Life is
filled with battles. It’s up to us to choose what in our lives is worth
standing up for and what is not. The Bulls battled through three scoreless
periods, not giving the Idaho Steelheads any quarter. Unfortunately, San
Francisco lost in Overtime 1-0, but it’s not something the team should feel
badly about; they kept up the fight all the way through.
This was
Travis Fullerton’s debut as Goaltender. He did a stellar job. He stopped 25 of
26 shots and helped us Bulls fans breath a bit easier knowing that the team has
a good backup goalie now.
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| Scott Langdon & Travis Fullerton |
Kris Belan
is also back with the team. I’ve missed him!!! He got a roughing penalty within
the first few minutes of the game, just because that’s how he rolls, so we all
knew things were getting back to normal. I talked to him after the game and he
told me how strange it is to be back in San Francisco and not know hardly any
of the players anymore. He was very happy to be here with the San Francisco
fans and weather, however and looked extremely happy to see us familiar fans’ faces.
He is well loved by Bulls fans.
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| Kris Belan (Dan Parks) |
Also back on
the ice was Ian Schultz. He had his energy and speed as well. He’s so fun to
watch skate; he never stops with the aggression either. If he can stir it up, he
will. He did so in the Third Period, taunting the Steelheads, throwing the bull
horns on the way to the box. Since he played at Utah before the Bulls, I have
to think that there’s a lot of history and bad blood between him and Idaho.
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| Ian Schultz |
One of the “firsts”
by the Bulls is having an Ice Bar at one end of the rink. It’s been a huge
success, so the team wanted to enlarge it. There’s also a big area behind the
home and visitor’s benches where no one sits because the site line to the game is
blocked. The Ice Bar was moved to this area and just opened last night. There
is also a row of glass seats that need to be kept separate from the bar area by
a fire lane.
There was
one problem, though. There was no access to watching the Bulls players warm ups
at that side of the ice. The only way one could now get close to the players
warming up was to go all the way to the other side of the Barn to a small area.
No one was letting us into the glass seat area like we had in the past. That was
fine for a weekday night when there aren’t a whole lot of people, but what
about a weekend game, or the playoffs when the crowds will be much larger?
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| New Ice Bar Area |
When, in my
dismay, I pointed out the access problem for fans, the top rate Bulls staff
brainstormed and by the end of the night they decided to open up the entire
area to everyone until game time when the Ice Bar becomes Over 21 and the glass
seats are closed off for everyone except ticketholders. Which is as it should
be. Even at the top NHL arenas fans are
allowed to take pictures of their favorite players warming up, and then when
the warm-ups are over, they go back to their seats.
I don’t say
this flippantly or lightly. In a world where it seems that no one cares about
us, when it seems that we don’t mean much to anyone, this team, the San Francisco
Bulls, goes out of their way to make sure us fans get the very best experience
they can. THEY DO CARE.
So, thank
you, Angela, Marlena, Stephanie, Andrea and everyone else I talked to last
night for working with me and making the Bulls Fan Experience an even better
time!
The last
regular season home game of the year is tomorrow night, Friday! We play the
Steelheads again. There will be plenty of raffles for fans, awards for players
and fun stuff! You should BE THERE!
We play an
away game in Bakersfield Saturday night and then it’s off to the Playoffs! I’ll write a review of the Playoffs in a
couple days, be on the lookout for that!
GO BULLS!
