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Bulls drop fifth straight lose 6-0

Published on November 23, 2013November 27, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

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 wrangled in by Thunder, lose 5-1

Published on November 21, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

by Kahlil Najar

STOCKTON– The San Francisco Bulls (4-8-1-1) were defeated by the Stockton Thunder (8-4-0-1), 5-1. Rob Linsmayer scored the lone goal for the Bulls in the loss.

Stockton took the lead in the first on two unanswered goals in the first by the Thunders James Henry and Landon Oslanski. The second period saw the Bulls try and attack the net more however their motives were thwarted by goalie Brian Foster who after this win improved his record to 7-0-1. Ryan Constant scored the Thunders third goal at 8:48 and caused the Bulls to remove Tyler Beskorowany from the net and put in J.P. Anderson.

Even with Anderson in net, the Thunder continued their onslaught as Matt Bergland scored at 7:51 and James Henry scored his second of the game with 9:56 left in regulation to put Stockton up 5-0. The Bulls Linsmayer tapped in a goal with a little less than two minutes left in the game to squash the shut out bid and brought the finally tally to 5-1 in favor of the Thunder.

The Bulls return home on Friday to take on the Utah Grizzlies for Ghirardelli Chocolate Night.

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

Published on November 17, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

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

Published on November 16, 2013November 16, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

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 Sweep The West, Beat Edmonton 3-1

Published on November 16, 2013November 25, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

EDMONTON — The San Jose Sharks beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 on Friday night and completed their first sweep of Western Canada in franchise history. Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau all scored with help from veteran Joe Thornton contributing on each goal. San Jose Shark goalie Alex Stalock stopped 30 of 31 shots on goal and brought his record to 3-0-0.

“Coming off back-to-back nights, you want to get off to a good start, and we were able to do that with two early ones,” Thornton said. “We just kind of rolled on after that. It is always nice to get a 2-0 lead like that when you are playing back-to-back.”

On his win, Stalock said, “Every game, you hope for a shutout. Of course that would be awesome, you look at why they haven’t scored goals lately, but they have unbelievable skill up front with their forwards. They are going to be a scary team when they start scoring goals. My biggest thing is to get the win and to give the team a chance to get two points every night.”

Pavelski got the Sharks on the board first when on a power-play Marleau smack a backhand shot on Dubnyk who was able to turn the puck away but Thorton was able to get in his way and leave Pavelski wide open to make it a 1-0 Sharks lead. Rookie phenom Thomas Hertl gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead when at 17:13 he took a pass from Thornton and got it past Dubnyk for his 12th goal of the season.

The Sharks made it a 3-0 game when after a Thornton interception of an Oilers pass in the Sharks zone led to a three on two and Marleau ended up with the puck and shot it past the Oilers goalie.

The Oilers Yakupov finally got Edmonton on the board at 12:48 of the second when he launched a bouncing puck at Stalock and was able to beat him stick side and make it a 3-1 game.

The Sharks finish off their road trip against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

SF Bulls acquire Kyle Bodie from Cyclones

Published on November 13, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Bulls have announced today that forward Kyle Bodie has been acquired from the Cincinnati Cyclones in exchange for future considerations.

The 6-foot, 180-pound Bodie, 25, is in his first professional season with the Cyclones and has recorded a goal and an assist in seven games.

In 2011-12 and 2012-13 at Union College, Bodie helped lead them to back-to-back ECAC titles. In his junior and senior seasons, Bodie was in the top five in scoring on the team with 30 points and 33 points, respectively. In 122 games with Union, Bodie totaled 85 points (28 goals, 57 assists). Following his final season with Union, he earned the Coaches’ Award at the Senior Banquet.

