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Bulls Defeat Wolves 7-5
 Bryan Cameron scored four times to help the Belleville Bulls defeat the Sudbury Wolves 7-5 Saturday night at the Yardmen Arena.
The Belleville Bulls finished a perfect 3-0 week with a 7-5 victory over the Sudbury Wolves Saturday night at the Yardmen Arena. Belleville jumped out to a 6-1 second period lead before holding on for the win. Bryan Cameron led the Bulls attack with four goals, as they finish the season series with a 4-0 record against Sudbury. The win also marked the ninth consecutive game in which Belleville has recorded a point and increases their lead to ten points for first place in the Eastern Conference.
The Bulls came out hard to begin the game, forcing Wolves goaltender Alain Valiquette to make several good saves to keep the game scoreless. Belleville goaltender Parker VanBuskirk was also strong in the opening frame. The Bulls were able to open the scoring with six minutes remaining in the first period on a two man power play advantage when P.K. Subban skated the puck into the Wolves zone before finding Cameron alone at the side of the net. Cameron quickly shot the puck between the pads of Valiquette for his 30th goal of the season. Cameron then put Belleville ahead 2-0 on another power play with just nine seconds left in the period when he was the recipient of a perfect cross-crease pass from Eric Tangradi before firing a quick shot past Valiquette. Shawn Matthias also assisted on Cameron’s 31st goal of the season. Shots on goal in the first period were 15-11 Belleville.
Sudbury cut the Bulls lead to one before the second period was two minutes old when Patrik Lusnak took a pass from Eric O’Dell on an odd man rush and slid the puck into the empty goal past VanBuskirk. The Bulls responded quickly, restoring their two goal advantage just a minute and a half later when Cameron tipped a Marc Cantin shot past Valiquette to complete his hat-trick. Andrew Self also assisted on Cameron’s 32nd goal of the season. Belleville then went ahead 4-1 five and a half minutes into the period while shorthanded when Matt Tipoff blocked a shot that went right to Matthias. Matthias then broke in all alone on Valiquette and beat the Wolves goaltender with a hard shot for his 27th goal of the season. Sudbury then found themselves in penalty trouble and the Bulls made them pay with two more power play goals. Cameron scored his fourth goal of the game eight minutes into the middle frame when he fired a rebound from a Shawn Lalonde shot past Valiquette. Subban also assisted on Cameron’s 33rd goal of the season. Nigel Williams then scored the eventual game winning goal nine and half minutes into the second period when he one-timed a bullet shot over the glove of Valiquette for his 14th goal of the season. Nick Pageau and Jan Mursak also assisted on the goal. Following the Williams’ goal, the Wolves replaced Valiquette in net with Andrew Loverock. The goaltending switch seemed to work, as it was Sudbury who carried the play during the second half of the middle frame. The Wolves hard work was rewarded with four and a half minutes remaining in the period while on a two man power play advantage when Lusnak picked up a loose puck at the side of the net and fired it past VanBuskirk. Sudbury continued to press but could not beat VanBuskirk, as the Bulls goaltender was very strong to close out the period. Shots on goal in the second period were 18-18.
The Wolves continued their strong play into the third period, cutting the lead to 6-3 just over a minute into the final frame when Lusnak snapped a shot past VanBuskirk from the slot to complete his hat-trick. Sudbury then scored their second power play goal of the game nine minutes into the third period when Jared Staal one-timed an O’Dell pass past VanBuskirk. The Bulls were able to respond and increase their lead to 7-4 with six and a half minutes remaining in the game when Self took a pass from Mursak and broke in on Loverock before beating the Wolves goaltender with a backhand for his 16th goal of the season. O’Dell then rounded out the scoring for Sudbury on the power play with two and a half minutes remaining in the game when the puck took a funny bounce and went right to him at the side of the net where he fired a quick shot past a surprised VanBuskirk. Shots on goal in the third period were 8-8 and overall favoured the Bulls 41-37.
VanBuskirk made 32 saves to earn his 11th victory of the season while Valiquette and Loverock made 24 and 10 stops respectively in a losing effort for Sudbury. Specialty teams had a huge impact on the game, as the Bulls finished four for ten on the power play while Sudbury capitalized three times in seven chances with the man advantage. Belleville also added a shorthanded goal. The three stars of the game were Cameron, Lusnak, and Matthias. With the win, Belleville improves to 41-12-4-2 while the Wolves drop to 15-41-2-2 with the defeat. The Bulls are now off until they embark on a three game road trip against Windsor, Saginaw, and Plymouth beginning next Thursday. The next home game for the Bulls is Wednesday, March 5th when they will host the Ottawa 67’s for the final time this regular season. Please note that game time against Ottawa is 7:00pm, as the game will be broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet. Tickets for all three of the Bulls remaining regular season home games are available at the Bulls Box Office.
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