Oh Captain! My Captain!

As published in The Pioneer on Thursday March, 8. 2012

It took a hat trick and a five-point night from the Belleville Bulls captain Luke Judson to get past the Peterborough Petes in a high scoring affair Wednesday night.

The Bulls captain opened the scoring midway through the first period and carried the Bulls on his shoulders to a 6-5 victory over the Peterborough Petes.

The total shots on goal looked more like an overtime game with the Bulls outshooting the Petes 40-37.

As a result, the Petes fell six points back of the Bulls but remain four points behind the Mississauga St. Michaels Majors for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

With the win, the Bulls leapfrogged the Oshawa Generals for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, bringing them that much closer to securing a playoff berth.

Andrew Yogan scored two goals of his own to give the Petes a 2-1 lead in the first. Then with just 20 seconds remaining in the first period, Judson scored his second of the night to tie the game at two goals apiece heading to the intermission.

From then on it was back and forth as the two teams traded goals on two occasions in the second period. The Bulls Joseph Cramarossa scored early in the second while Judson scored his third goal of the night 13 minutes into the frame. The Petes Nick Ritchie answered the bell on both occasions bringing the game to a 4-4 tie heading into the second intermission.

After Lino Martschini made it 5-4 for the Petes three minutes into the third it was Daniil Zharkov and Jordan Mayer who scored for the Bulls to seal the game and get the win for the Bulls.

Following the game, Assistant Coach Jake Grimes said he was happy with the team’s offensive game but knows the defence could be better.

“Our special teams weren’t outstanding and those are things we need to work on. We held on and enough guys kept us afloat until the rest of them came on board.

“One thing we didn’t do well tonight was we didn’t have a real good close gap on a lot of their skilled players. They took full advantage of that at times and did that with odd-man rushes and quick shots,” said Grimes.

Despite putting up five points and having one of the best offensive games of his young career, Judson echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“Obviously the offence was clicking tonight so if we can keep that working and tighten up on our own end, we’ll be doing ourselves well,” said Judson.

That being said, Grimes said he was happy with the offensive output and proud of how the team handled the back and forth play against the Petes.

“It’s up and down whether we’re happy with our scoring or not and whether we’ve scored enough on any given night. It’s nice to get that amount of goals in one night. We’ll take that,” said Grimes.

“It’s nice to be able to stay in a seesaw battle, back and forth with ups and downs and come up with the win,” said Grimes.

The Bulls have a chance to lock up a playoff spot with a win against the Sudbury Wolves on Friday night in Sudbury. Sudbury currently sits in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, eight points ahead of the sixth place Bulls. The game starts at 7:35 p.m.

Bulls, Focused on Playoffs

Wednesday night’s game against the Peterborough Petes is quite possibly the most important game of the season for the Belleville Bulls.

The implications from Wednesday night’s game are going to be huge for both teams. A Bulls loss means the Petes will pull to within two points of the Bulls and the Mississauga St. Michael Majors who hold the final two spots for the Ontario Hockey Leagues Eastern Conference playoffs.

A Bulls win moves them six points ahead of the Petes and that much closer to the playoffs.

The Bulls are currently tied for seventh place with the Mississauga St. Michael Majors with a total of 63 points. Meanwhile, the Petes are on the outside looking in but sit only four points behind both the Bulls and the Majors.

Bulls Assistant Coach Jake Grimes believes the added pressure in the standings will inspire a strong outing from the Bulls.

“It should pump us up. You have to respect how hard they work. They’re down a couple of key players too, but that should really get us fired up. If anything will, that should,” said Grimes.

The Petes have won four out of the five times the two teams have met so far this season, including the last game which saw the Bulls downed 4-3 in Peterborough.

“We really thought we outplayed them last game in Peterborough, but they were able to get the win. It hurt us, and helped them immensely. We want to get back at them for that reason and also to put some room between us and make sure we get in the playoffs and that’s a big step,” said Grimes.

The team has been working hard with high-paced practices to keep the team in shape and ready for the onslaught of games that is the OHL playoffs. The Bulls have also been trying to fix a power play that has struggled all year and currently ranks third last in the OHL.

According to Grimes, it’s not whether the glass is half empty, but rather half full.

“We can’t look at it as though it’s been a huge problem. I think that we have to look at it that there’s still yet opportunity to be earned and to be gained on it,” said Grimes

With only six games left in the regular season, the Bulls are looking to secure a playoff spot after a rollercoaster season, which included a solid first half, a sub-par January and injuries to top players including their number one goaltender Malcolm Subban.

It’s a season that Grimes hopes will be a stepping stone heading into the playoffs.

“We’ll know we’ve learned in this stretch drive. Has it got us to a point where it hurts our confidence to a level where we just don’t come around and we play average hockey? Or has it been a situation where we’ve learned certain things from it?

“We never want it to happen again and we want to show what we really have, and I think we’re leaning toward the second answer,” said Grimes.