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Friday, March 24, 2000

'Duel' Personality
Tough-guy rep may deny Bumstead MVP award
By Mark Button
Caller-Times

The reason Geoff Bumstead says he is the best player in the Western Professional Hockey League is the same reason he thinks he will not win the league's Most Valuable Player award.
   He's just too darn tough.
   Bumstead leads the league in total points, but the IceRays' 5-foot-10, 215-pound right wing is known more for putting tough guys on their backs rather than putting pucks in nets.
   "The only reason I wouldn't get (the award) is that it looks politically bad to have the toughest guy win best fighter one year and come back and win the scoring title the next year," Bumstead said. "People might think, 'What's the matter with that league? Is it not as good as it was last year? How can this guy do that?' But those people don't really know who Geoff Bumstead is."

Caller-Times file

'... It looks politically bad to have the toughest guy win best fighter one year and come back and win the scoring title the next year.'

-Geoff Bumstead,
WPHL MVP candidate

   There are four finalists for the MVP award, which will be announced by the WPHL today: Bumstead, Central Texas' Ron Newhook, Lubbock's Kyle Reeves and Odessa's Paul Vincent.
   The 52 voters for the award are made up of the 16 coaches and radio broadcasters, 16 selected media members and four WPHL front-office staff members.
   Bumstead, who has recorded 34 goals and 83 assists for his league leading 117 points, did not sneak up on anyone in the scoring race.
   He has led the WPHL in scoring for most of the year - including a two-month stretch in which he recorded at least one point a game for 20 straight games, even though both his hands were broken at the time.

Caller-Times file

'Geoff Bumstead has always been a player...He's always had a great shot and great vision on the ice.'

-Tony Martino,
New Mexico Scorpions coach

   But he also has logged 118 minutes off the ice, in the penalty box. That's down from his 274 penalty minutes last year. That difference in penalty minutes could be a sign that Bumstead has learned to adapt to his team's needs, said IceRays coach Taylor Hall.
   "I've always thought that Geoff has more potential that anyone playing hockey at this level," Hall said. "Anything we need him to do, he does. When we need a big fight to lift the team, he can do that. Early this season, we needed help scoring and Geoff stepped up and carried us."
   Newhook: complete player
   Of the four candidates, Newhook is the one who most resembles last year's MVP, former IceRays forward Chris Robertson.
   Newhook does everything. He leads the best team in the league in points. He has played every position except goalie this year and when he is on the ice, which is usually up to 40 minutes a game, something good normally happens.
   He is ranked third in the league with a plus-minus ratio of plus-51.
   Reeves: goal scorer
   The expansion Cotton Kings set league records this year for attendance while remaining in first or second place in the WPHL Western Division. Lubbock coach Alan May said Reeves is the main reason for the team's success.
   Reeves' 60 goals are second only to the IceRays' Kurt Wickenheiser. Reeves leads the league with 20 power-play goals, and his 11 game-winning goals ranks second.
   He trails only Bumstead and Wickenheiser in the scoring race.
   Vincent: most talented
   Vincent is easily the league's top individual talent.
   His peers in the WPHL Best of the Best poll - which is voted on by players, coaches and radio broadcasters - voted him the league's most outstanding player. He took no worse than third place in five offensive categories, including best stickhandler and most accurate shooter.
   Vincent's problem, however, may be that he is too talented. He played in just 39 Jackalopes' games - a little more than half of the team's total - because he was routinely called up to play for teams in the International Hockey League.
   Bumstead: the tough guy
   Bumstead's reputation for physical punishment - he was the unanimous choice as the league's best fighter in a WPHL poll last season - allowed his linemates, Wickenheiser and Tobin Praznik, to roam free on the ice and operate without fear of getting blindsided this season.
   Most league players are aware of Bumstead's reputation: if they pick on Wickenheiser or Praznik, a confrontation with Bumstead usually follows. Last year, Bumstead was the only player in the league to record at least 25 goals and 25 fights.
   In turn, Wickenheiser leads the league this year in goals with 61; Praznik is tops among rookies with 47. Bumstead was a protector and an offensive threat this season, but he said he is not optimistic about his chances of winning the MVP award.
   "I'm the best fighter in the league. And it's unheard of to be the toughest player as well as the best scorer," he said. "It's probably the only time it has happened in hockey and it's probably the only time it ever will happen. It would be like Bob Probert winning the NHL scoring title. It's just not going to happen."
   High praise
   New Mexico Scorpions coach Tony Martino, who has known Bumstead for years and played with him under then-New Mexico coach Taylor Hall during the 1996-97 season, disagreed, and said that Bumstead would net at least one MVP vote.
   "I voted for Geoff Bumstead," Martino said. "If anyone out of the four finalists deserves it, he does. With all the injuries Corpus Christi has gone through, he's been consistent all year."
   Bumstead's feeling that his reputation as a heavy hitter will hurt his MVP vote total is wrong, Martino said.
   "Geoff Bumstead has always been a player," Martino said. "Even in Cornell, before he decided that he liked to fight so much, he was a player. He's always had a great shot and great vision on the ice. And this year, he finally had a chance to play with a guy who - when Geoff made a pass - 80 percent of the time Kurt Wickenheiser put the puck in the net."
   That's one of the glowing differences between this year and last for Bumstead. This season, Bumstead has 34 goals - just two goals shy of his goal total last year - but he has 45 more assists than he recorded last year.
   'Best one-two punch'
   Central Texas coach Todd Lalonde thinks Newhook is the clear choice for the award, but said he also appreciates Bumstead's skills.
   While Bumstead's reputation for toughness won't take votes away from him, Lalonde said, Wickenheiser's individual success might.
   Lalonde, like many coaches, thinks Bumstead and Wickenheiser are the league' best one-two punch.
   "Kurt Wickenheiser is one my top two or three favorite players in this league and I think he might have gotten sniveled out of being on the ballot," Lalonde said. "He's the example I use with all my young guys when they don't want to work hard.
   "If half the players in the National Hockey League had (Wickenheiser's) work ethic, it would be a much better league," he said. "That may affect Geoff because they are so close and people might think Kurt Wickenheiser should get it and that will take away from Geoff."
   As of today, Wickenheiser trailed Bumstead by two points in the league scoring race. Each WPHL team nominated one player for the award and the IceRays nominated Bumstead, according to the league.
   Tackling politics
   No WPHL team has ever produced consecutive MVPs. That's a streak likely to continue, Bumstead said.
   "It would be a big honor, but once again, I don't know if politics will allow me to win," Bumstead said. "I'm not optimistic. I actually thought for a few days that I would win for sure. Then, in the last few days, I thought maybe they don't want the best fighter to be the MVP."

How they stack up
A statistical comparison of the four MVP candidates:

Pos. Player Team Games Goals Asst. Pts. +/- ratio Penalty Min.

RW Geoff Bumstead CC 67 34 83 117 +10 118

C Ron Newhook Cent. Tex. 68 34 74 108 +51 108

RW Kyle Reeves Lubbock 67 60 48 108 +9 135

C Paul Vincent Odessa 39 42 35 77 +2 41

Staff writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com

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