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Four unanswered goals by the Reign doom the Bulls, lose 4-1

Published on December 13, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Bulls (8-13-2-1) got on the board early but then surrendered four unanswered goals and lost to the first place Ontario Reign (16-3-1-3), 4-1. Dale Mitchell had the only goal for the Bulls in the first period and Tyler Beskorowany stopped 44 of 48 shots in the loss and is now at an even .500 record for the year. The Bulls are now 1-3-1-0 on the year against Reign and are 0-10 when scoring one goal or less.

Ontario hardly ran away with this game as they received 8 penalties in the game and gave the Bulls all the opportunities they needed to come back but were unsuccessful in each power play. The Bulls are ranked second to last on the power play at home in the league.

“I just thought the game was terrible from the drop of the puck. There was no flow because of all the penalties. We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities, it took a negative spin on us,” said head coach Pat Curcio.

Excluding the horrid power play for the Bulls, the play of goalie Beskorwany had to be a highlight for the Bulls. Bekso stopped 18 shots in the first period and turned away 44 shots in total.

“Our defense was terrible tonight and their passing was less than average. We weren’t sharp at all. I can’t say anyone was good tonight other than Besko. He made a lot of saves for us tonight and kept us in the game,” continued Curcio.

Dale Mitchell continued his great game play as he put the Bulls on the board first 5:23 into the first period as he tossed a puck in front of the goal that scooted past everyone and hit the boards behind the net and bounced all the way back onto his stick and he was able to beat the Reign’s Redmann and give the Bulls a 1-0 lead. Adrian Foster and Dean Ouellet received assists on the goal. The Reign kept Besko on his heels in the first as he faced 18 shots and turned them all away. The Bulls were only able to get 9 in on Redmann.

The second period started rough and turned out to the toughest period in the contest. The Bulls gave up three unanswered goals and weren’t able to capitalize on six penalties to the Reign. A little over five minutes into the period and on a penalty kill, Ontario’s Eric Springer grabbed the puck at mid-ice and went storming in and took a shot that Beskso was able to stop but the rebound came out right in front to Towns who scored his third goal of the season and tied the game at one a piece. Six minutes later, on their second power play of the game (a boarding and fighting call on Dylan King) the Reign’s Jake Newton took a shot from the top of the face-off circle that was turned away by Besko but Brett Beebe was able to gather the rebound and hit the back of the net and give the Reign a 2-1 lead.

With under five minutes left in the second, Dean Ouellet and Scott Langdon received back-to-back penalties and gave the Reign their third power play of the night and on the 5-on-3 Mario Lamoureux (who wins for name closest to Mario Lemieux) scored on another rebound given up by Besko and gave the Reign a 3-1 lead after two.

On a nice fake that shook a Bulls defender off of him, the Reigns Cody Sol scored his first goal of the season and sealed the Ontario victory 4-1.

Curcio concluded, “We came off a high last weekend and had a couple days off and we didn’t come back sharp.”

The Bulls hope to turn it around tomorrow against the fifth place Stockton Thunder at 7:30pm.

Bulls Handle The Wranglers 6-2

Published on December 8, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

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 Fall In Overtime To The Reign 3-2

Published on December 7, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

The San Francisco Bulls (7-12-2-2) lost a tough one in overtime to the Ontario Reign (15-3-1-3), 3-2. Dale Mitchell, who just returned to the ice yesterday tied the game up in the third to force overtime however the Reign’s Matt Register scored in the extra period to squash a Bulls sweep on the weekend. Tyler Gron is proving to be a superstar on the team as he continued his point streak to seven games with a goal and an assist.

At 12:08 of the first period, Mario Lamoureux was able to snap a short shot past J.P. Anderson and give the Reign a 1-0 lead. Matt Register and Derek Couture earned assists on the goal. Tyler Gron and the Bulls responded with 3:14 left in the first when on a power play he was able to flip a rebound off of Hutchinson into the back of the goal and tie the game at one a piece.

