With 45 seconds left in the overtime Miroslav Durak blocked a shot and then muscled his way down the ice, passing to Ryan Bennett. Ryan slid the puck to Rob Novak who was crashing the net; Rob put it in the open net to give the Bucs the win. The Bucs had robbed Omaha again.

Weber (pp) (Riddle, Lane), Reinholz (Riddle, Sejna), Riddle (pp) (Mullen), Riddle (Kim, Larranaga) and Novak (Bennett, Durak) scored for the Bucs. Mantua was in goal.

March 3, 2000

It seemed appropriate to call the game against the Omaha Lancers a special one. Not only did the special teams have a lot of impact in that game, but notching another win as we barrel down on the end of the season was special too. It wasn't hard to predict that the game would be close and hard fought. It also wasn't hard for me to have a premonition of a tie.

Before the game we were tied at 65 points with Lincoln and Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls did not play and though Lincoln played they lost. With the two points we got by winning the overtime game against Omaha we managed to pull into the lead for first in the league and are now tied in points with team USA. The overtime loss to Omaha would be their first of the season and would also cause them to fall to fourth place in the West division. However, look out, Saturday night we go head to head with Twin Cities in our arena, and they've been tough for us all year... meanwhile Team USA will be playing Cedar Rapids (USA has managed to beat the Roughriders 2 out of the 3 match-ups so far)...

The Lancer fans that at the game were quiet and respectful, not that that is unusual... but I think what was unusual was the lack of orange and black in the crowd. The game went well for those fans in the first period. Mantua was a little bit soft and Omaha aggressively took advantage of that by scoring the first goal with 17:20 left in the first. Our own fans responded with a heartiness that only comes from playing the Lancers. From the very start of the game the arena was loud and packed.

Finally the Buccaneers began putting more pressure on Omaha's star goalie Dan Ellis, and he caved under at 6:43 when Matt Weber made the water bottle jump scoring Des Moines' first goal (Riddle, Lane). Then halfway through the period on a power play Reinholz scored the second goal to put us ahead of Omaha (Riddle, Sejna).

Omaha's second goal was a sloppy one, but it never matters in the end and is still put on the board. After #20 shot the puck into Mantua momentum carried it right over him and into the back of the net. This goal was at 11:53 and would be the last one of the game. Ellis stopped 6 shots while Mantua had 5...

The second period went much the same way that the first did. We shot ahead of the Lancers at 4:11 with a goal from - (-). Unfortunately Omaha scored about two minutes later to tie the game. Except for the fact that both goalies had to come up big near th end of the period, that was about all that happened in the second. It was Mardi Gras night complete with beads. We went into the third, tied... again. Saves for Ellis 15 and for Mantua 10...

Third period started with penalty, but nothing really happened there. Halfway through the period and there still wasn't much to say. Mantua doing was well and Ellis was doing as well. The whole team matched up well. I'm tired. At 10:18 Bathe got called for tripping and we killed the penalty off without any trouble. The tie was broken when a Lancer skated down the ice and shoot on Mantua. Mantua made a knee save, but the puck slipped through the five-hole.

The Bucs called a time out with 1:31 left and Mantua was pulled. Omaha didn't stand a chance on a 6 on 5. They took a time-out following the Bucs. However we scored the tying goal at 18:41 from Riddle (Kim, Larranaga). Mantua was put back in net and we were going into OT. Yet even so it looked like the Bucs would break the tie before leaving the period. Riddle tried for another one... Kim tried for another one... They tried their hardest, but we were still going into overtime. Saves for Ellis 14 and Mantua 15...

In the overtime period, it looked like we were going to go on to a shootout, but with 22.1 Seconds left Novak got the goal (Bennett, Durak). I would like to add that Durak did a lot of the work to get the puck down the ice shoving players out of his way. Saves for Ellis 1 and for Mantua 3. Written by Sarah Bendy.

The win makes the race for the Anderson Cup even tighter, making next weeks games against Lincoln and Green Bay crucial.

March 4, 2000

It seems that this is a year for sickness, not only have too many of the Bucs been sick (even playing the games sick) but everybody else has been sick. It's getting to be a real frustration and I myself, sick again, am tired of it. So I wasn't really up for the game, perhaps having gotten to worn out from the excitement of the game the night before. I wasn't the only one that wasn't into the game, the whole crowd seemed dead, of course when you're losing and not even a goal to cheer for in the game, it does make you shut up... But what a difference from the Omaha game!...

The first period went slow, nothing was overly scary at that time and both teams tied at 0. Some of the best news was when we heard Omaha was loosing, but the quiet calm would be upset after that and everything would change in the second period.

It was at 2:47 that things started going from mundane to disappointing. Off a bad angle a Vulcan scored and it was all over for us. The second goal came immediately following a penalty to Baumgartner. We should have just crawled into the grave we had dug and die right then.

Was it possible for the crowd to get any quieter? Probably the most exciting thing for the crowd was yet to come in the third period. Saves for Berkhoel 16 and for Morrissey 8...

