WPHL · Central Texas Stampede
1997-1998 Season
No Second-Year Slump
Record
40-23-6
Points
86
Games
69
Goals For
258
Goals Against
251
From the archive
The second season is where new teams get found out. Central Texas passed.
Bob Bourne, the coach who had taken them to the Final, was gone — off to chase his own shot at a bigger league. In his place came Lee Norwood, a former NHL defenseman with more than 500 games behind him and one idea about how to win: defense, played by all five skaters, not just the back line.
Belton bought in. The Stampede went 40-23-6 for 86 points — five more wins than the inaugural year and the best regular season the franchise had yet played. They were harder and more physical than Bourne's team, and a worse night out for everyone else in the WPHL.
The playoffs ended sooner than the run to the Final, and no Stampede player took home a league award. But the question a second season exists to answer had been answered. This team was real, and it was not going anywhere.
Roster
| Player | Pos | Age | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | Penalty mins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Layne Roland | Right Wing | 23 | 69 | 53 | 42 | 95 | 44 |
| Doug Smith | Left Wing | 27 | 63 | 33 | 50 | 83 | 99 |
| Dean Kolstad | Defense | 29 | 66 | 14 | 59 | 73 | 92 |
| Ricky Jacob | Center | 25 | 64 | 17 | 34 | 51 | 28 |
| Jason Taylor | Left Wing | 30 | 57 | 22 | 23 | 45 | 160 |
| Josh Boni | Center | 23 | 34 | 15 | 27 | 42 | 94 |
| Peter Zurba | Left Wing | 22 | 62 | 18 | 23 | 41 | 311 |
| Alex Rummo | Center | 25 | 38 | 16 | 17 | 33 | 25 |
| Jacques Mailhot | Right Wing | 35 | 50 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 277 |
| Peter Jas | Left Wing | 23 | 61 | 6 | 19 | 25 | 52 |
| Mike Dick | Center | 22 | 45 | 12 | 10 | 22 | 31 |
| Matt Brenner | Defense | 24 | 60 | 1 | 16 | 17 | 30 |
| Daniel Larin | Right Wing | 29 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 15 |
| Joe Tassone | Right Wing | 22 | 36 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 6 |
| Don McGrath | Defense | 30 | 47 | 0 | 12 | 12 | 185 |
| Derek Prue | Center | 25 | 19 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 18 |
| Jamie Hearn | Defense | 26 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 21 |
| Darren Duncalfe | Defense | 25 | 28 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 45 |
| Derek Nicolson | Defense | 24 | 50 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 62 |
| Tommi Tarvainen | Right Wing | 26 | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
| Gary Coupal | Right Wing | 22 | 20 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 79 |
| Jeff Rask | Defense | 22 | 30 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 107 |
| Brad Toporowski | Defense | 24 | 34 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 42 |
| Don Margettie | Wing | 22 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| Daryl Krauss | Center | 25 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| Brad Wingfield | Left Wing | 22 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 43 |
| Francois Chaput | Defense | 28 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 30 |
| Dwayne Gylywoychuk | Defense | 24 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 29 |
| Paul Pipke | Center | 22 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Antti Tirkkonen | Defense | 26 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| David Graff | Defense | 24 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 28 |
| Jeremy Parsons | Center | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jason Modopoulos | Left Wing | 20 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| Dennis Shiryaev | Left Wing | 19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Goaltenders
| Player | Age | Games | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals against avg | Save % | Shutouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frederik Beaubien | 22 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.87 | 0.776 | 0 |
| Mark Dawkins | 25 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2.91 | 0.913 | 0 |
| Jeff Melnechuk | 21 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2.2 | 0.93 | 0 |
| Greg Smith | 26 | 26 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 4.02 | 0.885 | 0 |
| Larry Dyck | 31 | 35 | 21 | 12 | 1 | 3.39 | 0.899 | 1 |