Bucs Defeat AFHL Champion Bulls 6 - 3
Billings, Montana (5/1/98): The Bucs battled back from a 2 to 1 first period deficit, scoring 4 unanswered goals to defeat the Billings Bulls Friday night. The Bucs put 39 shots on goal, while Revermann came up with 18 saves. The Bucs killed off a 5 on 3 and Noah Clarke scored a shorthanded goal at 6:59 to quiet the 3,600 Bulls fans at the Metra Ice Arena. Earlier in the day, the Omaha Lancers defeated Compuware and Jay Boxer's Jr. Blues defeated the Bozeman Ice Dogs. Jay was the Bucs assistant coach earlier this season. Clarke (Nightingale), Capouch (unassisted), Jensen (unassisted), Vokes (Nightingale) Clarke (SH) (unassisted) and Parillo (Strand, Nightingale) scored for the Bucs.
Ice Slinging
Hockey fans from all over are in Billings and everywhere there are signs welcoming Gold Cup fans. The signs of course did not fail to mention their favored Bulls. Though Steve had been to Billings before and I had driven through it, this was the first time I'd actually gotten a chance to really see it. Very nice city. They support their team well by the looks of all the signs. In our drive to Billings, we ran into Lancers, Bucs, Jay Boxer, a bunch of kids in a school bus throwing spit wads at us, a stiff bighorn sheep on a trailer, a 20 foot cow, I'm sure there's more but I won't bore you with the details.
The games went as follows: 11 am - Omaha vs. Compuware, 3 pm Bozeman vs. Springfield, 7 pm - Des Moines vs. Billings. Compuware got beat by Omaha, rather the Lancers stonewalled Compuware by a score of 6-1, with 39 shots on goal. Jay Boxer's Springfield team beat Bozeman 5-2. The game was no contest, all you had to do was look at the shots on goal. Bozeman couldn't keep up, their goalie kept them in the game. Ellis Moose predicted that Springfield would win by 3 or 4 goals (you should really know who Ellis is, and if you don't - look in your program or look on this site). I guess he was right.
When it came to our turn to play the Billings Bulls we knew that the arena would be packed, and quite possibly loud. Of course we didn't reckon on Megadeath tickets going on sale and a pack of wacko's being lined up outside waiting for tickets to go on sale the next morning. Those waiting for concert tickets were easy to get going - all you had to do was start cheering and screaming and they'd all start. You get 'em in a pack and the IQ goes down obviously. Herd mentality. The arena was packed and the ushers were also fairly strict. Most of the Buc fans were grouped together in one section.
First...
Supposedly Billings was playing the trap... at least that's what the Billings Gazette said. They also said that we had a hard time adjusting to the trap in the first period, but once we did (in the second and third) it was all over. Ok, so maybe the goalie was playing a good game, and maybe their defense was playing fairly well too... but honestly, the trap?! Yeah, we couldn't adjust, that's why the shots on goal were 16-10 in the first period in our favor? Anyway, at first it seemed as though we were beginning to go down hill. We got the first goal of the game at 4:28 from Noah Clarke (assist to Jason Nightingale). Billings wasn't far behind though. The Bulls scored at 5:26. The crowd was fairly loud at this point. Tom Reimann got the goal, of course it was very hard to understand the announcer with the way he rolled that name out (assist to Peter Kolasa and Jarrett Zielinski). I still am baffled about the song they play when Billings gets a goal, it's Russian! What's the deal with that?! Yeah it was cool, but strange. Erik Jensen got penalized at 6:10 for checking from behind. One more thing to rant about is the very fake "Time for another players p-p-power play!" that they play every time one of our players get penalized. Stupid. Well the Bucs went down 2-1 when Bill Bellmore scored on this power play (assist to Ryan Tessier and Jarrett Zielinski) at 7:53. For awhile things didn't look so good and visions of what had happened in the Omaha series came back to haunt me. Chris Young for the Bulls at 10:15 was getting ready for the face-off and he was SO ready that he jumped before the drop of the puck and skated in towards the face-off and ended up falling flat on his butt! Of course everyone gave him a hard time and he might have turned a shade of crimson. It was very funny looking, considering he was the only one who was moving. With 37 seconds left in the period a penalty was called to Peter Kolasa for tripping and we also had a power play minutes before this one. So the start of second period would be a power play for us for 1:38. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 16 - Billings 10
Second...
