Bulls Give It A Go But Come Up Short, Lose To Eagles 6-4

Photo Courtesy of The SF Bulls

By Kahlil Najar

DALY CITY – The San Francisco Bulls (10-15-2-1) gave up two quick goals to the Colorado Eagles (17-6-3-2) in the first and were defeated 6-4. This is the fourth consecutive game in which the Bulls had to mount a come from behind fight but weren’t able to get on top today. Dean Ouellet, Brett Findlay, Luke Judson and Jordan Morrison scored for the Bulls and J.P. Anderson stopped 18 of 22 shots before being replaced by Tyler Beskorowany who stopped 8 out of 10 for the Bulls in net.  The Eagles Trent Daavettila scored three goals and garnered his first hat trick with the Eagles and the Eagles first hat trick of the season.

The Eagles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead behind goals from Riley Nelson and Trent Daavettila. Nelson scored from in front of the goal at 3:41 into the contest and Daavettila able to connect on a power play when he sent a shot over J.P. Anderson and gave Colorado the 2-0 lead. Dean Ouellet scored his fifth goal of the season just 20 seconds after the Eagles tally when he received some nice passes from Adrian Foster and Kalvin Sagert.

True to form, the Bulls scored first in the second period on a nice play from Brett Findlay who danced his way into the Colorado zone and was able to beat Adam Brown through his five hole. The Eagles responded with back-to-back goals in the fifteenth minute of the period when Daavettila got his second goal of the night and Kevin Ulanski tipped the puck over Anderson to give the Eagles a 4-2 lead going into the third.

The Bulls weren’t able to score first in the third period like they had been doing over all these come from behind games as the Eagles Jesse Mychan scooped up a rebound in front of the newly entered Beskorowawny and made it a 5-2 game. The Bulls then responded with their own back-to-back goals in the ninth minute of the period when Luke Judson and Jordan Morrison were able to get the puck past Brown and made it a 5-4 game with over 11 minutes left in the period. The Bulls were able to move the puck around well and take some great chances however Daavettila notched his third goal of the game when the Eagles were on a 5-on-3 power play after penalties to Foster and Judson and sealed the 6-4 victory.

On the loss, head coach Pat Curcio said, ““That was a tough loss. I thought we deserved better this weekend.”

The Bulls head back at it this coming Friday against the rivaled Stockton Thunder on Ugly Sweater night.

Bulls Earn First Win Of The Year Against The Eagles In Thrilling Shootout 4-3

Photo Courtesy of SF Bulls

By Kahlil Najar

DALY CITY – In a hard fought game the San Francisco Bulls (10-14-2-1) beat the Colorado Eagles (16-6-3-2) 4-3 with a come from behind victory that ended with a shootout game winner by assistant captain Jordan Morrison. The Bulls fell behind by two goals early in the game and have everyone in the Cow Palace thinking this game was goner but the Bulls scored two goals in third to tie the game and send it into overtime and ultimately into the shootout. Tyler Beskorowany turned away 20 shots and earned his ninth victory of the year.

Both teams played a very physical game which for the most part was allowed by the referees and really saw what was a budging rivalry between the Eagles and the Bulls.

“They’re such a great hockey team. To me they’re the best team in the league. They’ve been steam rolling teams and we’ve been fortunate enough to compete. That was a good team – it was a good test for us,” said Bulls Head Coach Pat Curcio.

Colorado got on the board first when the Eagles had the puck deep in the Bulls zone but lost it to the Bulls who flipped the puck up ice into the Eagles zone. An alert Eagles defender sent a laser of a pass to Trent Daavettila who was cherry picking on the Bulls blue line and found Kyle Ostrow streaking towards the goal who completed the play and beat Beskorowany to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Less than five minutes later, the Eagles were handed an opportunity from the Bulls as they were called for too many men on the ice and gave the Eagles their first power play of the night. Right Winger Luke Fulghum received the puck from Kevin Ulanski and Trent Daavettila and was able to toss the puck at Besko who stopped it initially with the side of his body but it managed to deflect itself into the goal to bring the lead to two.

These events must have been disheartening for the team as they have trailed in their last two home games and saw the same thing happening again. However the Bulls didn’t lose hope and kept grinding away.