Ontario was given a two-man advantage and Derek Couture received a nice pass from Jake Newton and got a shot past Anderson from the bottom of the left circle and make it a 2-1 lead after two periods. The Bulls had only shot 14 times in the first two periods while the Reign had 30.

The Bulls were on a four-minute power play after a double minor to the Reign and Dale Mitchell was able to backhand rebound past Hutchinson’s blocker to tie the game 2-2.

In overtime, Register scored at 3:24 to give Ontario the 3-2 victory.

The Bulls travel to Las Vegas to face the Wranglers tomorrow for a 2:05 pm start.

Bulls beat first place Reign 4-1

Published on December 7, 2013December 7, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

ONTARIO – Scott Langdon scored twice and Tyler Beskorowany made 42 saves to help lead the San Francisco Bulls (7-12-1-1) to a 4-1 victory over the first place Ontario Reign (14-3-1-3). Tyler Gron extended his point streak to six games with a goal, while Jordan Morrison and Brett Findlay also extended their point streaks to five games.

Spark plug Dale Mitchell returned for the first time since a back injury in early November and grab himself a goal early in the first period. Langdon followed up with his first goal of the night just 48 seconds later on a beautiful wraparound goal that he was able to stuff by Ontario goalie Hutchinson and give the Bulls a 2-0 lead.

After the first intermission, Langdon stormed back onto the ice and was able to shoot a blast from the point with only 44 seconds gone and gave the Bulls a 3-0 lead. The Reign got their first goal of the night on a laser shot from Matt Register from the point that somehow made it’s way through traffic and beat Besko.

With a little less than 10 minutes gone in the third, Tyler Gron was able to be Hutchinson and bring us to the final score of 4-1.

The Bulls face the Reign again Saturday night for a 6 p.m.

Crabtree is key to the Niners playoff push

Published on December 1, 2013December 2, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

by Kahlil Najar

The 10-point victory against the Rams on Sunday wasn’t as much of a surprise as was the return of the Niners star wide receiver Michael Crabtree. Over six months ago, Crabtree was sidelined when he tore his Achilles and had the Niner nation in a scare. There were talks of how he wouldn’t be able to come back this year and that the Niners will need to find another standout receiver to give them a chance to get back to the Superbowl. With two loses on the year against teams with great secondaries (Saints, Seattle) and surprise loses to the Colts and the Panthers – Niner fans were wondering how it might be if they had a healthy Crabtree on the field.

In his season debut yesterday he had two catches for 68 yards including a character defining 60 yard dash that had him battling off Rams defenders and streaking down the sideline. The play sparked the offense and instantly opened up the offense. Vernon Davis and Anquan Boldin ended up with a combined 180 yards receiving and one touchdown.

The Niners are currently ranked second to last in passing offense and average a little over 180 yards per game in the air. The only team below them is the lowly New York Jets who are having a whirlwind of a year trying to figure out if they have the right quarterback or not. Also no other receiver on the Niners has caught a touch down this year other than Boldin and Davis.

With Kaepernick having his number one receiver back, a formidable receiver in Boldin and the always dependable Davis – there will now be three targets that are on the field that are legitimate big play makers. This will open the field much more for some screen plays, delays and even just the running game in general which Frank Gore has been championing with over 800 yards rushing and 8 TDS.

Crabtree has to stay healthy and active and the Niners offense can come alive and give them the push into the Superbowl again.

Bulls rally falls short, lose to Utah 5-2

Published on November 30, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Josie Vimahi/Utah Grizzlies

By Kahlil Najar

West Valley City, Utah – The Utah Grizzlies (6-8-1-1) scored two goals in the second and three in the third and gave them a convincing 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Bulls (6-12-1-1). Tyler Gron, Jordan Morrison and Brett Findlay extended their four-game point streaks and J.P. Anderson stopped 35 of 39 shots on the night. The Utah defense was able to slow down the usually high shooting Bulls to only 25 shots on the night.

After a scoreless first, Kyle Bodie got the Bulls on the board when he beat Utah goalkeeper Igor Bobkov with a power play goal 4:21 into the second. Utah responded with a goal by Vinny Scarsella and a power play goal by Mathieu Aubin in the closing seconds of the second to make it 2-1 in favor of Utah.