You have to give the Bucs credit for trying, because they really did in the third... was it that Berkhoel was just too good, or that the Bucs didn't take full advantage of the rebounds? The fans started responding more in this period and the Bucs had begun to get more serious in needing at least one goal.

It was then that a Vulcan got a nice hit from Bathe and went down by the boards. Not risking anything the Urbandale EMS, police, trainers, and coaches took their time as they inspected the kid. They brought out a gurney and after a long, unnerving time took him off the ice to tend to him. Meanwhile, the one thing that got the crowd most excited was during this time when the police had to go up into the crowds and escort someone from the building. I still have yet to figure out what that was all about. Bathe was then given a 5 minute major for checking from behind after the Vulcans coach gave the linesman an earful WHILE he was out on the ice looking over his boy. I'm not going to address the issue of whether or not Bathe meant to hurt that kid, because nobody in their right mind would really want to injure anyone in that respect, but was this penalty really called for? This also got the crowd to their feet and "Ref you suck!" became the loudest chant all night long. I think Coach Carroll agreed with that since he also let the wonderful ref know how he felt. Though Sejna also argued their case, the penalty stuck. At least with a little under two minutes left, the Vulcans got called for a penalty. That was to be expected though.

With about four minutes left the Vulcans scored again and finally Olsen got himself a hat trick by hitting the empty net. We were behind 4-0...

Anyway with Sioux Falls, Lincoln, Omaha and Team USA all winning their games, Out loss got even harder to swallow, the race has gotten even tighter. It was the first shoot out we have seen all year, unfortunately it went the wrong way. I don't think I can say that that the Bucs played badly, because that certainly isn't the case, but perhaps it had more to do with the goalie that Twin Cities has. He seems to be able to stop us, every time...
Written by Sarah Bendy.

How can one even begin to describe the game Friday night? I think perhaps that the team we saw, the team that beat us 7-1 is very likely to take it all home. Lincoln did everything we couldn't and didn't do Friday night. Even so there had to be at least one good thing and I found it in Paul Morrissey. After two periods of play and Lincoln peppering Mantua, he was quickly giving way under the pressure without much help. After one goal from Larranaga at the end of the first and five goals from Lincoln's squad, Morrissey was put in goal halfway through the second. And though the Massachusetts native would let in two more goals, in his period and a half of play he was more elemental in keeping the Stars at bay then anybody else had yet been. The game would end in a pitiful 7-1 in favor of the Stars.

Most of the game looked like a Lincoln power play and when Mantua began to falter, the Stars took full advantage. Russell himself was doing an excellent job in his net and stopped the few shots we managed without a problem. The scoring for Lincoln started at 11:53 of the first period and it went down hill after that with a total of three goals in the first. The Bucs lone goal came from Larranaga when he blasted it through Russell (Bennett). Unfortunately as I said earlier Mantua had little help and after the fifth shaky goal Morrissey took a stand in front of the net in the second period. Had it not been for Paul the score would probably be a lot highter then it already was. Still the game couldn't get over soon enough. And when it was all over the coach spent plenty of time in the locker room.
Written by Sarah Bendy.

I think the question was on everybody's lips Saturday night before the game, would we win? Immediately following that question was, how would we play? Perhaps it was too much pressure to say that we had to win the last games at the end of the season. It was enough pressure that the teams we were playing were not going to lay down and die in front of us. Morrissey, earned himself the start with his game from the night before, and even the lines were changed around. Though the game the Bucs played was better by far, it wasn't enough to pull off a win.

The Gamblers scored the first goal about two minutes into the first period. After that the second goal came at 12:32 and that was the last goal of that period. We managed to really give a showing in that first period giving Jure Penko, the Green Bay goalie, a good 14 shots. Most of the players working hard and trying to salvage what they had so far lost. What had they so far lost? Two games and fewer goals in those games. Though on the grand scheme of things, a two-game losing streak isn't that bad, at the end of the season when everyone is trying to claw their way through it is very important.

When the second period rolled around it was with a slap in the face, Green Bay got their third goal in just over a minute. It was then that Troy Riddle started to shine through a bit more forcefully then some of the rest. He tried for a wrap around about three minutes later, only to be denyed by Jure. Give the Bucs complete credit, they weren't ready to give up yet and the effort they put out was really fun to watch. It was during our power plays that was the most exciting and following one, Kim got the first Buccaneer goal (Larranaga, Riddle). The Slovenian Giant lay on the ice defeated, denied the shut-out. When a bench minor was called for Green Bay for too many men on the ice, Riddle capatilzed on that. Almost as if an afterthought before a line change, Troy snapped it into the net (Sejna). With that second goal of the game Troy gave us our third goal in as many games and got himself yet another point in his already climbing point status. The Gopher bound players efforts in this game was evident in both goals that were scored and helped to satisfy fans that we were not dead.

