Belleville Bulls Weekend Review, Jan 21-22, 2012

by Phil Phillips

What can I say about The Belleville Bulls this past weekend. I don't know ? Its all been said.
So I turned to song, for the answer. The Bulls have had a history with certain songs, every one remembers the 80's & 90's when after every home game they played "Wasn't that a Party" by the Irish Rovers, You can't come to a Bulls game without hearing John Denver's"Thank God I'm a Country Boy", or what about the Belleville Bulls theme song, you know how it goes "Lets Get Wild for the Belleville Bulls, Come On." and anything with "MORE COWBELL" but mostly I picked a Bulls set list, because some guy on American Idol has a great name and helped me trend world wide. This is my play list for the Bulls this weekend at home on Saturday Vs The Kitchener Rangers and on the road on Sunday Vs The Kingston Frontenacs
The play list

1- Lost Together by Blue Rodeo.
Where have the Mighty Bulls of late 2011 gone ? 0-6 at home home in 2012, after losing their best game of the new year on Home ice to the Rangers 5-4. Then they suffered their 5th straight lose to Kingston 3-2, and to end the weekend in 9th place and out off the playoff picture ,when Oshawa defeated Barrie 3-0.

2- New Orleans is Sinking by the Tragically Hip
The Bulls playoff hopes in January are New Orleans and January can't come to an end soon enough for the Bulls. 0-6 at home, 1-9 overall, they lost John Chartrand after losing Macolm Subban in late December, and watched the playoffs slip away now sitting in 9th. with a .500 record of 22-22-1.

3- The Race is On - by George Jones
The Race is on for playoff spots in the East. Yes I know there are 23 games left, but the Eastern Conference is tight, with only 5 points separating 4th - from 9th. Home Ice is still do a"Bull" for any of the four teams that make it, but there are 5 teams and right now the Bulls are on the outside looking in.

4-Dazed and Confused- by Led Zeppelin
I would think everyone is , Coaches, players, opposition . media , and fans,

5- Where have all the Cowboys Gone - Paula Cole.
We don't have to name names, we all know the boys are struggling , some more then others, guys aren't scoring anymore, the fore check is gone , the drive to the net ?? This weekend when they did go to the net , they scored. The Defence has been soft at times, always backing up, giving teams to much space, even the always stingy PK has dropped a bit.

6- Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J
When the Chips are down sometimes , you just want to get a spark, someone to step up and Saturday night , 3 Bulls Adam Payrel, Joesph Cramarossa and Jason Shaw dusted it up with members of the Rangers , hoping it would spark the club and the building, it worked , it just wasn't enough. On Sunday Mike Curtis stepped up for the team,

7- Love Potion No. 9 by The Clovers
Is there a secret formula to turning things around ?
No, the boys from Belleville just need to step back , take a breath. Remember the things that made them one of the hottest teams in the OHL. A solid PK, a good fore check and back check, discipline and good goal tending, Coach Burnett has a good system that works and has been successful, you just have to play it.

8-Hero by Mariah Carey
Just a thought, but is Macolm Subban to the Belleville Bulls what Peyton Manning is to the Indy Colts, both their teams play better when they play. Macolm is by far the Bulls MVP. They need him, the kids play better when he is in the cage. No offense to John Chartrand or Charlie Graham, both are quality tenders, but this year belongs to Subban, He is ranked #1 in North America for a reason.

9-Walking on Sunshine by the Waves
This past weekend wasn't all bad, Garrett Hooey played great as did Jordan Subban. Saturday night against the Rangers was a game Belleville deserved to win, after being down 4-1 and to come back and tie it 4-4, only to lose on a late PP goal by OHL player of the week and maybe the best defense men in the OHL Ryan Murphy. Games where you do lots of things right and still lose are the toughest to recover from, hence the effort Vs Kingston.

10-Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)-Doris Day
Your Bulls are a better team then they have been showing, Come out to the games, these kids need your support. It says here not only do they make the playoffs, but when they do they make some noise. You might even hear a cowbell or two.