In the third, Utah struck first when Aubin scored his second goal of the game with just 7:17 left in the third to give the Grizzlies a 2 point lead. The Bulls Brett Findlay scored a mere 26 seconds later to make it a one-goal deficit but then Utah scored two unanswered goals and made it a final of 5-2. The Bulls were out-shot by Utah 40-25.

The Bulls head to Ontario for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday.

Notes: Tyler Gron, Jordan Morrison and Brett Findlay have combined for 17 points over their four-game points-streak.The Bulls went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Utah was 1-for-4. J.P. Anderson’s 35 saves are a professional career high.

Bulls kill seven penalties and beat the Grizzlies 2-1

Published on November 30, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – The San Francisco Bulls (6-11-1-1) penalty kill was hitting on all cylinders as they killed off seven power plays and defeated the Utah Grizzlies (5-8-1-1), 2-1. J.P. Anderson notched his first ever pro win and the Tyler Gron and Chris Bowman scored goals for the Bulls.

Utah took a 1-0 lead 8:28 in the first period as Danick Paquette led a rush up ice and Norm Ezekiel put the puck in after a Kris Hogg shot. The Bulls were able to answer back near the end of the first when red hot Gron beat Utah’s Meisner and tied the game up at one a piece.

In the second, the Bulls were given a golden opportunity. On a 4-on-3 power play which was the result of Dean Ouellet getting kneed by the Grizzlies Danick Paquette and a cross-checking penalty on Michael Pelech, Collin Bowman as able to convert the go ahead goal for the Bulls. Bowman swept home a backhand from the slot on assists from Jordan Morrison and Tarasuk.

In appeared as though the Bulls were trying to give the game away in the third as they garnered three penalties and gave Utah some quality chances, but the Bulls were able to survive the storm and get the 2-1 victory.

The Bulls stay in Utah to take on the Grizzlies tomorrow night at 6:05 pm PT.

Quick strikes doom the Bulls, lose 5-2

Published on November 27, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO -Three quick goals at the start of the third period proved too much for the Bulls (5-11-1-1) to overcome as they lost the end of a back-to-back series against the Bakersfield Condors (4-12-0-1) 5-2. Tyler Gron and Adrian Foster are proving that Pat Curcio made the right move in trading for them as they contributed a goal a piece and were active throughout the contest. Tyler Beskorowany had a great first and second period as he stopped 16 of 18 shots but it was the third that was the dagger when he let in three goals in under 4 minutes.

The first period proved to be a tough one for the Bulls as they were only able to land two shots on goal and allowed the Condors to take 13 including a goal from Jordan Knackstedt. The Bulls had the puck in the Condors zone but the puck bounced over a Bulls stick and landed on the Condors Joel Broda’s blade. Broda sprinted up ice with a trailing Knackstedt. Broda took a shot that Beskorowany was able to slow down but then it trickled through his five hole and Knackstedt was able to put the puck in the wide open net and give the Condors a 1-0 lead. Both teams played friendly for the rest of the period but you could tell something was in the air as more sticks started swinging in the air and the pushing and shoving began.

The Bulls tied up the game with less than two minutes gone in the second period. After some fierce battling in the Condors zone, the Bulls were able to keep the puck in the zone and Adrian Foster redirected a shot from Dylan King for his first goal of the year and tie it up at one. Then the fun started.

Adrian Foster was camping out in front of the Condors goal and was pushed into Condors goalie Tyler Bunz. Bunz didn’t take too kindly to the interference so he smacked Foster in the face. When Foster tried to defend himself, the Condors Cunningham came into protect his goalie and skirmish ensued. After some more rough housing, Dean Ouellet and Jordan Knackstedt did some dancing around and some yelling at each other that earned them both 10 minute misconducts. In the span of 30 seconds of ice time, the Bulls and Condors received 14 minutes of penalties.

