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Belleville Bulls Season Comes to a Close with Loss to Kitchener
One of the most prolific seasons in Belleville Bulls history came on an end on Friday night with a 9-0 loss to the Kitchener Rangers in the 2008 MasterCard Memorial Cup Semi-Final in Kitchener. The Bulls struggled to generate any offence all game long while the Rangers were superb throughout Friday’s contest. The game marked the first time this season that Belleville had been shutout.
Kitchener took the lead just 46 seconds into the game when Nazem Kadri opened the scoring. The Rangers then added first period goals from Matt Halischuk, Justin Azevedo, and Nick Spaling to take a 4-0 first period lead. The Bulls were unable to generate any quality scoring opportunities on Rangers goaltender Josh Unice during the opening twenty minutes of play. Shots on goal in the period were 11-5 Kitchener.
Unlike previous games, the Bulls were unable to recover from their slow start, as Azevedo scored twice more in the second period to complete his hat-trick while Mike Duco also tallied his first goal of the tournament to give Kitchener a 7-0 lead. Shots on goal in the second period favoured the Rangers 14-6.
In the third period, Halischuk scored his second goal of the game and Scott Tregunna rounded out the scoring on the power play with 17 seconds remaining, as the Rangers skated away with a 9-0 victory. Shots on goal in the third period were 14-13 Belleville but overall favoured the Rangers 38-25. The line of Azevedo, Halischuk, and Spaling all recorded five points in the victory for Kitchener.
Mike Murphy made 29 saves in a losing effort for the Bulls while Unice stopped all 25 shots he faced in the victory for the Rangers. Belleville failed to score on their only power play chance while Kitchener converted once in seven opportunities with the man advantage. The three stars of the game were Azevedo, Halischuk, and Spaling. The Rangers will now face the Spokane Chiefs for the Memorial Cup Sunday afternoon in Kitchener.
The Belleville Bulls organization would like to thank all their fans for their tremendous support all season long. We look forward to seeing you back next season.
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