Murphy (Weber), Novak (Mullen), Miller (Lane), Sejna (Novak, Doan), Soukup (unassisted), Durak (Sejna, Reinholz), Mullen (Novak) and Kim (PP) (Sejna) scored for the Bucs.

Pre Game
There were signs that the hockey season was near. The Elm trees were beginning to lose their leaves, here and there a Sumac leaf was turning red, it was getting dark earlier, and the Guest Book was beginning to heat up. I have been looking forward to this season - it is going to be an interesting. North Iowa is moving to Cedar Rapids after so many years in Mason City. It is too bad, Mason City doesn't know what they lost. There will be a new USHL team, the Sioux Falls Stampede which we will play September 16 in the Buc Bowl. Next year Kearney will join the USHL. Be sure to check out the USHL web site for USHL related info. We may also get another Junior A league on the east coast next year. Yes, there is a lot going on.

The official pre-season roster is out, but there were two foreign players on the ice, Jaan Soukup and Miraslov Durak. As soon as I get more information on these guys I will let you know.

It was a warm muggy day Friday and the ice was not in the best of shape. There was a pretty good turnout for a "Football Friday" in Iowa. Not only was high school football in full swing, but Nebraska was playing at Iowa Saturday morning. As we took our seats, none of that mattered and I was ready for some Buccaneer hockey!

Period 1
The first two minutes was all Waterloo. We were unable to even get it into the offensive zone for over 2 minutes. Finally Jaan Soukup got a shot on Waterloo goalie Darren Gastrock. Waterloo kept up the pressure and finally scored 9 minutes into the period in a scramble in front of the net.

The Bucs responded a minute later with a goal from Mark Murphy of Jamestown, Rhode Island. Mark let loose a rocket from inside the blue line that the goalie never saw. The assist went to Matt Weber. The Bucs began to gain some confidence and with just 46 seconds remaining in the period Mark Mullen took a shot close in. The rebound was stuffed in by veteran Rob Novak who was playing very well. The Bucs had been outplayed for most of the period but led 2 to 1.

Period 2
Waterloo again came out strong and were really taking some chances on a power play. Jesse Lane picked off a pass and shoved it to Kelly Miller who raced towards the goal with Jerrid Reinholz on his left. Everybody thought it Kelly was going to pass to Jerrid, instead he came in close, deked and tapped the puck in - a short handed goal! Peter Sejna made it 4 to 1 on a tough angle shot, assisted by Travis Doan and Rob Novak. Buccaneer goalie Mike Mantua had quite a workout but was playing well. He is not afraid to mix it up and handle the puck.

Period 3
Waterloo scored in the first minute of the period and it appeared that the momentum might shift. Less than 30 seconds later, Jaan Soukup broke over the blue line all alone. He faked a slap shot at the face-off circle which froze the goalie, raced in and made it look easy. What a goal! The action really heated up after that. After the next face-off, Landon Bathe and Brian Canady dropped their gloves and went at it. The crowd rose to their feet and roared their approval. Both players were tossed.

We barely had time to sit down when Kelly Miller and Craig Falite began to fight. It was short-lived as the officials quickly broke it up.

The fight must have energized Waterloo as they scored less than a minute later. However, the Bucs were playing well and just seemed to be getting stronger.

With 6:36 remaining on the clock Jerrid Reinholz got the puck to Peter Sejna who was behind the net. Peter saw Miraslov Durak all alone at the top of the circle. Wham! the sound of his one-timer was quickly drowned out by the roar of the crowd as the red light went on. The Bucs were leading 6 to 3. A minute later Mark Mullen scored as he was being thrown to the ice (assist to Rob Novak). The Bucs final goal came on a power play with 1:49 left in the game. Peter Sejna was rushing down the middle of the ice with Alex Kim trailing. The goalie expected one of Sejna's sweet moves; instead Peter dropped it back to former Buccaneer Alex Kim who slapped it in. The game ended with the Bucs on top 8 to 3. Coach Carroll had his first victory as a Buccaneer coach. Congratulations to the staff and welcome to all the new Bucs and family that are reading this rant. Written by Steve Bendy.

Bucs win Buc Bowl opener

Des Moines, IA (9/16/99): The Bucs took a 6 - 4 victory in their first ever meeting with the Sioux Falls Stampede. Troy Riddle picked up 2 goals and an assist and Felipe Larranaga added a goal and an assist. Mike Mantua and Jeff Ronkoske split goal duty coming up with 19 saves between them.

Riddle (Larranaga), Weber (Kim), Riddle (SH) (Reinholz), Larranaga (PP) (Miller, Riddle), Kirchhoff (Kim) and Kim (Sejna) scored for the Bucs

For more info, go to the HyVee Buc Bowl page.

Bucs beat Stars 4 - 2

Des Moines, IA (9/17/99): Mike Mantua stopped 31 shots to spur the Bucs to a 4 - 2 win over the Lincoln Stars. The Bucs jumped out to an early 2 goal lead on powerplay goals while Mantua stopped the Stars cold. Lincoln eventually tied the score, but the Bucs regained their lead, with Riddle getting an empty-netter to end Lincoln's chance at a win.

Miller (PP) (Riddle), Riddle (PP) (Miller), Sejna (Lane) and Riddle (PP) (EN) (Baumgartner, Sejna) scored for the Bucs.

Pre-Game

It is really hockey time now. Before we were just given appetizers, a little teaser, something to snack on. But with the Buc Bowl is the beginning of real hockey…albeit young looking, but it’s still hockey. So we won’t see hardened veterans, or players who have gelled as a team yet, but we do begin to get into the first course.

