Bulls Can’t Hang On To Late Lead And Fall To Thunder 7-6 In Overtime

Photo Courtesy SF Bulls

By Kahlil Najar

STOCKTON – The San Francisco Bulls (11-15-3-1) couldn’t hang on to a late lead and lost 7-6 to the Stockton Thunder (15-10-0-4) in overtime Saturday night. Dean Ouellet, Adrian Foster, and Chris Crane shined for the Bulls as they each had three-point nights and Tyler Beskorowany and J.P. Anderson were able to turn away 31 shots.

The Bulls took a 3-1 lead in the first period with goals from Crane, Tyler Gron and Foster. Crane was able to score off a deflection on a nice shot from Kalvin Sagert at 6:33 and Gron got his goal 81 seconds later when he was able to get a great shot past the Thunders Brian Foster. The Thunder’s Mitch Bruijsten scored the teams first goal of the game and his first goal of the season when he beat Tyler Beskorowany with 11:33 gone in the first. Dean Ouellet scored his sixth goal of the season on a nifty one-timer on with a nice feed from Adrian Foster and gave the Bulls a two goal lead going into the second.

The Thunder turned the table on the Bulls in the second when they outscored the Bulls 4-1 and gave them a 5-4 lead going into the third. The Thunder’s Greg Miller scored 36 seconds into the period and Bruijsten tied the game with his second goal of the game with a little over 8 minutes left in the second. Collin Bowman was able to put the Bulls back on top 4-3 when he scored less that two minutes later. The Thunder then scored two unanswered goals from Joey Martin and Alex MacLeod.

The Bulls then answered with two of their own unanswered goals when Chris Crane scored his second goal of the game 4:33 into the third period and tied the game at five and Adrian Foster got his fifth goal of the year when he beat Brian Foster of a nice tip at 7:31 and brought the score to an unbelievable 6-5 Bulls advantage. Then with 12:39 gone in the third, Stockon’s Alex MacLeod scored his second goal of the game and tied the game at six at the end of regulation.

Greg Miller, who scored earlier in the game notched the game winner with only 45 seconds left to go in the extra frame with a nice pass from Garet Hunt and gave Stockton the 7-6 victory.

The Bulls and Thunder meet again tomorrow afternoon at 4pm.

Notes: Dean Ouellet now has 12 points (2g, 10a) in his last eight games… Tyler Gron and Kalvin Sagert extended their point-streaks to six games apiece.

Bulls Handle The Wranglers 6-2

By Kahlil Najar

LAS VEGAS – The San Francisco Bulls (8-12-2-1) won two out of three games this weekend with an amazing 6-2 win over the Las Vegas Wranglers (7-12-1-0). Brett Findlay and Tyler Gron provided much of the offense for the Bulls as they contributed a total of five points on the night. With Gron’s points tonight he extended his point streak to eight games. Goalie Tyler Beskorowany stopped 29 of 31 shots and earned his seventh win of the season.

The Bulls opened up scoring with a power play goal from right winger Chris Crane less than seven minutes into the contest on a nice feed from Brett Findlay. Tyler Gron took a bullet of a shot past Wrangler goalie Mitch O’Keefe with 7:48 remaining in the first period and gave the Bulls a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. The Bulls scored two more unanswered goals in the second from Findlay and Foster and made it a 4-0 lead for the Bulls going into the third. Findlay was able to maneuver himself in front of the goal for his score and Foster beat O’Keefe when both teams were playing four-on-four hockey.

The Wranglers cut the lead in half in the third when Matt Tassone and Eddie DelGrosso scored back-to-back goals for Las Vegas but Dylan King and Dale Mitchell answered with their own back-to-back goals and gave the Bulls a 6-2 victory.

The Bulls return home Friday the 13^th  with a game against the Ontario Reign.

Bulls drop fifth straight lose 6-0

By Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Bulls can’t seem to figure out the Idaho Steelheads and goalie Pat Nagle. The Bulls took a season high 41 shots on goal but dropped their fifth straight game and lost to the Steelheads 6-0. The 41 shots on goal is one shot less than the franchise record set last year. The Bulls are now 0-2-1-1 against Idaho. With his 41 stops, Steelheads goalie Nagle earned his fourth win and first shutout of the year. The goose egg put up by the Bulls was their first shutout at home this season and the first time they haven’t scored a goal since November 6th against Ontario.

