Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Hockey Night in Belleville
The final score of
the hockey game last Saturday night was…..unimportant. After all, it was an
exhibition game, and the players are just working out all of the kinks from a
summer away from the game. The Washington
Capitals and the Winnipeg
Understandably, the
star of the show was Alexander Ovechkin,
the Russian Rocket who has been a star in the NHL since his debut. But
for the hockey fans from the Quinte area, it was also an opportunity to watch
four young players with local roots sporting the NHL jerseys: Edward Pasquale,
Eric Tangradi, Austen Brassard, and Phillip Grubauer. Pasquale played for the Bulls,
as did the others; but he also had a stint with the Wellington
Austen Brassard
Edward played 18
games for the Dukes in the 2006-2007 season. He also played for the Belleville Bulls that season, and was traded to the Saginaw Chicago Fort Myers as his Gladiators tangled
with the Florida St
John’s
Eric Tangradi has had
the most experience of all of the former Belleville Anaheim
A native of Rosenheim Germany ,
Grubauer played in two seasons for the Bulls, then spent time in Windsor and Kingston Carolina Stingrays and the Reading
Austen Brassard began
his OHL career with the Windsor Spitfires, and
was traded that year to the Belleville Belleville
Tangradi also noted
that he was pleased to visit with his Belleville
I spoke with Bulls’
coach George Burnett after the game. He was thrilled to see his former players
in NHL jerseys. “It was tremendous to see four former players on the ice for
the game. They are all trying to break into the NHL, on a permanent basis, and
it is great to see these kids following their dreams. I did have a chance to
talk to the three players with the Jets, but not with Phillip. It was a special
occasion for all of them to re-connect with their billets.”
The game was covered
by the CBC, with Ron MacLean and Don Cherry doing their “Coach’s Corner” during
the intermission. Cherry, a Kingston boy,
referred to the Belleville
The final score was
4-3 for the Capitals, as Washington
James Hurst
September 17, 2013.
# posted by James Hurst @ 3:53 AM 
