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Late Goals Cost Bulls in 6-3 Loss to Generals
 Keaton Turkiewicz had a goal and an assist in the Belleville Bulls 6-3 loss to the Oshawa Generals Sunday night in Oshawa.
After battling back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the score, the Belleville Bulls surrendered three consecutive goals in the final eight minutes of the third period in a 6-3 loss to the Oshawa Generals Sunday night in Oshawa. The loss drops the Bulls one point behind the Generals for first place in the East Division while still holding a game in hand.
The two teams played a very sound defensive first period with neither side being able to generate much offence despite a good flow to the game. The Bulls were able to open the scoring with just under three minutes remaining in the opening frame while shorthanded when Matt Beleskey used Shawn Matthias as a decoy on an odd man rush before snapping a hard shot past Generals goaltender Jakub Kovar. Matthias picked up the lone assist on Beleskey’s 16th goal of the season. The Generals were quick to respond on the same power play when the puck hit Brett MacLean’s leg and deflected right to Patrick Asselin in front of the Bulls goal. Asselin quickly fired a shot past Bulls goaltender Edward Pasquale to even the score heading into the first intermission. Shots on goal in the first period were 7-6 Oshawa.
The tight, defensive style of play continued into the second period and both Pasquale and Kovar played well to keep the game tied. Oshawa was able to grab the lead with nine minutes remaining in the second period when Asselin beast Pasquale with a quick shot from the faceoff circle that appeared to be deflected. The Generals then extended their lead to 3-1 three minutes later on the power play when MacLean wired a hard shot just inside the goalpost from the faceoff circle. Shots on goal in the second period favoured the Bulls 10-9, as they trailed 3-1 heading into the final twenty minutes of play.
The Bulls quickly got themselves back into the game one minute into the third period when they cut the Oshawa lead to just a single goal after Andrew Self picked up a loose puck in front of Kovar and slid a low shot past the Oshawa goaltender. Bryan Cameron and Keaton Turkiewicz assisted on Self’s seventh goal of the season. Belleville was then able to tie the score seven minutes into the period when Turkiewicz poked a loose puck past Kovar during a goalmouth scramble. Self and Brendan Taylor earned assists on Turkiewicz’s 13th goal of the season. Despite tying the score, the Bulls were unable to seize momentum and generated little offence for the remainder of the game. Corey Cowick gave the Generals their lead back with eight minutes remaining in the third period when he broke in on an odd man rush and fired a hard shot past Pasquale for what turned out to be the eventual game winning goal. Oshawa then extended their lead to 5-3 with two and a half minutes remaining on a pretty three way passing play that was finished off with a hard shot, top corner past Pasquale by Brett Parnham. The Bulls tried to cut into the lead in the final minutes, but it was Oshawa who rounded out the scoring with a Shea Kewin empty net goal from his own zone with just three seconds remaining in the game. Shots on goal in the third period were 10-9 Belleville and overall favoured the Bulls 26-25.
Pasquale made 19 saves in a losing effort for the Bulls while Kovar stopped 23 shots to earn the win for the Generals. The Bulls power play again struggled, failing to score in four chances while Oshawa went two for four with the man advantage and also surrendering a shorthanded goal. The three stars of the game were Asselin, Self, and John Tavares who had three assists in the win for Oshawa. With the loss, the Bulls record drops to 16-8-2-1 while Oshawa improves to 16-8-1-3 with the win. The Bulls are now off until Wednesday night when they begin another busy stretch of games with a home match-up with the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. Game time is 7:15pm at the Yardmen Arena and tickets for the game are available at the Bulls Box Office.
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