It was so good to go to a game with the craziness of my life lately and there is nothing quite equal to the smell of the ice and the feel of the cool hockey permeated atmosphere. Seeing old faces you haven’t seen for a whole summer and talking to people who you’ve lost touch with in the months long reprieve. There were quite a few former players that showed up for the weekend as well.

First Period

Though the Bucs were the first to be called for a penalty, it would prove to be a penalty ridden first period that Lincoln would take most of the brunt of. Feel free to argue with me all you want, but I have a problem with that many penalties being called throughout a game. What about just playing the game? I understand calling something where someone has a big potential of getting hurt, but sometimes the whole game is about a roughness. That’s why half the people get so excited when a fight starts, even if it’s only in the stands. We’ve become a society that thrives on watching others get hurt.

We got our first goal about halfway into the period from Kelly Miller off a very nice one-timer from Riddle. Which it’s good to see Riddle getting into the action. Good to see a reason behind the talk. The goal came at 7:11 and the goalie really hadn’t stood a chance (assist to Troy Riddle). The fans responded in unison to the wild celebration Miller took off on in the middle of the ice.

Really, we had a second goal with 11 minutes or so left in the game, however the ref waived it off…though it obviously went over the line. Did Smith just feel awful about the amount of penalties he’d given Lincoln that he had to help them out some or what? I believe that Weber would have gotten that goal, had it actually counted. There were quite a few tempers getting hotter by the minute at this point, both on the ice and in the stands. I’m not sure where it was worse!

Riddle and Miller seemed to be a good team, because the second goal scored was just the opposite of the first. This time Riddle getting the power play goal (assist to Miller) at 9:59. The period ended with a score of 2-0 and saves for Russel 9 and Mantua 11.

Second Period

Sometimes it’s hard to dredge up something to really discuss for these rants…other times it comes freely. I was struggling last night with what I should really expose in this rant. However I was presented with a solution when I started watching the antics of pretty boy Nick Fouts of the Lincoln Stars. How shall I describe him? I’ll leave it up to you to decide…but with his long hair and helmet that came off easily, the attitude, and the way he tried to pull penalties with bad acting…well there’s not much to be said! Even Baumgartner was laughing at him. When Fouts went sliding, throwing his stick and glove in wild antics in front of the linesman…the official just stared at him unflinchingly as though faced with an uninteresting piece of baggage. That is when Paul Baumgartner laughed at him.

Lincoln finally scored their first goal five minutes into the second period and looked like they could possible keep pace with us. I’m afraid I was pretty unimpressed by it. Until Lincoln stepped it up one more time and tied the game at 10:24. This was definitely a wake up call (which I did need), but I am afraid I have to admit that it was a nice looking goal. But I’m not ashamed to say I that.

With two and half minutes left in the third Peter Sejna broke the tie and got a goal that he definitely deserved (assist to Jesse Lane). I really have seen Sejna improve by leaps and bounds and last night I think half of the good plays made had happened because of him. This goal certainly came at a good time, because we were near the end of the period and Reinholz would end up getting a penalty for the entire remaining two minutes. Unfortunately just about thirty seconds after Reinholz was called so was Mark Murphy. This meant we had to keep from getting scored on with Lincoln having a two-man advantage for the rest of the second. I’m happy to say we made it out of it by some hard work! Novak alone took blocked several shots and really shone during that time. Saves for both goalies equaled nine.

Third Period

The third period seemed to start out terribly slow. I actually think I wasn’t around for much of the period to begin with, I just kind of zoned out watching the game. One thing I did notice was how wet the ice looked. In general it looked wet, but especially in front of the goalies and by the players benches. I swear both teams had set in for a long snooze…and just wanted to end the game. The only thing that really woke me up was when my friend got hit with a yo-yo. Not a flying puck, but a yo-yo! How many people can claim they went to a game to get hit by a yo-yo?! The adult…who had been playing with it felt awfully bad. Felt so bad he continued to try and get her something, a drink, anything…a yo-yo. I’m not sure she appreciated the offer of the green toy much.

The next most interesting thing was the Sioux Falls Stampede team moooving out of the arena in single file. Which reminds me of the notorious Hockeyman from the. I know who you are now and really after all that bragging what did we see?

The final, empty net goal came from Troy Riddle… his second goal of the night (assist to Baumgartner and Sejna) at 19:53. This fourth goal finally put the game away and the Bucs had won their second game of the Tournament. Russel had six saves in the third period, leaving Mantua with 13. I might add here that Mantua did an excellent job tonight, considering what he had to face. Lincoln really never gave up and all you have to do is look at the amount of saves Mantua ended up with! Total Saves: Des Moines 33 – Lincoln 20. Written by Steve Bendy.

Danville VS Cedar Rapids for Championship

Des Moines, IA (9/18/99): The Buccaneer 3-5 loss to Omaha sent the Danville Wings and the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders to the championship round of the Buc Bowl. Although Cedar Rapids and Omaha were both undefeated, the playoff position went to Cedar Rapids because of a greater goals-for vs goals-against differential.

The Bucs found themselves down by 3 goals midway through the first period, despite the fact that they were outshooting and outplaying the Lancers. The period ended with the Lancers leading 3 - 2. The second period was a disaster for the Bucs as apparent goals were waved off and Omaha non-goals were counted as goals. The period ended with the Lancers leading 5 - 2. Midway through the game the coach swapped goalies - Mantua for Ronkoske. The Bucs were able to score one more goal that the officials let them keep before time ran out. It was the first loss for the Bucs this year.

Riddle (PP) (Reinholz, Kim), Sejna (PP) (Riddle) and Schabes (Kim, Kirchhoff) scored for the Bucs.

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Disclaimer
This is a game summary and commentary from a Buccaneer fan's point of view, and the viewpoints expressed in this column DO NOT necessarily reflect those of the Des Moines Buccaneer's organization.