January 15th - Belleville Bulls vs. Ottawa 67's

by Phil Phillips

After Saturdays 5-3 home lose to the Sudbury Wolves, The Belleville Bulls were looking for a turn around on the road, instead they got turnovers, turnovers and more turnovers, not the good apple kind but the kind that lead to goals against. On a Sunday afternoon 5946 Ottawa 67's fans got their money's worth. With the home team handing the Bulls in my opinion a real gut check of a loss, beating the Bulls 6-1.

The Bulls went with Charlie Graham in net , and the 67's answered with Petr Mrazek. Bulls fans were looking for their team to come out with a chip, maybe even a little angry, but after a early PP, that produced nothing , the Bulls lost their first battle and turned the puck over, leading to Jake Cardwell scoring his 5th from Prince & Cazzola at 7:47. Ottawa wasn't done there, they scored 2 more times in the first, when our old friend Tyler Toffoli scored his 34th on a turnover, and the tasty pastry party wasn't over there, Shane Prince who was left alone in front of the net buried his 22nd after the Bulls turned the puck over again. The 67's lead the the Bulls in shots 14-10 after 20 minutes ,but the Bulls didn't really challenge Mrazek. The 3 goals that the Bulls gave up couldn't be put on Graham as he was left out to dry on all three.

The Bulls came out pretty good in the 2nd , but couldn't beat Mrazek, and before long started playing soft in there own end giving the 67's way to much time and space and they scored on an other turnover, from a guy who must love seeing the Bulls on the docket. Dalton Smith bagged his 12th of thyear and 5th Vs the Bulls this year. But before they even announced the Smith goal , Cardwell lit the lamp again at 9:44 to make it, 5-0 for the home team, the good news, Cardwell's goal was scored on the rush not a turnover. After that it looked like the Bulls might make a goalie switch, but they didn't, leaving us to wonder, how injured John Chartrand is after the Bulls saying hes not 100%. At the 13:10 mark the Bulls tallied a goal , Joesph Cramarossa, (8) with Brendan Gaunce and Luke Judson assisting. With the assist Gaunce has a 5 game point streak going, On the play Judson was playing the point where he played all of the game, and looked okay. The Bulls gave up an other goal, on an other turnover this time to Cazzola (4)from Prince, Cardwell.

There would be no scoring in the 3rd with Ottawa playing the clock, and playing it smart, even employing the trap at times. When the Toro's did get a chance All-World goalie Mrazek was there to shut the door,the Bulls played way to soft in this game, making huge mistakes in their own end, and it wasn't rookies it was some older players, that Belleville needs to play better if they plan on making the playoffs. A good start would be a better showing Vs The Generals on Wednesday night, Ottawa out shot the Bulls 40-38, Bulls PP 0/4 PK 1/1.

January 14th - Sudbury Wolves vs. Belleville Bulls

by Phil Phillips
*************************************************************
In a week that started out good with rookie goalie Charlie Graham getting his first OHL win in Brampton, snapping a 5 game losing streak.
Saturday night started off on a high note with Bulls GM/Coach Geroge Burnett being honored for both his recent accomplishments with Team Canada , and his 500th Win & 1000 games coached in the OHL. For just the 7th time this season the Bulls had a healthy scratch. That's pretty much where the good news ended.

Belleville's previous victory before Thursday night in Brampton had been an OT win in Sudbury with John Chartrand stealing a win from the Wolves, So the Bulls went back to him. Sudbury would answer with there Swedish netminder, the 6'4" Johan Mattsson. The 1st period started with both teams trading a few chances, with Chartrand making some big saves and Mattsson using all of his size, sometimes I'm not sure he even seen the puck, but he's so big it just hit him. At 13:20 The Wolves got on the score sheet first with a goal by Alex Racino from Thibodeau & Hanes. On a play where the Bulls D just backed up. After this the Bulls started to fall back in to some bad habits, of standing still and playing soft in there own end. Near the end of the Period our old friend the turnover showed up and with less then a minute to go at 19:12 Andrey Kuchin gave the Wolves a 2-0 lead. So after what would best be described as not the Bulls best period.