The Steelheads Anthony Nigro beat Tyler Beskorowany just 18 seconds into the game and gave Idaho the early 1-0 lead.

On the quick goal Bulls Head Coach Pat Curcio said, “He scored on a lucky bounce and it hit the shaft and went in. It’s hard to gain confidence when you have a goal go in like that.”

The Bulls played well after that goal and notched a season high 19 shots on goal in the first period. One of those shots was what looked like a goal by the Bulls Chris Crane but was waved off by the on-ice officials as the goal judge had lost sight of the puck.

‘The goal judge couldn’t see the puck so he blew the whistle. You’d think at home they’d turn the light on for you,” said Curcio.

“We’ve got to get to the net, we’ve got to stop at the crease and we have to pepper it on the goalie. We have to get in their face,” said right winger Chris Crane on the Bulls play through the first.

In the second, Idaho’s Patrick Cullity was streaking down the left side of the Bulls zone and found a open Mercier who was skating into the slot and smacked a one-timer that just beat Beskorowany’s outstretched left pad to make it 2-0.The third period saw a flurry of Idaho goals including a gut-wrenching shorthanded goal by Mercier that Curcio said was the killer and totally deflated the team. Brock Montgomery, William Rapuzzi, and Gaelan Peterson scored the remainder of the goals for Idaho and sealed the victory, 6-0.

“I don’t know what to tell these guys when you take 41 shots and probably over 20 scoring chances and you don’t score a goal, it’s pretty frustrating,” said Curcio. “If you don’t score and get momentum and get confidence then you’re in trouble.”

The Bulls head back on the ice tomorrow at the Cow Palace against the Utah Grizzlies. Curcio said, “We’ve got to find a way to win tomorrow. We’re going to stay positive and take shots on goal.”

Crane echoed coaches sentiments and said, “The most important thing is that we have to move on. You have to walk out of this rink and get a good nights sleep and recover. We have to come in tomorrow and take it to them. It’s our barn and that’s what we have to do.”

Game time is 7:30pm PST. The first 1,000 fans will receive a Bulls Cow Bell. In addition, the SF Firefighters Local 789 is hosting a Toy Drive. Each fan that donates a toy receives a “Buy One Get One Free” voucher for either the December 14 or December 17 game.

Bulls losing streak builds to three, Reign win 3-1

By Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Bulls (4-7-1-1) lost to the Ontario Reign (9-1-1-3) 3-1 which brings their losing streak to three games. Sunday afternoon at the Cow Palace. The Bulls took a season high 9 shots on goal but were only able to find the back of the goal once by Chris Crane.

“Our five-on-five hockey, we’re exactly what we want to be. A blue collar, hard-working team. I feel like right now we’re just struggling to score. It’s been our story all year. I feel like we’re doing everything we’re supposed to do. It’s our special teams, if we could get one more power play goal and prevent one more goal against on the penalty kill,” said Head Coach Pat Curcio on the teams struggles.

The Ontario Reign got on the board first when Dan DaSilva was able to strip the puck from the Bulls and managed to get the puck past Tyler Beskorowany for a shorthanded goal and make it a 1-0 Ontario lead.

The second period saw a total of 17 penalties which led to a lot of 5-on-3 and 4-on-4 opportunities for each team and Ontario was able to capitalize. On a 5-on-3 power play, Cameron Burt smacked a one-timer from the blue line that beat Tyler Beskorowany and brought the Ontario lead to two.

The Bulls struck back in the third when Chris Crane as able to shove the puck home after a Mark Lee shot from the point was turned away. Dean Ouellet, who was held pointless in yesterday’s game earned an assist and brought his point total to six on the year. Ontario’s Adrian Van de Mosselaer scored the insurance goal with 9:58 remaining in regulation and sealed the Bulls three game losing streak.

The Bulls next take on the Stockton Thunder at Stockton Arena on Wednesday at 7 pm.

Bulls lose two in a row, defeated by Steelheads 3-1

by Kahlil Najar

The Bulls (4-6-1-1) lost another tough game tonight to the Steelheads (6-4-1-1), 3-1. The lone goal by the Bulls came from Chris Crane who tipped the puck in on a power play. San Jose Sharks goalie prospect J.P. Anderson started for the Bulls tonight and handed 28 of 31 shots.

