some chippy play Doug Schmidt whacked Chris Antzoulatos and then the goalie pounced on him. Antzoulatos' head was hurting, but it didn't stop him from getting up and going after anyone he could reach. Jacob Searles had to hold him back risking his own safety as he did this. Several penalties were dealt out to the Waterloo players. They were digging themselves a grave they'd never be able to get out of now. The Bucs helped hammer one more nail into their coffin when they got their fifth goal. At 16:32 Adrian Fure and Matt Libby were passing it back and forth at the blue line between themselves. They passed it to Pete Fregoe beside the net who shot it into the open net. It was Pete's second goal of the night (assist to Matt Libby and Adrian Fure). Alex Kim three minutes later skated and skated working hard for the puck, he got the goal at 13:57 (unassisted). Less than a minute later plenty of roughing (no fighting) was going on, or hugging if you'd rather call it. Roughing penalties were handed out to three players for each team, some four minutes some two, and a few ten minute misconduct's too. 9:19 Waterloo had a chance to score, but Platt stopped it. The play was whistled to a stop as Jayme held on to the puck. Fure came in protecting his players and Tortorella went flying one way and another player went flying the other way. Several fans yelled "acting," however when you are that small and you get hit by 6'1" Adrian Fure wouldn't you be crawling on the ice too? Sorry if I sound defensive but we short people have to stick up for one another, even if they do play for the opposing team! The Bucs were a far cry from the beginning of the game and only getting better. The one goal crease was still giving trouble, protesting the rough play. Waterloo did score once more at 7:33 as Jason Kroffat's goal went right through Jayme's legs (assist to Chad Poliquin and #18, I missed his name). It wasn't going to help though. The ice had to be fixed again before play resumed. Matt Romaniski socked Adrian Fure who spun around and hit the ice in one fluid movement. Fure didn't move for several moments, finally he got up to the cheering crowd. The Blackhawks had been playing cheap all night, but the worst player of them all was Doug Schmidt. Purposely doing stuff behind the refs back. At 4:09 Doug Schmidt finally got called (much to the happiness of my father who had been yelling all afternoon "I saw that #7!"), he got a ten minute misconduct. The fans appreciated that call also. With forty seconds left in the final period the boards of the arena started reverberating with the pounding, the fans were getting louder. With one split second left the Bucs scored their seventh goal. The clock read 00:00 and the red light was on. Bobby Haglund who got the goal celebrated with the other players as they patted his helmet. The players streamed out of the benches, the black shirted team left the ice and hid in the locker room, the white jerseys skated to their goalie. Adrian Fure was presented the Hy-Vee Buc Bowl trophy by Ellis Moose, Vice President of the USHL and President of the Des Moines Buccaneers. The Buccaneers gathered in the middle circle and raised their sticks to the crowd before leaving the ice. Written by Sarah Bendy. Des Moines 7 - Waterloo 4
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