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

Published on November 11, 2013November 11, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

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 open at home with a win, beat Condors 2-1 but lose Mitchell to injury

Published on November 9, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

by Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO –

The San Francisco Bulls (3-5-1-0) opened up the 2013 season at home with 2-1 victory against the win-less Bakersfield Condors (0-7-0-1). Dean Ouellet and Kyle Bigos scored for the Bulls and Tyler Beskorowany stopped 34 shots. The win snapped the Bulls four-game losing streak and it was the first meeting for both teams this year. The Bulls have a great history against Bakersfield – they went 7-4-1 against them in the 2012 campaign.

On the win Head Coach Pat Curcio said,”I think this team, if we can get our power play a little more effective we can score more goals. If we can do things consistently the right way we can get more wins. We worked hard and trying to be as humble as I can, we had three breakaways and that could have been four or five to one. Their goalie was tremendous.”

Rookie standout Dale Mitchell sustained a strained back and was pulled out of the game with four minutes left in the game. The loss of Mitchell is huge as he was one of the key players that Head Coach Pat Curcio called out as one of the bright new stars on the team.

“He tweaked his back from what we saw and we’re sending him to the hospital to find out a little more,” said Curcio.

After a few minutes of both teams trying to figure each other out the Bulls were able to get on the board first on a nice outlet pass from Dylan King to Dean Ouellet who took a nice backhand shot from between the face-off circles and beat Condor goalie Andy Chiodo low glove side to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead. After the Bulls first goal, the Condors started launching shots at Beskorowany and at the end of the first period the shots on goal were 15-13 in favor of the Bulls.

After less than two minutes into the second period, Kyle Bigos scored on a blast from the blue line to beat Chiodo and bring the lead up to 2-0. As time was running out on a Bulls penalty, the Condors notched their first goal of the game from Defenseman Wes Cunningham who beat Beskorowany in front of the goal and cut the lead to one.

The third period started with both teams tied with 26 shots a piece and both teams not really liking each other. With 11:48 left in the game, the Bulls Chris Crane and the Condors Wes Cunningham dropped the gloves and let the fists fly putting both teams on the ice with four skaters each. Neither team scored but it underlined what could be a great series for this coming year between both teams. A minutes later on a breakaway, Dale Mitchell suffered his back strain and was taken out of the game. With a minute left, the Condors pulled Chiodo but were unable to get the equalizer and the Bulls secured the victory.

Beskorowany commented on the defense towards the end of the game, “They blocked a lot of shots especially in the last minute thirty-five. They made my night a lot easier.”

On his goal Ouellet said “Brace chipped it to me from our own zone and I thought about passing it but i put it on the goal and luckily it went it. I was looking for the deflection maybe but glad that it went in.”

The Bulls head back out on the road and face the fourth place Stockton Thunder on Monday the 11th at 5pm PST.

Bulls lose game and series to Eagles 4-1

Published on November 3, 2013November 8, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

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 handled by Eagles, lose 6-2

Published on November 2, 2013November 27, 2013 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

LOVELAND, Colo. – The San Francisco Bulls (2-3-1-0) lost to the Colorado Eagles (4-2-0-0) 6-2. The only highlights for the Bulls were that Dale Mitchell and Mark Lee extended their four-game point streaks while on the other side of the puck, Kyle Ostrow recorded a hat trick for Colorado.

The Eagles controlled the first and second period of the game as they went up 4-0 on a pair of goals by Kyle Ostrow and individual goals by Ray Sawada and Trent Daavettila. The only highlight of the first two periods for the Bulls was when goalie Tyler Beskorowany stopped Kevin Ulanski’s short-handed penalty shot attempt with 1:38 left in the first period.

Dale Mitchell put the Bulls on the board, 4:43 into the third by beating Eagles netminder Marc Cheverie and make it only a 3 goal lead but then Alex Hudson scored his first goal of the game to bring it to a four goal lead again. Kyle Ostrow then netted his third goal of the game and made it a 6-1 lead for the Eagles. Mark Lee scored on a power play with 5:42 left in the game but by that time it was already too late and the Bulls fell to the Eagles 6-2.

The Bulls wrap up the finale of the three-game series against Colorado tomorrow at 6:05 p.m.