“He gives us a chance to win. He’s not doing anything wrong. To get his first pro win is going to be a grind. We’re going to get him more starts,” said Bulls Head Coach Pat Curcio on Anderson.

‘We made a couple mistakes there in the second, a few missed opportunities and hit the crossbar out. But when things don’t go your way you need your best players to go out there and score but they couldn’t find the back of the goal. We’re just missing the quarterback out there.”

In an eventful first period, the Bulls were able to score first when on a power play from a Tyler Gron hooking call Damon Kipp ripped a shot from the point that was deflected in by Right Winger Chris Crane for his third goal of the season. The Bulls were also able to kill off three penalties in the first which was impressive considering they are ranked last in the league in the penalty kill and Idaho is ranked fourth in the power play.

“Our best PK guys did a great job. But what hurt us in the end was that we were out of gas. Dean Ouellet and Mark Lee are playing power play and penalty kill but at the end of the day when you kill eight penalties it kills them. Our PK was doing the right things, picking up the right guys, staying square. We created the PK 10 Commandments and they followed them.”

There was a scary moment in the first when up-and-coming Bulls star Kyle Bigos took a puck to the face and fell immediately to the ice.

Curcio said “He took a puck to the mouth and it’s not pretty. He looks like The Joker right now and I think it affected his game tonight but he’ll be better tomorrow.

Both teams came out in the second with something to prove as total of seven penalties were called including a hard charging call against the Steelheads Mercier who knocked over Bull player as soon as the Steelheads goalie froze the puck.

After that charging call, Defenseman Patrick Cullity was called for hooking and gave the Bulls a 5 on 3 power play advantage. The Bulls were able to knock a shot towards the goal but came up empty and as time expired and brought both teams to even strength, Mercier was down in the Bulls zone and slid the puck past J.P. Anderson for Idaho’s first goal of the game and tie the game at one a piece. On the Bulls seventh penalty of the night, the Steelheads William Rapozzi was able to pop a nice shot over Anderson and give Idaho their first lead of the night, 2-1.

The third period started out quickly as both teams wanted to take control of the period as soon as possible and give their team the momentum. The Bulls and Steelheads traded shots and excellent chances on net but both goalies were able to turn away shot after shot. The Steelheads sealed the victory when Carl Sneep took a wicked shot from the top of the face off circle in the Bulls zone and made it a final of 3-1.

Without a goal tonight, Dean Ouellet’s scoring streak stops at three games and the Bulls home record comes to 2-2.

On a final note, Curcio said, “I love our team. I look down and its hard to make changes. I know we’re not as elite as other teams out there but I’d rather have the team tha’ts willing to work and go to war every night like this team.”

The Bulls head back at it tomorrow afternoon when they take on the second place team in the Western Conference the Ontario Reign. Game time 2:15pm.

Sharks hot to get mileage on current trip/Bulls look to have close games on homestand

by Larry Levitt

DALY CITY–The San Jose Sharks are on very long road trip and I don’t mean long as in time although as in multiple days in an eight day, five game road trip but the amount of travel they criss cross the United States and Canada twice. The Sharks are doing rather well, they’re not really executing and playing a very good defensive game right now

To say they got lucky Thursday night and beat the Vancouver Canucks in an overtime goal by Dan Boyle is an understatement, they didn’t really deserve to win but then again they deserve to win a couple others they didn’t get the goals scored, for now it’s payback. The best line I heard was ”the hockey Gods might be even things up.”

When the Sharks had Ryan Clowe and Michal Handzus that was their go to team and when you trade them away and they traded them away for speed but they don’t have that skill. I love that quick shot of the Sharks Joe Pevelski and Logan Courture they really get their shot off their stick quickly. You got to give the goalie some credit too but they didn’t seem like they had much of a game plan going in the last game on Thursday.The Sharks did what they could, they got what they got getting one point even though you lose a game getting one point is better than none.

The scary thing about facing a team like Edmonton in last place, the Oilers have been shut out for the last three games in a row. So you know their going to be aching to get a goal and against a team that’s struggling defensively like the Sharks are. Edmonton has a young team their in transition for quite awhile. They’re suppose to be there now and they’re working at having a good team now. The Oilers are struggling so maybe it’s a good time for them to catch up to them and straighten out your own woes.

