GREAT DAY FOR THE BAY!

One year ago, I met Coach Curcio and the Bulls new mascot Rawhide at Park 77 Bar in the Park Merced area on San Francisco. Curcio talked about the new hockey team he was bringing to San Francisco. I had been reading and hearing about it since July of the previous year, 2011, but this was the first time I got to hear about it from the man himself.

Warm Ups

It was also the day the Forty Niners lost to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game. On that rainy, dreary, and very cold day, the Giants dashed all hopes for the Niners. Sometimes good things come from not-so-good things, and the dreams of having a San Francisco hockey team came closer to reality that day.

At noon today, I was on BART going to Castro Valley to meet other SF Bull devotees ready to watch the Bulls take on the Thunder in Stockton in the last of a three-game series. Each team had won one game so this was the deciding and most important contest.

Rob Kwiet

As we waited in line to get in to the shiny and nice Stockton Arena, (we love the Cow Palace, but let’s face it; it’s “rustic”), the Forty Niners game was ending. The Niners WON and would go to the SUPERBOWL!!!! WOOHOO!!! So one year made all the difference. It was a beautiful day, almost warm, and the wonderful 49ers were off to New Orleans. We were all smiling, regardless of whether we followed football or not, it was good news for the Bay Area and for all of Northern California. It brought Bulls fans and Thunder fans together.

Jonathan Lessard

There were about 10 of us in the group. It was a great, energetic group, complete in our orange jerseys and t-shirts. We first went to the warm up area to get pictures and let the team know we were there to support them. How could they NOT know with our loud voices and bright orange colors?

Our seats were also really nice, and to their credit, the Thunder fans were very cool. It was on a Sunday, Family Day and much more sedate than what I've heard about Friday night games anyway. 

Kris Belan

The Thunder are a good team. Playing against them is not easy. But the Bulls were the better team today. The team was switched on. They communicated successfully, were well prepared, and on those rare occasions when the refs called penalties, they got through the PKs without giving away any points. I don’t have any stats, but if the last two games are any indication, the Bulls will not be last in the Penalty Kill much longer. They’ve been doing an excellent job at getting through them without any damage. Much of the credit has to go to Scot Langdon, Rob Kwiet and Cody Carlson. The team suffers without Langdon, his ability to fight off attacking forwards is missed greatly when not there. Kwiet is such a leader, especially at the set-up. He has a grace, even in the face of seeming chaos, he can settle down the lines until they get into the right positions, and Cody has some greatly needed energy on the defense that the team lost with the Guimond trade. But all the defensemen have been doing well in the last two games.

Scrimmage right in front of us!

And please, keep Dean Ouellet and Peter Sivak skating together! They skate so well in one line. Peter kept his goals scored to six games. He also saluted us Bulls fans as he skated past!!! With the addition of Galiardi or Trudeau, that line may be the best one the Bulls have. Lessard could potentially be strong enough to carry another line with Tuckerman, they seem to skate in a similar fashion; smash em up hockey! In fact, today Lessard fought and pounded his opponent into the ice in five seconds!

Once again Taylor Nelson did an outstanding job at the net.

The Bulls scored quickly and often. Even the lack of penalty calling didn’t stop their goal drives. Tuckerman was given a free shot, which unfortunately, he missed, but the score was already 5-1 at that point.

Here’s the scoring:

1^st Period: Rylan Galiardi scores 1-0, Peter Sivak scores 2-0

2^nd Period: Berglund (Stockton) 2-1, Sebastien Trudeau 3-1, Cody Carlson 4-1

3^rd Period: Alex Tuckerman 5-1, O'Neill scores 5-2

I would love to make a trip like this again during the season and hopefully do this a lot more next season!

The Go Bulls Gang

 Also happening today, the Sharks won their first game of the short season against the Calgary Flames in Calgary, beating them 4-1. A great start for the Sharks!!!

There is no Bulls Weekly until Feb 20^th and the next Bulls home game is January 31^st against Ontario, which is a 50% off beer night!

GO NINERS! GO SHARKS!

GO BULLS!

BULLS SNAP LOSING STREAK WITH WIN OVER THUNDER

It was Orange Cap Giveaway Night at the Barn, so there was a sea of orange heads watching this great game last night. The Bulls were on fire in an exciting and fast game against Stockton. Nothing was easy in this battle, but the Boys got us a great win, with a final score of 5-2, that included an empty net goal in the last minute.

Peter Sivak, robbed of a place in the All-Star game, got the first goal of the game. This is his fifth game in a row he has scored. He is indeed on fire! Jonathan Lessard got the second goal, his first professional goal and his first as a San Francisco Bull. Kris Belan scored the third goal of the game.

Alex Tuckerman in the foreground Simon Danis-Pepin in the background

Jordan Morrison

The game was not without some bad refereeing. Dean Ouellet was called four minutes for high sticking, which was sheer nonsense. And, even though the team is last in the PKs, they held off all of them last night, which is something they should be very happy about. Then, in the Third Period, Stockton hit the puck which dinged the Bulls goal post. It NEVER went in! A few minutes later, the refs conferred and called it a goal! We in the stands didn’t really know what was going on because it was never explained over the PA. So we looked at each other and wondered what happened.

Anyway, it was a moot point minutes later when Belan scored and cemented our win.

It was exciting seeing the new guys playing. I have been very impressed with Jonathan Lessard especially. I also liked watching Christian Ouellet and Rylan Galiardi.

Also, I want to add how proud I am of Taylor Nelson's goaltending. He did a fantastic job last night. Also, not to be forgotten, Rob Kwiet has stepped up as a true leader in defense.

The two teams face each other in a third game in Stockton this afternoon. I’ll be going to this game with a few members of the Matadors Club. Because the Forty Niners playoff game is a few hours beforehand, we’ll be listening to it on the radio on the way up.

With the energy from last night’s victory, the team can win today. Listen to the game online at www.knbr.com

After today, the ECHL takes a break for the All-Star game then the Bulls have three grueling games against the Alaska Aces in Alaska starting next weekend.

GO 49ers! GO BULLS!