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Bulls Split Northern Road Trip with 5-2 Victory in Sudbury
 Shawn Matthias scored once and added two assists to help pace the Belleville Bulls to a 5-2 victory over the Sudbury Wolves Saturday night in Sudbury.
The Belleville Bulls earned a split of their two game road trip in Northern Ontario with a 5-2 victory over the Sudbury Wolves Saturday night in Sudbury. The Bulls built an early two goal lead and never looked back, as they remain tied for first place in the East Division with the Peterborough Petes.
The Bulls got off to another great start, as Shawn Matthias opened the scoring for the second straight game six minutes into the opening period when he beat Wolves goaltender Michael Swick while shorthanded on a breakaway for his team leading 10th goal of the season. Matt Beleskey stole the puck from a Wolves defender and set up Matthias with a perfect pass to earn the lone assist on the goal. Belleville then went ahead 2-0 midway through the period when Cory Tanaka took a Shawn Lalonde pass and skated into the Wolves zone before snapping a low, hard shot past Swick from the slot. Keaton Turkiewicz also assisted on Tanaka’s first goal of the season. The second half of the opening period was quite even as both Swick and Bulls goaltender Edward Pasquale played well. Sudbury was able to cut the lead to a single goal two minutes before the first intermission when Kevin Baker found Jared Staal all alone in front of Pasquale where the Wolves sophomore forward was able to snap the shot past the Bulls goaltender. Shots on goal in the first period favoured the Wolves 8-6.
Belleville came out hard to begin the second period and held puck possession in the Wolves zone for long stretches. The Bulls hard work paid off seven and a half minutes into the second period on the power play when Eric Tangradi fired a quick shot from the boards that seemed to surprise Swick. Matthias picked up the lone assist on Tangradi’s seventh goal of the season. Just over two minutes later, the Bulls were able to increase their lead to 4-1 when Luke Judson spun and fired a quick shot past Swick for his first career OHL goal. Brendan Taylor and Tyler Randell earned assists on the goal. Following the goal, Swick was replaced in the Wolves net by Alain Valiquette. Sudbury pressed to cut into the lead during the latter stages of the period and enjoyed two power plays but were unable to beat Pasquale, as the Bulls led 4-1 heading into the final twenty minutes of play. Shots on goal in the second period were 9-8 Belleville.
It was the Wolves began the third period strongly, as they cut the Bulls lead to a 4-2 just one minute into the final frame on the power play when Staal took a pass from Patrik Lusnak and beat Pasquale from the slot with a hard shot for his second goal of the game. The goal seemed to energize the Wolves, as they played their best period of the game, generating numerous quality scoring chances. However, Sudbury was unable to beat Pasquale who was very strong in the final period for the Bulls. Belleville rounded out the scoring with just over one minute remaining when Bryan Cameron fired the puck into the empty Wolves goal after Sudbury had pulled Valiquette for an extra attacker. Matthias and Tangradi assisted on Cameron’s eighth goal of the season. Shots on goal in the third period were 15-11 Sudbury and overall favoured the Wolves 31-26.
Pasquale enjoyed a very strong game in goal for the Bulls, stopping 29 shots to earn his second victory of the season while Swick and Valiquette combined to turn aside 26 Belleville shots in the loss. The Bulls power play scored for the eleventh consecutive game going one for two while the Wolves capitalized once in four attempts with the man advantage. The three stars of the game were Matthias, Staal, and Valiquette. With the win, the Bulls improve their record to 8-2-0-1 while Sudbury drops to 2-10-0-0 with the loss. The Bulls will now return home to prepare for a big match-up with the Oshawa Generals Wednesday night at the Yardmen Arena. The Bulls, Generals, and Petes are in a three way battle for first place in the East Division, so Wednesday’s game should be an exciting contest between two talented teams. Game time is 7:15pm and tickets are available at the Bulls Box Office.
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