Two inured Sharks Raffi Torres and Brett Burns the two injured Sharks, Torres is the team’s spark plug but the Sharks have been doing pretty good without them. Raffi is supposed to be the big heavy hitter but they didn’t really need a big heavy hitter. They’ve really been playing okay without him. Burns is a bigger miss. I don’t understand why he’s been out so long. Burns has been out with a mouth injury and Torres out with a torn ACL.

For sure Burns is really missed and he’s out for more than just a chipped tooth it’s going to be interesting when we finally find out probably at the end of the season to find out how bad this injury is. Burns may have a broken bone that still needs to heal. They miss his speed, they miss his recklessness down on the ice that really plays havoc with other teams.

It was also reported that Burns is suffering from an injury that could be a concussion related so the Sharks are going to have to make due without him. When Torres comes back he can bring some offense he doesn’t have to be a heavy hitter. He’s a big guy, he’s a good skater he can shoot so their out there and the team has been getting along okay and the Sharks look forward to see what comes up.

San Francisco Bulls update: The Bulls are on a two game winning streak they won their home opener on Friday night and then they won in Stockton on Veterans day Monday night, they’re looking pretty good the thing that is most impressive getting the road win in Stockton on Monday night. The thing that’s most impressive is the goaltending and they have hot goaltending with Tyler Boskorowany he’s a big guy at 6’5 210 pounds he moves really well.

Boskorowany moves pretty well, he got caught out of position a few times in Stockton but recovered really well and saved a goal. If the team can learn to play with him he’s a new goalie for the team. If they can get used to his style and used to his defense that’s in front of him they can really be a good team. Boskorowany he talks a lot and they seemed to be thriving on that and a lot of the defenseman are pretty young and are pretty new to the league.

They have been performing quite well, offensively it’s pretty interesting that the Bulls have been had some really lousy luck in terms of losing some players that had been called up or an injury. Center Ryan McDonough and right winger Dale Mitchell with injuries and left winger Riley Brace with the call up to Worcester. Players like Chris Crane have been filling that gap, he was in the top half of the shots taken so he seemed primed to move up a line but offensively they’ve had some difficult loses of players but they seem to be holding it together anyway.

Larry Levitt does Pro Hockey commentary each week for Sportstalk

Lee scores late in the third to give Bulls the win 3-2

By Kahlil Najar

STOCKTON – San Francisco Bull Forward Mark Lee scored on a nice feed from Chris Crane with 2:52 remaining in the third period to give the Bulls (4-5-1-0) their fourth win of the season and sink the Thunder (6-3-0-0) 3-2. Starting goalie Tyler Beskorowany had another great game in goal as he stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced. For the Thunder, Nathan Deck and Andrew Clark each contributed a goal and an assist and standout goalie Milner stopped 33 of 36 shots. The 36 shots for the Bulls tied their season high of shots on goal.

The Thunder got on the board first when after penalties to Belan and Bowman put them on a 5-on-3 power play and Andrew Clark was able to hit a one-timer past the stick side of Beskorowany. With a little over three minutes left in the first, the Bulls answered with their own power play goal from Chris Crane who deflected a shot from Defensemen Kyle Bigos past the Rookie Milner to make it 1-1 at the end of one.

The second period started off rough for the Thunder as Hayes and Deck both received penalties within the first two minutes and gave the Bulls a 5-on-3 power play. The Bulls were able to capitalize on the Thunder’s mistakes as center Dean Ouellet tapped in a rebound on a shot by defenseman Collin Bowman to give the Bulls a 2-1 lead.

In the third, Thunder Defenseman Nathan Deck tied the game at two a piece when on a power play he received a pass from Andrew Clark who was able to find him in the slot. Five minutes later Chris Crane stole the puck behind the net and fed Lee, who scored the game winner and make it a 3-2 final score.

The Bulls head home for a three game set against the Idaho Steelheads this weekend with the first game this Friday at 7:30 pm.

