ROLLER HOCKEY : Bullfrogs Rally to Beat Blades and Win Series

Who needs baseball when you have roller hockey?

That was the opinion of most of the 6,156 who watched Anaheim’s Rick Judson score the winning goal with 51 seconds left to give the Bullfrogs a come-from-behind, 9-8 victory over the Los Angeles Blades in a Roller Hockey International playoff game Wednesday night at the Forum.

Judson’s score capped a six-goal second-half rally for Anaheim and sent the Bullfrogs into the Western Conference finals against the winner of the Northwest Division series between Portland and Calgary.

Both teams started slowly in a low-scoring first half, in which Victor Gervais scored two goals to help the Bullfrogs take a 3-2 lead at halftime.

Anaheim extended the lead to 4-2 on a goal by Steve Beadle and appeared to have control of the game. But that was before the Blades scored three goals during a 23-second stretch.

Mike Callahan got things going with a goal to cut the Bullfrogs’ lead to one goals and Craig Charron scored two unassisted goals within a span of 13 seconds to give the Blades a 5-4 lead. Steve Wilson scored the Blades’ fourth goal in a row 2 1/2 minutes later to make it 6-4.

After Gervais scored to make the score 6-5, the Blades got goals from Steve Ross and Wilson to take an 8-5 lead with two minutes remaining in the third period.

Under Roller Hockey International playoff rules, Anaheim, which held a 1-0 lead in the two-game series, was about to play a 12-minute mini-game following regulation when the Bullfrogs turned to Gervais.

Gervais, who has led Anaheim in scoring the last two seasons, responded with his fourth goal of the game. The Bulldogs then made the game interesting when Jim Brown scored with 38 seconds remaining in the period to cut the Blades’ lead to 8-7.

“I didn’t think we would give up, because we had nothing to lose,” Gervais said. “One thing was for sure. We didn’t want to go into another game.”