The Bulls came in to the 2nd down by two goals, but the 2432 Bulls fans weren't worried because the last time the Bulls faced the Wolves they overcame a 2 goal defcit.
To start the 2nd the PK unit tried to gain some momentum for the Bulls by killing the Joesph Cramarossa double minor. But even after the big kill ,the building was quiet, and the Bulls weren't generating anything. For the Wolves Andrey Kuchin was, he scored his 2nd of the night from Sgarbossa to give Sudbury a 3 goal lead. That was the end of John Chartrand's night, getting the hook after letting in 3 goals on 15 shots. The Bulls would respond just 22 seconds later at 7:24 ,the newest Belleville Bull Jordan Mayer scored his 12th and first as a Bull. But Kuchin wasn't done at 8:53 on the PP with Adam Payrel in the sin bin, he and Sgarbossa set up Joshua Leivo to restore the 3 goal lead. With the Bulls on a long 5 on 3 PP, they needed to score and did, Brendan Gaunce (21) from Cramarossa and Daniil Zharkov ( Zharkov's 2nd apple of the night) to cut the lead to 2. After Derek Schoenmakers goal at 19:43 to bring the Sudbury lead back to 3, Garrett Hooey scored his 7th at the 20:00 minute mark on a Penatly Shot. to make it 5-3.

Belleville came out flying in the 3rd out shooting the Wolves 13-3 but couldn't beat Mattsson. Bulls ended the game 1/2 on the PP, & 2/3 on the PK, out shooting the visitors 34-24, but lose 5-3. the lose was Belleville's 4th straight loss on home ice after starting the year with only 4 loses at the Yardman. 

The Streak is Over

The streak is over, at least temporarily for the Brampton Battalion. After going 12 straight games without a regulation loss, and an impressive fifth straight home win, the Troops fell to the visiting Belleville Bulls with a final score of 3-2.

Sixteen year old rookie goaltender Charlie Graham made 35 saves en route to his first victory in the Ontario Hockey League. He came up big for the Bulls when they needed him most, stymieing Battalion shooters time-and-again. Graham showed terrific composure bouncing back from an early deficit and weathering the Storms of a Battalion attack that seemed to do all but put one past the Toronto native.

Barclay Goodrow opened the scoring just over five minutes into the first period with his 19th of the season.  Ian Watters and Zach Bell picked up assists on the goal. With the helper, Zach Bell matched his career high of 12 points.

Adam Payerl would even things up just prior to the midway mark of the first period. It was his 13th goal of the season, and an unassisted effort. The goal was also on the first shot that Battalion goaltender Matej Machovsky faced.  Just over a minute later, Luke Judson would bury his 12th of the season from Jordan Mayer and Jason Shaw. The assist marked Mayer’s first point as a Bull in his first game. The first would wrap up with the Bulls holding a 2-1 lead.

Payerl and Phil Lane would start the second period off with a bang, well sort of anyways. The two would fight with a decision going to Lane for landing more punches. Joseph Cramarossa made it 3-1 Bulls just before the 7-minute mark. Playing on the top line with Brendan Gaunce and Austin Brassard, it would be Cramarossa’s first goal as a Bull. Gaunce and Brassard would pick up the assists on the goal. Machovsky would get the hook in favour of Keegan Wilson to try to shake things up for the Battalion.

Patrik Machac would pull the Troops to within one, with just under five minutes to go in the second period as he put home a rebound. Lane and Brett Mackie would pick up assists, but it was Lane’s between the legs effort that set the play up for Machac. In the ensuing faceoff, Derek Froats sought the approval of the Brampton fans and his teammates when dropping the mitts with Jason Shaw. The Battalion outshot the Bulls in the second period by a 22-8 margin.

The third period proved uneventful on the score sheet, but really tested the muster of Graham as the Battalion pressed him to try to tie the game. He made several key saves to preserve the lead for the Bulls. Belleville did press the Battalion, but Wilson stood tall for Brampton when he had to in an effort to keep the Troops in the game.

"I thought we played a great game, obviously Chucky played great throughout the whole game” said injured goaltender Malcolm Subban on the play of rookie goaltender Charlie Graham. A groin problem has Subban sidelined for the upcoming weeks thus opening the door for Graham to get his feet wet.

“We had a pretty good first period even though they outshot us 7-5” said Gaunce. “In the second we let down a bit, we came back and regrouped in the third. We needed to win the third period and we did. That’s how good teams win games”