Bulls Lose In Overtime to Steelheads 3-2

By Kahlil Najar

BOISE, Idaho –

The San Francisco Bulls lost a tough one to the Idaho Steelheads, 3-2, in overtime. Chris Crane and Dale Mitchell scored for the Bulls, while Tyler Beskorowany stopped 39 shots in the loss.

Both teams were quiet through two periods and waited until the third period to get themselves on the board. In the third period Idaho got a power-play goal from William Rapuzzi at 1:25. The Bulls answered back with a power-play goal of their own when Chris Cane took a shot from the faceoff circle at 8:25. Less than 5 minutes later, Dale Mitchell scored on a one-timer from the slot and made it a 2-1 lead for the Bulls. On another power play and with an empty net, Anthony Nigro found the back of the net with only 18.6 seconds left on the clock. In overtime, Nigro was the hero again as he put the puck past Beskorowany to give the Steelheads the victory.

The Bulls head to Utah to take on the Grizzlies this Friday at 6:05pm.

San Francisco Bulls announce Opening Day roster

by Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO –

The San Francisco Bulls announced today their Opening Day Roster. The new roster consists of  two goaltenders (Tyler Beskorowany and J.P. Anderson), seven defensemen (Kyle Bigos, Andrew Eastman, Josh Kidd, Dylan King, Damon Kipp, Scott Langdon and Steven Tarasuk) and 11 forwards (Kris Belan, Chris Crane, Brett Findlay, Luke Judson, Mark Lee, Ryan McDonough, Dale Mitchell, Jordan Morrison, Christian Ouellet, Dean Ouellet and Brett Parnham).

There is some veteran leadership coming back as there are seven players returning for the Bulls: King, Langdon, Belan, Findlay, Morrison, C. Ouellet and D. Ouellet. Last years top goal scorer Peter Sivak is not on this years roster as he signed with the Alaska Aces this off-season and will face off against his former team in the first game of the season this Friday in Anchorage.

 

Bulls lose to rival Thunder in shootout 4-3

by Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO –

The San Francisco Bulls renewed their fierce rivalry with the Stockton Thunder tonight and came up short losing in a shootout, 4-3. Ryan McDonough scored twice for the Bulls and Curcio stand-out Dale Mitchell contributed with his first goal of the preseason.

Stockton jumped on the board first when Alex MacLeod put the puck past Beskorowany with assists coming from Escobedo and Noble. The Bulls answered back when Dale Mitchell tipped in a shot that Captain Scott Langdon launched from the blue line. The Thunder retook the lead on a Corey Trivino goal that went in right after a Bulls penalty had expired to make it a 2-1 Stockton lead. With only 2.2 seconds left in the first period Bulls Center Ryan McDonough found the back of the Thunder goal after receiving a pass from Forward Chris Crane to tie the game at 2-2 going into the first intermission.

The second period saw both teams score a goal a piece to get the game tied at three. James Henry of the Thunder scored on a power-play goal early in the period and Ryan McDonough tied the game on his second goal of the night when he received a nice pass from returning All-Star Dean Ouellet.

After a heated third and overtime period which saw both teams grinding and putting bodies into the boards, the game headed into a shootout. Trivino and Henry were able to score for the Thunder while only Brett Parnham was able to put one past Milner and gave the Thunder the 4-3 victory.

“I hate losing when you play like that. You get 40 shots and you go into the shootout. This team has to find confidence in order to put teams away,” said Head Coach Pat Curcio on the loss.

Even with the loss, the Bulls found new players like Dale Mitchell and Ryan McDonough coming through and shinning for the team as well as vets like Dean Ouellet and Jordan Morrison. On Ouellet and Morrison, Curcio said,”It was nice to have people you’ve trained for a while to come in and make a difference. You need those gamers, they’re going to be great for us.”

“I think we played good as a team and we did a lot of the stuff Coach wanted us to do. We’re moving forward pretty well,” said McDonough on the team tonight. Addressing the rivalry, he said, “I haven’t had a rivalry like this since junior league. It’s pretty exciting.”

Dean Ouellet, who played in Kazakhstan this off-season said “It feels good to be back. It was a good fit for me to be back and I feel really happy to be here. Our team this year is going to be a really good and the boys are hanging out together and getting along.”

The Bulls play their final preseason game on Sunday when they travel to Bakersfield to take on the Condors at 4 pm.