Monday, October 13, 2014
Exciting Stuff for Young Bulls
Last Wednesday night,
Matt Luff walked into the local restaurant and dropped a puck on the table in
front of his mother. Not just any puck, mind you, but a most significant puck.
It was his first goal as a Belleville Bull in the
Ontario
Luff earned the honour
of being selected as the second star of the game. On Saturday night, he was
also selected as the second star. He had another goal and two assists in that
game. With six points, he is tied for third in the league in rookie scoring. He
realizes that it is a team game, and that he needs to contribute wherever it is
necessary.
Going into Saturday
night’s game, the Bulls could brag about the fact that they had the best
goaltender in the OHL. Charlie Graham has simply been outstanding. He has a
.962 save percentage, and a Goals Against Average of 1.20, remarkable
statistics for a Junior goalie. Graham did stop pucks in a Wellington
Dukes cage before getting the call up to Belleville
I spoke with Bulls’
assistant coach Jake Grimes before Saturday night’s game. “Granted, we are
playing really well at this time,” he told me. “Maybe a little better than
expected. But I do believe that we can and will play better. And we are getting
great goaltending.” Grimes patrols the bench along with Bellevillian Jason
Supryka, assistants to George Burnett, the coach and General Manager.
Last year was not a
banner year for the Bulls. They missed the playoffs, and spent the summer
regrouping. It appears that they made some good decisions, based on the results
thus far. Another former Duke, Jake Marchment, is the team captain, and also
scored his first goal of the season Saturday night. At the 12 minute mark of
the first period, the Bulls had scored four times on nine shots. A goalie
change for the Niagara Ice Dogs stemmed the
tide to some extent; nonetheless, the Bulls went on to win 8-5.
There were a lot of
empty seats at the Yardmen Arena. I know there are a lot of “Band Wagon” fans
in the area, and they will start to come out soon. Rest assured the boys can
use fan support at any time in the season. I still believe that Cogeco coverage
of the game, and radio coverage does affect the number of fans in the seats,
perhaps even more so in the colder weather.
The Ice Dogs had
seven drafted players in their line up whereas only three Bulls have been
drafted: Marchment (Los Angeles Kings), Jordan Subban (Vancouver ),
and Remi Elie (Dallas
After Wednesday’s
game, Coach Burnett summarized the efforts of Luff and Brandon Saigeon.
“They’re playing good, sound minutes for us so we are certainly pleased with
where really all of our young players are at. But like our team, they have to
continue to try and get better each and every day.”
The Bulls travel to
Niagara for a game Thursday night, then return home to play Sault Ste. Marie on
Saturday, and Sarnia
James Hurst
Sportslices.blogspot.com
October 13, 2014
# posted by James Hurst @ 8:26 PM 