At 16:50 of the second period, the Bulls scored what may have been the prettiest goal of the year. Jordan Morrison controlled the puck in the center ice and found a streaking Brett Findlay charging for the blue line. The pass ended up in Findlay’s gut and when he was able to pull it out with his hand and place it on the ground, he was already being covered heavily by a Condors defender. Out of the corner of his eye Findlay saw Tyler Gron trailing and hit him with a pinpoint pass and Gron was able get it in the goal for his third goal in two days and give the Bulls a 2-1 lead. The shots were all tied up at 18 after two and the Bulls had to be feeling good going into the locker room.

Coming out on the ice in the third, the Bulls looked a little sluggish and it was obvious in the first 5 minutes that they weren’t ready to come out and play. The Condors Wes Cunningham took a shot from the point at 2:14 that was tipped in by Ryan Watson and tied that game at 2. On a breakaway seconds later, Joel Broda was able to beat Besko with a nice shot under his glove that gave the Condors the 3-2 lead. Thirty-three seconds later after Tyler Gron was called for high sticking, Broda scored his second goal of the night off of a nice face off win from Matt Thurber and took a wicked shot through traffic and made it 4-2. The Condors then added an empty netter with less than 30 seconds to go and made it a final of 5-2.

The Bulls are now 2-10-1-0 when giving up the first goal of the game and are now 1-7 at home. Dean Ouellet who had owned the Condors going into this game (he’s scored 8 goals in 11 games) was held scoreless and only took one shot on goal.

The Bulls look to turn it around on Friday when they head to Utah to take on the Grizzlies.

Bulls pick the Condors apart, win 5-1

Published on November 27, 2013November 27, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

The San Francisco Bulls’ (5-10-1-1) easily handled the Bakersfield Condors (3-12-0-1) and got themselves back in the win column with an easy 5-1 win. Tyler Gron led the Bulls as he scored twice and had an assist and Brett Findlay, Dylan King and Dean Ouellet each contributed with a goal of their own. Tyler Beskorowany was great in net as he stopped 27 of 28 shots.

The Bulls hadn’t scored a goal in a week until Dean Ouellet took a shot from the left faceoff dot to beat Condor netminder Chet Pickard for a 1-0 lead in the first. The Condors tied it up 8:53 into the second when Defenseman Chris Collins split two defenders and got the puck past Besko and make it 1-1. The Bulls then scored four unanswered goals to seal the victory. Tyler Gron went a coast-to-coast and gave the Bulls a 2-1 lead.

Dylan King and Brett Findlay scored for the Bulls in the third and Gron sealed the win with his second goal of the game with a little less than four minutes left.

The Bulls return home tomorrow to face the Condors again. Wednesday night is also the first ever bobblehead giveaway for the Bulls and they’re giving away a miniature Pat Curcio statuette to the first 1,000 people.

Bulls continue slump, lose 3-0

Published on November 23, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

San Francisco – The Utah Grizzlies (5-7-1-1) beat the San Francisco Bulls (4-10-1-1) 3-0 Saturday night at the Cow Palace. The Bulls took 20 shots against Grizzlies goaltender Ben Meisner who stopped them all and got his first professional shutout.

The Grizzlies Danick Paquette gave Utah the early 1-0 lead when he picked up a puck at the redline and fired a shotpast Bulls goaltender J.P. Anderson. Utah made it 2-0 when Michael Pelech won a face-off and passed it to Teigan Zahn who buried his first goal of the year. In the third, Utah secured their win with their third goal of the contest when Kris Hogg received a pass from Brent Gwidt who had gained the puck off a Paquette face off win.

The Bulls were able to launch only 20 shots on goal tonight as opposed to yesterdays game when they had their season high of 19 shots on goal in the first period. Both teams traded power play for power play but were unable to come up with any points on each chance. The Bulls chances were rare all night however in the second Steven Tarasuk had a breakaway opportunity that didn’t land a goal but he was able to draw a penalty and Jordan Morrison had a nice shorthanded opportunity in the third that came about with some great fore-checking.

The Bulls will try to turn it around when they head to Bakersfield on Tuesday to take on the Condors. Game start 7:00 pm.