Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Bumstead, Robertson pledge loyalty to a more disciplined hockey team

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Friday, June 25, 1999

Bumstead, Robertson pledge loyalty to a more disciplined hockey team

By Mark Button
Caller-Times

Geoff Bumstead doesn't scare easily.
   The 5-foot-10, 210-pound pit bull of a hockey player was voted "best fighter" by the players of the Western Professional Hockey League last year for good reason: He's the type who scares, not the type to get scared.
   So when Bumstead began having nightmares earlier this summer about opposing players taking liberties with his teammate, 1998-99 WPHL Most Valuable Player Chris Robertson, it's safe to assume Bumstead didn't take it lightly.
   "After I heard the Chris was going to re-sign with the team, I started having all these sleepless nights," Bumstead said, with a wink. "I would wake up seeing all these guys slamming Chris into the boards and taking cheap shots at him.
   "And I just can't have that."
   So Bumstead did the logical thing.
   He re-signed too.
   Which means while the nightmares have stopped for Bumstead, unofficial bodyguard for Robertson and the only player in league history to record 25 goals and 25 fights in one season, they may be just beginning for IceRays' opponents.
   Formal announcement
   On Thursday, the IceRays formally announced the signings of Bumstead and Robertson - each signed for two years - solidifying the team's veteran base for the future. In addition to the MVP and the scariest minor-league hockey player in four states, Corpus Christi coach Taylor Hall already has veterans Jody Praznik (11 years pro) and Mike Tomlinson (8 years pro) under contract.
   "This is our foundation, that's how we're looking at it," Hall said. "We already have our leaders. A lot of guys we want back were waiting to see what was going to happen. Now that Chris and Geoff have signed, it gives us a much better opportunity to get some of those guys back."
   Hall said he will still pursue All Star defenseman Regan Harper, who, back in April said he would not return to the team. Hall said he and Harper still talk and that Harper knows that Hall "has not given up on him."
   There are others Hall wants back, such as defenseman Bob Quinnell, who as a rookie last year finished in the top 15 for scoring defenseman (10 goals, 31 assists). Quinnell moved up to play in the International Hockey League towards the end last season, and said if he does not make an IHL or American Hockey League roster - both leagues are a mere step away from the NHL - he would return to Corpus Christi.
   Disciplined play an issue
   Regardless of who Hall signs for next season, the second-year IceRays coach will not be satisfied with a repeat of last season. The team finished the regular season 40-23-6, good for fourth place and a first-round bye in the playoffs. The bye hurt the IceRays, who came out rusty in Game 1 of the WPHL quarterfinals against Lake Charles and lost in overtime, 4-3. After winning Game 2, Corpus Christi fell apart and lost Games 3 and 4 by a combined score of 13-2. Undisciplined play was a major part of the IceRays' undoing.
   It wasn't a coincidence: Corpus Christi's 2,242 regular-season penalty minutes were second only to Central Texas' 2,282.
   Consider it an area for improvement.
   "I personally believe in playing a very hard style, but a legal style," Bumstead said. "If you watched the Stanley Cup Finals, it was a very hard-hitting, physical series. But it was legal, and that's what it takes."
   Hall said he will continue to endorse a physical brand of hockey.
   "We have a small rink," he said. "There's nowhere to hide out there. I'm going to continue to encourage the physical play, but we'll also strive to play with more discipline."
   IceCubes
   A PRESIDENTIAL PRESENCE: WPHL president Rick Kozuback attended Thursday's press conference and sang the praises of the IceRays' effort off the ice last year.
   "The IceRays set the benchmark for sales that all the other franchises will try to reach," Kozuback said.
   Corpus Christi did approximately $1.1 million in corporate sales last year, tops in the league. The IceRays also set a record for the most consecutive sellouts in a season with 36.
   A EXPANDED SEATING: IceRays general manager Bill Davidson said, "there's a good possibility," that Memorial Coliseum's seating capacity could be expanded by 200-250 for the 1999-2000 season.
   Davidson said he's considering ways to add seats in the northeast corner of the building in open area teams use to enter and exit the rink. If he can add the seats, Davidson said players would enter and exit below the new stands.
   Davidson said the team is at "approximately a 79 percent renewal rate," for season ticket sales for the '99-2000 season. Former general manager Jimmy Garino had announced a goal of 2,500 season tickets for the second season.
   "That won't be our approach," Davidson said. "I'd like to see around 2000 season tickets when it's all said and done."

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