We came back in the second period with a goal at 5:07 from Pete Capouch (unassisted). Would you believe that the announcer said Capouch right?! Erik Jensen got a goal at 8:16 and we were now ahead 3-2. Bill Bellmore (who by the way tried out for us two years ago) was down on the ice not long after this and he ended up being escorted off the ice and didn't return for the rest of the game. The paper said he was knocked silly and might not be coming back Saturday night. The Billings fans were not that loud and they didn't have that many cheers. All I had heard was all about the big crowds in Billings, the loudness, the fan support. Yes there was fan support, but our Des Moines fans were putting those Bulls fans to shame. Then at 13:27 in the period Jeremy Vokes scored the Bucs fourth goal (assist to Nightingale). Would you believe the Bulls fans booed that goal! Like booing is going to make the ref decide to call it off! The Bucs ended the period ahead 4-2. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 12 - Billings 4
Third...
Noah Clarke made it 5-2 at 6:59 when he got a breakaway and shot it right through Kimball (the Bulls goalie). By the way that was supposedly unassisted too. We really shut the crowd up after this. They of course made fun of our fans cheering, especially the "B-U-C-S" cheer. But hey, I didn't hear any special cheers from them! Midway during the third period Billings had a 5 on 3 power play for 1:28. However they were not able to come back. Billings did get one more goal at the 14:42 mark from Andy Leutwiler when he scored on a slapshot (assist to Eric Yackel and Tom Reimann). The fans were really loud then and one fan next to our section even cheered and then made some sort of grunt and face at our fans as if to say "See look!" See look what? As if that scared us! Funny thing was just 19 seconds later Nick Parillo scored (assist to Erik Strand and Jason Nightingale). Nicky got that on a wrap-around goal! It was good to see both Parillo and Strand get some points again. Basically the game was over after this. Scoring wise it would stay 6-3. The Bulls fans began to leave at this point in the game and our fans just got louder. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 11 - Billings 4. Total Shots on Goal: Des Moines 39 - Billings 18.
Written by Sarah Bendy.
Bucs Defeat AFHL Bozeman Ice Dogs 7 - 1
Billings, Montana (5/2/98): It only took 38 seconds for the Bucs to light the Ice Dog lamp as the Bucs cruised to their second Gold Cup tournament victory. The Bucs lead 2 to 1 at the end of the first period, then scored 3 in the second period and 2 in the third. Jon Walker stopped 19 shots while the Bucs put 35 shots on the Ice Dog net. Earlier in the day, the Lancers used 2 powerplay goals to edge the Jr. Blues, 4 to 3. The Lancers and Bucs, both USHL teams, remain undefeated. Clarke (Fregoe, Jensen), Vokes (PP) (Capouch, Stafford), Nightingale (Maksimenko, Vokes), Parillo (SH) (Strand), Fregoe (Clarke, Stafford), Maksimenko (Parillo) and Maksimenko (Donnette, Bachet) scored for the Bucs.
Ice Slinging
Today Omaha defeated the Springfield Blues at 11 am. The score was 4-3 and it was a pretty even game. We were of course playing at 3 in the afternoon against Bozeman and Billings would be playing Detroit Compuware tonight at 7. We went to Stella's downtown in Billings for breakfast and had a wonderful meal. Not to bash my own home town by any means, but I'd say little Billings has better restaurants then our own Des Moines. If you can eat four huge "cakes" they have (pancakes) you get a free cinnamon roll. Which is also very big! By the way there was absolutely NO way I could eat four of those.
Not only is this hockey tournament going on in Billings, but there's also a dog show going on at the same time. This of course would make sense, there was a dog in the room next to us yipping away. The Bozeman Ice Dogs have this husky dog as a mascot and maybe that's where he should be. Over at the dog show.
Maksimenko commented that he thought today's game should be easier then last nights. I'm not sure that's the right attitude to have exactly. All the games are going to be hard, however there shouldn't be as big of a crowd base for this game. Even though the Ice Dogs have a big crowd following. The Bozeman team had lost their first game and we had won our first one. We could take the Ice Dogs out this afternoon if we won.