Though the game ended in a three point lead for Green Bay, the last two goals coming within the last five minutes of the game, we had seen more in the Bucs on Saturday night then another loss. In that game we saw what we knew was raw talent and a good hockey team. It was the team we always cheered and the one we see blow away the competition. Maybe we have just been spoiled from the most recent years when we win almost everything and always come out on top. Or perhaps the USHL is just getting more spread out and the talent is increasing. It says something good for the entire league, and it gives us die-hard fans a chance to say ... Yes, we're true fans, we're there win or lose and we'll always support our team. After all, they can do very little to make us lose our faith and commitment to them ... and that perhaps is the greatest thing of all.
Written by Sarah Bendy.

March 17, 2000

David Klema a high-school tender that we picked up, allowed by the new rulings, had to be the story of the game tonight. This rule allows us to recruit a player that can play with his high school team until the end of his season but must play at least five games with us in order to qualify as a tender. With finally getting the chance to play his first game as a Buccaneer he was also able to notch a goal as well. It was good to finally see the mystery man from Roseau. And though Klema was definitely the talk of the game, it was probably the Weber, Kim, Bennett line that had the ultimate impact on the game. Morrissey was in goal once again, relieving Mantua and giving him a chance to heal.

Weber's first goal came off a rebound at 1:50 of the first period (Kim, Murphy). The Bucs certainly looked better compared to the last time we had seen them play, though they seemed a little slow to start against Dubuque. When Dubuque took a penalty for holding, Peter Sejna at 11:56 grabbed his opportunity to get the second goal (Larranaga). Ayers was flat on his back when Weber got the second goal at an even sixteen minutes (Kim).

With 1:10 left in the first period Dubuque got a goal and when we went into the second period Dubuque would get the second goal. We came away in the second period with 16 shots on net and Dubuque would have a mere 4, but we still couldn't sneak any past Ayers.

In the third period Kim got the fourth goal at 5:40 (Weber, Bennett) and the fifth goal from Chiodo came at 16:30 (Mullen). Probably the best part of the entire game was the final 7-8 minutes of the third period. It was just fun to watch and there seemed to be more fire in both teams. It was with less then a minute left that David Klema would get his goal, giving us a 6-2 lead. Written by Sarah Bendy.

March 18, 2000

In the final home game of the season, the Bucs not only won, but they won in style. The fans started out quiet, and after a little bit of encouragement from the announcer they picked up somewhat. However I don't think they really got into the game until the very last period when we were behind. Before the game even started awards were handed out to various team members, Sejna of course coming away with the most. You can look at all the awards in the 1999-2000 Home page underneath the college bound players.

However to get to that point we got good goaltending from Mantua in the first and the first goal of the game from Sioux Falls. We answered with a goal from Riddle (Sejna) at 14 minutes even. Sioux Falls came back with another goal at 15:38. But when Dimella went into the penalty box, it was to be our good luck, for we scored a short handed goal not long after this from Novak (Riddle).

This was how we left the second period, tied at 2 and in the second period it was Dimella who got the third goal (Kirchhoff, Klema). In the second period both teams got very few shots on goal and frankly seemed a bit on the boring side, but we were winning and that was the most important thing.

In the third period things began to look bad when the Stampede tied up the game at 7:34. It went from bad to worse then when Mantua got caught out of his net and Mike Lubesnick scored his second goal. This was when the fans seemed to realize we might lose and for the last game that wasn't acceptable. When we were handed an opportunity on a silver platter it changed everything. Not only with 1:25 left did we have an extra man on the ice in place of Mantua, but we were then given a power play when Hanowski was called for hodling and then a ten minute misconduct. So with a 6 on 4 how could we fail to tie it up. With 7.2 seconds left Bennett scored the power play goal (Sejna, Reinholz).

Going into overtime Wade Chiodo scored the game winning goal at 2:23, it was probably the most fun at a game I'd had in a while. After the game was over the players were let back out onto the ice and the fans were able to get autographs and pictures. Written by Sarah Bendy.

The third period was a battle, but the puck just was not bouncing the Bucs way and the game ended with a win for Omaha. The Bucs will face Omaha in round 1 of the Clark Cup next week.

Kim (Bennett) scored for the Bucs. Mantua was in goal.

Game Rant

Nobody wants to lose their last game of the season, especially when it's a home game. The Des Moines Buccaneers faced the Omaha Lancers and lost their last road game of the season, but Omaha's fans were happy. I believe it completely fair and harbor no bad feelings for this loss. Just one week earlier we had pulled off a big win ourselves for our last home game. I think the only thing that could have made the night better was if the Bucs had given more of a showing then they did. Except for the first period, which they dominated, the Lancers had that game well in hand.

A solid showing from Ellis is partially to blame for our loss, had he not been as solid in net on some of the shots he had, we would have had more then one goal. He is an amazing goalie to watch. The only goal we got was from Alex Kim in the first period (Bennett). The arena was packed and it seemed that every fan was alert and cheering, of course once the second period hit they had plenty to cheer about.

Omaha winning this game gave them home ice advantage ... but would somebody like to refresh me on this one? We won the series, but we didn't get home ice? That was the only thing that bothered me a bit, but not enough to keep me awake at night. Written by Sarah Bendy.