ST. CATHARINES, ON - For the third time in two seasons, the Bulls were held off the board at the Jack Gatecliff Arena in St. Catharines, as a 6-0 loss to the Niagara IceDogs pushed their record below .500 for the first time this season.

Back when the Bulls visited Niagara in October, they were shutout 5-0 with just 6 scoring opportunities over 60 minutes. Despite coming up with 5 in the opening 20 of their game there on Thursday night, their lack of execution was the key difference between themselves and the hungry IceDogs who pumped in 3 goals before the first period expired.

The first man advantage for the OHL's leading powerplay was successful, with one of Canadian Junior Hockey's most well-rounded forwards lighting the lamp first for Niagara. Freddie Hamilton's 20th of the campaign beat John Chartrand after a turnover below the goal line allowed David Pacan to creep around the net and quickly dish to Hamilton who beat Chartrand inside the far post at 8:33.

Just 1:21 later, the Bulls fell behind 2-0 as fresh faced IceDog Brett Ritchie collected his 2nd goal of the season with the Dogs and 10th overall from Andrew Agozzino and Milan Doudera. After the Bulls were foiled on a rush up-ice, the play transitioned quickly as Ritchie picked up a nice chip off the boards by Agozzino to eventually beat Chartrand through the legs on the forehand.

Agozzino rounded out the first periods scoring with his 148th goal in an IceDogs uniform, tying sniper Patrick O'Sullivan for most all-time as a member of the franchise. Hometown boy Alex Friesen won a clean offensive zone faceoff back to Shayne Rover who went across the blueline for the heavy shot of Luke Mercer. Agozzino managed to get a stick on Mercer's blast, giving him 29 goals on the season and the IceDogs a firm 3-0 lead headed into the intermission.

The Bulls showed emotion after finding themselves in a deficit. Both Adam Payerl and Dylan Corson stepped up and dropped the gloves to try and spark the team on the bench.

The second period was a better one for Belleville, equaling the Dogs in scoring chances at 4-4 and outshooting them 7-6 in a period dominated by conservative forechecking and cautious play. Payerl had a pair of great opportunities in alone but couldn't solve Mark Visentin whose athletic abilities kept the Bulls off the board through two periods.

The IceDogs revived their offensive touch in the third period as three goals got past Chartrand in the Belleville goal. Mitchell Theoret scored 1:38 into the frame, as a puck conveniently skipped off his right skate and got over the goal line. Full credit to Milan Doudera for releasing a low wrister that had eyes through traffic to boost Niagara to a 4-0 lead.

Ritchie collected his second of the night at 10:47 as the Bulls were overwhelmed in the goalmouth by a group of hungry IceDogs. Ritchie, a Dallas Stars prospect, was the beneficiary as he used his big frame to create space for himself and perservere with a second effort.

With the Bulls being outdone below the goal line one last time, the IceDogs scored their sixth goal of the night off the stick of rookie Trevor Petersen who scored his first goal since November 25th. Left alone in the slot, Petersen beat Chartrand on the glove side as the Dogs boosted their record to 29-14-0-3 on the season. With the win, Niagara moves into a tie with the Brampton Battalion for 1st place in the Central Division.

With the loss, the Bulls head into Saturday night's home game against the Sarnia Sting with a 1-10-0-0 record in the month of January and a 22-23-1-0 mark on the season. They'll need plenty of support when the high-scoring Sting visit the Yardmen at 7:05pm. It's rumoured that Russian sniper Nail Yakupov could make a return to the Sarnia lineup this weekend on the team's eastern road swing.

For tickets to Saturday's night's exciting game, contact the Bulls Box Office at 613-966-8338.