First
38 seconds into the first period we scored. The goal came from Noah Clarke, who has looked sharp so far up here (assist to Pete Fregoe and Erik Jensen). The Bucs came out strong and were looking good. However it didn't take Bozeman long to get a tying goal at 8:36. Bozeman had two guys break and Capouch, the only defense close to Walker, got left behind by a faulty move. Kevin Wesolek got the goal (assist to Mark Bradford) The Bucs after this didn't look too good. For most of the period they were basically dumping it into the zone. With 4:06 left in the period Josh Prues got penalized for roughing. This was a good opportunity for us and with about 3 and a half minutes left Jeremy Vokes scored the Bucs second goal and the game changed paces. The Bucs passing suddenly became very crisp and accurate. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 5 - Bozeman 3
Second
Jason Nightingale got a goal 2:18 into the period (assist to Maksimenko and Vokes). We started early in the period, because even shorthanded we couldn't be stopped. Jensen got the penalty for high sticking. Nick Parillo scored the shorthanded goal at 4:40 (assist to Erik Strand). It was a good goal for Nicky, he got it on a breakaway, considering it's been awhile since Parillo has gotten any points. Almost two minutes later Pete Fregoe scored the Bucs fifth goal (assist to Noah Clarke and Garrett Stafford). This goal was also a breakaway. The Bucs had no problem going end to end and flat out beating the Ice Dogs. We beat Bozeman in speed and skill. After this goal Mike Slaton was pulled for the Dogs and Casey Osting replaced him. Those Bozeman fans never seem to give up. Jonny Walker did a tremendous job during the entire game! Shots on Goal: Des Moines 10 - Bozeman 12
Third
About thirty seconds into the third there was something of a time-out called. Play resumed not long after this. THe Bucs were continuing to pass extremely well. The Nightingale, Strand, Parillo line seems to be doing very well so far during the tournament. At 13:05 Mark Krueger got checked from behind by Thomas Hajek. Hajek's stick went into the back of Krueger's neck and Mark was down for quite awhile. Thomas Hajek was taken to the penalty box and eventually escorted off the ice because it looked like he drew blood. The ref had to explain to the Bozeman coach, David Cole, that the cross-check was blatant. We would have a four minute power play (roughing) and Hajek was also given a game ejection. At 10:59 Nick Parillo passed the puck to Maksi from behind the net. Maksimenko ended up one-timing it in (assist to Nick Parillo). About three minutes left and Maksimenko got a second goal (assist to Dan Donnette and Vincent Bachet). This was a beautiful goal and due to Donnette's hard skating into the zone. The Bucs were ahead 7-1 and had played one of their best games in a long time. The score would remain the same until the end. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 20 - Bozeman 4. Total Shots on Goal: Des Moines 35 - Bozeman 19.
Written by Sarah Bendy.
Bucs Advance With 3-2 Overtime Win
Billings, Montana (5/3/98): A scrappy Ambassador squad tied the game with 4 minutes left in the third period, and the Bucs responded with tremendous pressure but were unable to score against Kowalski, who was one hot goaltender. After the 5 minute intermission, the Bucs came out on fire and it took Jeremy Vokes just 4 minutes to win it for the Bucs. Revermann faced 23 shots, while the Bucs put 32 shots on net in regulation play. Donnette (Jackson, Capouch), Nightingale (Parillo, Strand) and Vokes (unassisted) scored for the Bucs.
Ice Slinging
Sunday at 11 AM Omaha played the so-far-defeated Bozeman team. It was sure to be a blowout. And it was. The poor Ice Dogs got scourged by a wide margin of 8-1. Of course they were missing their two top players (disciplinary reasons) and the team had already checked out of the hotel as well. They obviously didn't have much hope in winning. Billings played at 3:00, the favored slot. They played Springfield and also got beat for the third time in a row. So the AFHL was taken out of the tournament with only USHL teams undefeated.
The arena at 7 pm on Sunday was decidedly uncrowded, but at least there were quite a few Buc fans. The number of Buccaneer fans seemed to have doubled as well. We'd even managed to gain some new ones from the defeated Bulls team. I can't forget to mention the Butte fans who came all this way to watch Jonny Walker play. Of course Jonny played for them last year.