“You have a choice – lay over or be a hockey player – you battle. That’s what guys are doing,” said Forward Adrian Foster.

The Bulls struck back fast as Tyler Gron took a shot from the left circle that grazed the post and careened around the boards to Dylan King who was able to catch Colorado goalie Cheverie still admiring his post’s save and got the puck into the back of the net to give the Bulls their first goal of the game. The Eagles regained their two goal lead a few minutes later when Jonathan Parker was able to shove the puck over Besko for his sixth goal of the year and give the Eagles a 3-1 lead going into the third.

On being down again, Luke Judson said, “We knew we’ve come close to coming back from five (goals) last game so two goals wasn’t a big deal for us. We’re happy with the way we were playing minus a few mistakes.”

The Bulls attacked early again in the third when Brett Findlay scored on a shot from Collin Bowman that went wide and bounced off the back board and landed in front of the goal which Findlay was able to shove past Cheverie to make it a 3-2 Colorado advantage. At 9:43 of the third, the Bulls completed the comeback on a puck that found its way onto the stick of Adrian Foster who was in front  of the net and he knocked the water bottle off the roof of the net to tie the game at 3 and lead us into overtime.

After a scoreless overtime, the game headed into a shootout. It took seven goes but Jordan Morrison was able to beat Cheverie with a high shot that hit the post and bounced its way into the back of the net and secured the victory for the Bulls.

The Bulls last two victories have been come from behind shootout victories. The last one before tonight was the amazing game against the Stockton Thunder on Teddy Bear Toss night when Findley scored the game winner in the fifth round.

Curcio concluded,”What we’ve been through these past couple weeks and the adversary that we’ve been able to overcome these guys earn a lot of the credit.”

The Bulls and Eagles end their three game series this Sunday afternoon at 2:15 pm. The first 500 kids, 13 and under will receive a light-up Snowflake Wand.

Bulls lose game and series to Eagles 4-1

By Kahlil Najar

LOVELAND, Colo. – The San Francisco Bulls (2-4-1-0) couldn’t a break on this road trip and lost to the Colorado Eagles (5-2-0-0) 4-1.

Teegan Moore got the Eagles on the board first at 3:34 of the first period to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. The Bulls Brett Findlay scored his first pro goal of his career at 6:45 to tie the game up at one. Unfortunately the Eagles were able to take the lead again before the end of the period when Daniel Johnston scored on a power play to make it a 2-1 lead.

In the second period, Colorado forward Ray Sawada continued his great series against the Bulls and on a power play opportunity scored for the Eagles and made it a 3-1 lead.  lead to 3-1.Kevin Ulanski scored on an empty net to bring the score to a final of 4-1.

Even though both teams were horrendous on the power play as they went a combined 3 for 13 you could tell that both teams were trying to establish dominance in the third as they both played hard and rough against the boards. San Francisco outshot Colorado 22-21 but that still couldn’t secure a victory.

Bulls fall 4-1 in Colorado

By: Phillip Torres

October 30, 2013

LOVELAND, COLORADO-The San Francisco Bull (2-2-1-0) were defeated by the Colorado Eagles (3-2-0-0) on Wednesday night at the Budweiser Events Center.

Colorado came out on fire in the period. The Eagles got on the bored first with a goal by Luke Fulghum. the score came at 2:10 in the first period and put the Bulls in an early hole. The score remained 1-0 Colorado heading into the first intermission.

San Francisco tied that game at one goal apiece in the second period. Dean Ouellet and Mark Lee earned the assists on a goal made by Dale Mitchell at the 4:35 mark in the period. The score remained tied until less than two minutes left in the period. At 1:55 Colorado regained the lead with another goal from Fulghum, it was his second of the game. The Eagles went into the second intermission and third and final period with a 2-1 advantage.

The Eagles scored two more goals in the final period to end the game with a 4-1 victory. The goals were scored by Kevin Ulanski and Kyle Ostrow.

The Bulls will be back on the ice on Friday against Colorado once again. The puck will drop at 6:05 pm.

Philip Torres covers the Bulls for Sportsradioservice.com