The Belleville Bulls came in to Wednesday nights home game Vs the Oshawa Generals knowing that they were going to the playoffs, thanks to Oshawa. The Generals defeated the Peterborough Petes 4-3 Tuesday night and eliminated them from play contention and sealing a spot for the Bulls.
To start the night Belleville sat in 8th and was looking at a 1st round match-up with the Niagara Icedogs. If the Bulls want to avoid that death match, they will have to win all three remaining game. They got off to a good start with a 3-2 OT victory over the visiting Generals. They gave up the extra point to the Generals, making 6th spot, a real tough stretch, but 7th is still up for grabs. At this point though the Bulls just need to get on a roll, try and gain some momentum, because 7th or 8th, the Icedogs or the Ottawa 67's, it wont matter if the Bulls are not playing at their very best.
The Bulls would start Malcolm Subban for the 17th straight game. The Generals would go with Belleville native Kevin Bailie. Scratches for the Bulls were Austen Brassard (injured), Jason Shaw (injured), Alex Carnevale (last game of an 8 game suspension), and John Chartrand (numbers)
To start the 1st it looked like the Bulls might be giving the Generals a thank you present, Belleville was out of sync. The Bulls didn't register there first shot till the 7 minute mark, but they turned it around and had some chances. At one point they even evened out the shots. The Generals would out shot the Bulls 16-10 in the frame, and lead 1-0 after 20 minutes, on a goal by Christian Thomas at 17:29 his 33rd from Scott Laughton. At times in the period, the Bulls would play their version of the trap. I'm not against Burnett's trap I've seen it work, but your already in, go for it, at some point you have to attack. It felt at times like the Bulls were playing with the lead. In any system you have to move your feet, something Belleville doesn't always do when they settle in to their defensive mode. Malcolm Subban played well in the 1st and was the reason the Bulls were only down by one.
In the 2nd Brendan Gaunce scored his 28th unassisted, short handed at 7:38 to tie the game 1-1. The shorty was his 4th on the year, the Bulls as a team only have 5 short handed goals total. The Generals are dangerous and have lots of guns, but on the same PP they retook the lead 2-1 when Geoffrey Schemitsch scored his 2nd on the year and 1st on the PP from Boone Jenner and Julian Melchiori. The Generals would out shoot the Bulls 12-10
Belleville out shot Oshawa 10-9 in the third and tied the game at 5:38 when Brady Austin scored his 4th from Micheal Curtis and Jordan Mayer. It was nice to see Austin rewarded, he played a strong game.
In OT it was Jake Worrad who won the game for the Bulls. Worrad's goal his 5th from Joseph Cramarossa and Gaunce was his 3rd game winner of the year and his 2nd OT goal.
Belleville's PK was 3/4, and the PP went 0/3. The Generals outshot the Bulls 40-31.
Attendance: 2503
3 Stars : 1- BEL Brendan Gaunce 2- OSH Christian Thomas 3- BEL Brady Austin
Malcom Subban and Jake Worrad also could have been named stars.
Malcom Subban and Jake Worrad also could have been named stars.
Belleville will travel east on Friday to face the Kingston Frontenacs.
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