Forgive me because as I write this it's now Monday and I'm dead on my feet. We've been in Red Lodge all day today walking and exploring. Jensen's mom and brother had gone there on Sunday and went horseback riding. I guess they were a little sore from the two hour ride! We went up as far up on the Bear Tooth pass as we possibly could. It was closed 12 or so miles up.
Billy Rosseau was playing instead of Birrenkott. Revermann was in goal for the Bucs. Craig Kowalski was in goal for Compuware.
First
Compuware scored first and we were really looking bad, but so was the ice. Two games had already been played on the surface and now it looked more like you could go water skiing on it rather than play a game of hockey. Not even the ref was happy about the ice! The Compuware Ambassadors have orange jersey's that look similar to Lancer jersey's. At 4:03 Jack Redwood got the Ambassadors first goal (assist to Darrin Fisher). The first period was extremely quiet and the dead crowd reflected the play. I'm afraid I don't have much more to say about this period, but that the fan support was definitely there. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 11 - Compuware 6.
Second
Dan Donnette got the tying goal at 1:51 (assist to Jackson and Capouch). Dan has really been playing hard lately, and he came streaking in across the blue line and let loose a rocket that beat Kowalski cleanly. The ice surface of course wasn't getting any better. Our Bucs were just slowing down and the puck was sticking to the surface. Erik Strand's hard work paid off at 11:02 when he passed the puck to Nick Parillo. However Parillo was tied up and passed it on to Nightingale who snapped it up, over, and in (assist to Parillo and Strand). The NAHL ref really hadn't been calling a whole lot of the penalties that were obviously being committed. We began to look better near the end of the period. At times it looked more like we were on a power play. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 10 - Compuware 9.
Third
The ice was steadily getting worse and our fans getting crazier. There were more penalties called in this period then the others. Compuware tied up the game at 16:19 with a goal from Pat Brush (assist to Jared Newman and John Shouneyia). Stafford had gotten caught up and Revermann failed to stop the rebound. The Bucs put tremendous pressure on the net for the last 3 minutes, but Kowalski was hot and came up big time after time. So the game was tied and we were going into overtime. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 11 - Compuware 8.
Overtime
As the 5 minute intermission wound down, the Compuware team was on the ice smiling and joking. The Bucs were sitting on the edge of the player bench, quiet. As I looked at their faces, it seemed like they were very business like and were just waiting to get the game won.
When the puck was dropped, we came out on fire! The play was in the Compuware zone for all but a couple of plays when they were able to catch us pinching up. Revermann came up big when he had to. The Bucs broke the puck up the ice, and Vokes go the puck on a 2 on 1. He skated past a defender, deked, then pulled the puck back with his backhand and let loose a wrist shot that puckered the twine! We got the goal on video, and it will be on the web site and the CD-ROM when we get back from Billings. Jeremy Vokes scored with 5:50 left in the ten minute overtime (unassisted). So now that we had won the game we'd be playing at 3:30 on Tuesday in the semifinals. We'd be playing Springfield, which would be the harder team. Omaha will be playing Compuware, whom they had already beaten 6-1 in their first game.
Written by Sarah Bendy.
Bucs Move To Final Round With 4-2 Win
Billings, Montana (5/5/98): At the end of the first period the Bucs found themselves behind 2 - 0 and outshot by a 16 to 7 margin. Garrett Stafford was injured and out of the game, and things looked bleak. The Bucs came roaring back and scored 2 goals just 3 minutes apart in the second period. Pete opened up the scoring and Jeremy Vokes picked a hole not much bigger than the puck itself to score. In the third period, Pete Fregoe fought off a defender and scored on beautiful backhand shot. The Blues pulled the goalie for the last 1:45, and the Bucs ended with an empty netter by Noah Clarke. Fregoe (Clarke, Jensen), Vokes (Maksimenko), Fregoe (Basile) and Clarke (EN) (Jensen, Jackson) scored for the Bucs.
Ice Slinging
The Des Moines Buccaneers were playing the Springfield Jr. Blues of the NAHL for the semifinals. Unfortunately this also meant that we were playing Jay Boxer's team. Many of the fans felt like they didn't want to have to play Box's team, but there wasn't much that could be done about it. Springfield had been beaten only once by Omaha thus far in the tournament. We hadn't played the Blues at all. After watching the Springfield team it seemed that they were comparable to the USHL teams. Some good talent on the team and also players who liked to rough things up a bit.
The Omaha Lancers would be playing at 7:30 against the Compuware Ambassadors. Most fans expected the Bucs to end up playing the Omaha Lancers in the final round. Some Lancer fans even thought that THEY could beat our beloved Bucs. As if that could happen, our Buccaneers could skate circles around those fans! On Monday the Lancers had to be up and practicing at 9:30. While our Bucs took a scenic tour to Cody Wyoming and all the way down to Yellowstone. Did they really need to practice? Resting a day seems like a better idea to me.
It was a cooler day and the ice looked good and hard. Hopefully it wouldn't be as big of a problem as it had been. We managed to get most of the Buc fans to migrate from there slotted section 8 to section 12 which was on the blue line. This group got wild, loud, and just plain crazy. I think everyone had a good time though and all the fans up here have a big "Hi!" to say to all the fans who couldn't make it! We all wish you were here!
First
It didn't take long for the Blues to get their first goal. 48 seconds into the first Russ Kelley scored (assist to Frank Nardella and T.J. Latorre). For the most part the game didn't look that great. The Bucs just weren't playing real well. They couldn't break it out or keep it down in the zone. It was very disappointing. With 12:23 left a Blues player, Eugene Dubravin, was down in the corner and his helmet had gone flying. Garrett Stafford left the rink at this time after being boarded. We later learned that he had broken the upper mandible right above his teeth. He'd lost some of those front teeth too, plus his bottom teeth had gone through the skin below his bottom lip. Garrett had been rushed to the emergency room and will now have to go for orthopedic surgery. He had 70+ stitches during the game and made it back for the end all bandaged up and in pain. Want to know how this happened? Well it had nothing to do with the guy who went down at the boards, it was a cheap shot earlier behind the play. Supposedly a high sticking. Springfield got another goal not long after this from Dave Francis at 11:47 (assist to Raffie Kalajian and Darcy Parsons). When Erik Strand was trying to leave the ice with 1:11 left Raffie Kalajian slammed into him just as he was trying to leave. Raffie didn't have to do this, but unfortunately Strand didn't have to punch him in retaliation. So both players were put away, Kalajian for unsportsmanlike conduct and Strand for roughing. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 7 - Springfield 16.
Second
As you could tell, just the shots on goal didn't bode well for us, but this second period looked so much better. 2:57 into the second Pete Fregoe got the first goal for the Buccaneers (assist to Noah Clark and Erik Jensen). The passing had really improved at this point in the game. Jeremy Vokes had a breakaway at 5:55 and scored (assist to Maksimenko). He skated down and snapped one into the top right hand corner (or the goalies glove side). About 11:10 or so, Nicky Parillo got knocked into pretty hard and fell to the ice. He squirmed on the ice while the play continued down away from him. But it didn't take long for the trainer to go out and help him. It was his knee and it looked like it really hurt. Parillo was taken off the ice only to come back later in good shape and working hard. With 7:23 left in the period Ryan Zoller was on top of Jeremy Vokes, just kind of sitting on him. Disappointingly both players got penalized. Both players got a high sticking call, but Zoller got an extra roughing call. So we were at least on the power play. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 13 - Springfield 6.
Third
The third began to look much like the first period had looked. We were tied, but that was just TOO close. It looked like slow motion, bad passing, they couldn't even seem to keep their positions. Thank goodness Pete Fregoe was able to take it all the way up and deke out the goalie and snap one in (assist to Jason Basile). This came about 6 minutes into the third period. It was the first time that we had lead in the game. After this the Bucs really lapsed into a defensive battle. It was nerve wracking for everyone involved including Erik and Rob (the radio announcers). Jensen's mom said she couldn't handle it anymore, several people echoed that sentiment. A one goal lead is also way too close. With 1:10 left the Springfield Blues took a time-out. At this point the Blues also pulled their goalie. Then when the face-off was in our zone we took a time out with about 45 seconds left. However when Erik Jensen managed to slap the puck out in front of the net Noah Clarke met it and took it the rest of the way in and to the net (assist to Erik Jensen and Jimmy Jackson). Shots on Goal: Des Moines 10 - Springfield 6. Total Shots on Goal: Des Moines 30 - Springfield 28.
Afterthoughts
Omaha ended up winning their game at 7 that night. When we left with about 4 minutes left the Lancers were leading 6-2. Compuware had been ahead 2-1 when we first got there, but after that it was all Omaha. Compuware and the Jr. Blues would not win the National Championship title this year. As Jay Boxer had said "it's tough, always the bridesmaid." Boxer also said that he appreciated the cheers for him from our crowd. OK Buc fans listen up...the Bucs arrive at 5:51 on Northwest Airlines on Thursday. Be there to welcome them back!! John Searles had this to say about the game "It was very good, because we won. It was scary though, especially being down 2-0. It was unbelievable that we came back, but we played hard. Unfortunately my son Jake Searles did not play, but we all know that story. But hey - we're all here to watch the hockey and have a good time. Thank you Sarah!"
Written by Sarah Bendy.
Bucs Win National Championship!
Billings, Montana (5/6/98): How bad did the Bucs want to play the Lancers for the National Championship? So bad that not even the loss of several teeth and over 70 stitches could keep Garrett Stafford off the ice. The Bucs outworked the Lancer's from the first drop of the puck and never let down. When the Lancers did threaten, Revermann came up big.
Nick Parillo lifts the Gold Cup after defeating the Omaha Lancers in Billings, Montana.
The Bucs first goal came :45 seconds into the third period when a hard working Pete Fregoe wrapped the puck around the net. Bassett went down and Jim Jackson picked up the puck between the circles, skated closer, and then ripped one over Bassett who was still down on the ice. The crowd went crazy and so did the players!
The Bucs second goal came at 6:33 of the third when Jason Basile ripped a shot on net off of the face-off. Noah Clarke picked up the puck and stretched the twine in the back of the net. The Lancers picked up their play but the Bucs played strong to the finish. The Lancers pulled Bassett but could not mount a sustained attack and the game ended 2 to 1 in favor of the Bucs. The Bucs had won their third national championship.
We were able to get lots of great pictures of the Bucs skating with the cup, and will post them as soon as we can. Sarah will have an in-depth rant, and if the Bucs have any type of organized celebration, we will post it as soon as we hear of it - watch the home page! Jackson (Fregoe, Clarke) and Clarke (Basile) scored for the Bucs.
Ice Slinging
We went horseback riding at the Slow Elk Ranch earlier in the day before the game. It was the same place that some of the Buc fans and parents had gone on Sunday. What a ride! If you ever go up to Billings, Montana I highly recommend you take the two hour ride near Red Lodge!
We were in the final round playing against the Omaha Lancers. The Des Moines Buccaneers wanted to play the Lancers and Erik Anderson told me that he felt comfortable playing them. I admit I wasn't as nervous playing the Lancers as I was the Springfield team - Springfield looked good. Garrett Stafford, though his jaw was wired, was going to play the game anyway. The Billings Bulls equipment manager had managed to get Garrett a full face shield for the game. The condition was that if the swelling went down and a full cage was found Garrett could play. During the warm-ups before the game the officials allowed us to warm-up Billy Rosseau in case Garrett couldn't play.
The Lancer fans had bloomed in full force and went all out to support their team. Orange and white signs were all over the arena with supportive slogans. Rob Lettington was wearing his lucky tie, which he hadn't worn for awhile. The Lancer fans were fairly loud and supportive, it seemed there were more of their fans their then of ours! Revermann and Bassett were in goal.
First
The game was good clean hockey, but the first two periods were scoreless. During the first period our Bucs were practically flawless. They looked determined, patient, and confident. It was possibly the best hockey I've seen them play all year long. Though there wasn't a whole lot to talk about in either the first or second period it wasn't a boring game by any means. Stafford was putting on some good hits and played extremely well. But for that matter all the players were playing extremely well. They were playing as a team and even beating the Lancers to the loose puck. By the end of the first period the Lancers looked a little defeated. We were able to keep the Lancers at bay very well during the first period. If you take a look at the shots on goal it shows you right there the story of the game. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 12 - Lancers 4.
Second
From the talk in the first intermission it sounded as if the Lancer fans were a bit worried. Well, they should be, you can't win a game with 4 shots on goal. The Lancers seemed to play a bit better in this second period and the Bucs looked as though they had slowed down a tad. But for the most part we still had the upper hand in the entire game. Since we had a few penalties in this period the Lancer fans really cheered their team on to try and get something started. It didn't help. When our players had put on some real pressure near the end of the period Bassett managed to come up with this amazing save. I'm still not sure how he did it, but I have to give him credit for something that was absolutely beautiful. Shots on Goal: Des Moines 7 - Lancers 8.
Third
Going into the third period the score was still tied at zero. The Bucs managed to notch a goal in 45 seconds of the third period. The first goal of the game came from Jimmy Jackson (assist to Pete Fregoe and Noah Clarke). Jimmy slammed it home after Pete had wrapped it around the net and sent it out in front of him. It was an all-team effort on that goal! After this the fans had really gotten wild and excited. It seemed that all our games against Omaha were won if we got the first goal. With that first goal we got the needed pressure and it wouldn't take us long to make it known we weren't giving up that Gold cup easily. At 6:33 Noah Clarke got the second goal of the game (assist to Jason Basile). After this Bassett looked ocmpletely defeated. He was laying on the ground as the Bucs celebrated their second goal. Bassett had his glove over what would be his forehead (his helmet at the time) and just laid there as if he was in a faint and wanted to hide from the world. Dan Donnette got an interference penalty at 9:47. This would prove to be a bad penalty kill for us. The Lancers in the only great rush I had seen from them in the whole period took it end to end and scored on Revermann. Chad Theuer got the goal at 10:10 (assist to Chris Paradise and Neil Breen). The Omaha Lancers had pulled Bassett with around a minute left and when the clock had ticked all the way down and play had stopped at the ten second mark a time-out was finally called for Omaha. Bassett remained out and play resumed. With four seconds left Owens called a time-out and talked to his guys. The remaining four seconds drained away and as the clock hit 0 Revermann threw down his gloves and helmet and jumped towards the guys on the ice. It didn't take long for the rest of the players to join him - including the players who were not dressed (they had previously with about 5 minutes left ran down to the ice level). Shots on Goal: Des Moines 6 - Omaha 10. Total Shots on Goal: Des Moines 25 - Omaha 22
Afterthoughts
The fans went crazy (except for the Omaha fans who left) and the arena was loud for quite awhile after the Bucs had won the game. The two teams shook hands and lined up on the ice on the blue lines as the cups were brought out. There was a nice...but a bit long...ceremony afterwards as the awards were presented to the players. Eventually the Lancers left the ice and the Bucs were able to hoist the cup and parade around the ice with it as well as pose for pictures proudly with their medals. Poor Willie Raderschat during the celebration got his foot cut and had to get four stitches. Of course he was wearing leather slip on shoes (clogs). Garrett Stafford afterwards told me "It looks worse then it hurts." Nicky Parillo commented that he's not sure the Merrimack fans will be quite as wonderful as the Buc fans have been (we assured him wherever he'll go he'll gather fans). Bob Strand commented that "if the Bucs are going to play good...now is the time to do it!" John Searles was getting autographs from the entire team so he could retire his turtle neck (with his son's number on it). We'll have plenty of picture and videos that you can take a look at as soon as we can possibly get them ready. So keep an eye out for that. Also I will be doing a National Tournament year-end recap soon as well, complete with pictures. I want to thank all the fans and the parents and add that the Billings Bulls fans were among the nicest fans I've met anywhere! This is possibly the last year the Gold Cup National's will be held, unless things can get straightened out among the league. There will be some meetings next week and more will be found out then as to the status of the National's. If you would like to send notes to the players put the players name on a self addressed stamped envelope (the note inside obviously) and drop them off at the arena office. The wonderful arena staff will make sure that your notes get sent to each player! Thanks all!
Written by Sarah Bendy.
