SAGINAW, MI - Although they led four separate times on Saturday night in Saginaw, the Belleville Bulls will come home with nothing to show for their weekend efforts. The Spirit took advantage of a tired group of Bulls late to win 6-4 at the Dow Event Center. Outshot 18-8 in the third period, John Chartrand's stellar goaltending and big saves weren't enough to keep Saginaw's dynamic offence at bay.

In the first period of their third game in three nights, the Bulls hit the ice against a Saginaw team that had just fired Head Coach and General Manager Todd Watson hours before puckdrop. Belleville charged out of the gate, which was a great sign considering their struggles in the early going in Windsor and Plymouth. 

The fourth line got their first shift a little over two minutes into the game as Garrett Hooey, Guillaume Naud and Alex Carnevale combined for Carnevale's first career OHL goal, coming on Spirit netminder Tadeas Galansky. After Naud made a great play to keep the puck inside the offensive zone, Hooey ripped a shot that Galansky couldn't handle, kicking out a rebound for Carnevale at 3:24.

As the Bulls continually took the lead in this game, the Spirit kept finding ways to keep up. This time the Belleville lead lasted just 40 seconds as Vincent Trocheck scored on a transition play after the Bulls weren't able to bury an odd-man opportunity going the other way. Trocheck tapped in a cross-crease feed from Garret Ross as the hometown Spirit brought the teddy bears flying to the ice.

John Chartrand made his first start since November 17th and closed out the first period with a big save off of Josh Shalla who tried to beat the Barrie native inside the post on the short side off the rush.

The two teams entered the first intermission tied at one as the Bulls looked like they had it together despite a heavy workload compared to Saginaw's recent stretch of inactivity.

Daniil Zharkov took the spotlight a quarter of the way through the second period as his high flying style elevated to a new level. Collecting the puck in the neutral zone, Zharkov gathered speed, eventually undressing Saginaw defender Dalton Young with a move through the legs one-on-one to eventually beat Galansky under the crossbar on the short side.

Again however, the Bulls only led for 3:05 as the overaged Shalla hit the scoresheet for Saginaw. With the Bulls defending their own zone on the penalty kill, Jake Worrad took a gamble on a cross-ice pass and came up just short. The Belleville defenceman tried to get his stick on Brad Walch's hard pass to Michael Fine across the zone and wasn't able to make contact as Fine quickly dished to Shalla who had Chartrand down and out to tie the score up at two.

The Bulls scampered back into the lead just under two minutes after that at 10:56 when Galansky misplayed a hard rim around the boards into the Saginaw zone. Unable to stop the puck behind his net, Austen Brassard won the race and centered for Brendan Gaunce who beat Galansky back into his net for goal number eighteen on the year.

Belleville led 3-2 after two periods, the second time they've entered the third with the lead this weekend after seeing Thursday's 1-0 lead on Windsor slip away in the final twenty minutes. 

In the first minute of their ninth period in three nights, tired legs began to set in. A great outlet pass from Ryan O'Connor sprung Brandon Saad through the neutral zone who parted his way through Brady Austin and Jason Shaw. The dynamic Saad, who started the season with the Chicago Blackhawks, was able to beat Chartrand on a second effort as the Belleville defence didn't have enough gas in the tank to retreat in time.

Tied a three, Belleville's third line went to work. Still playing at a high level in what's been a great weekend for the line of Dylan Corson, Garrett Hooey and Scott Simmonds, the three put together a solid effort to give the Bulls a 4-3 lead. Hooey gobbled up a big rebound off the blocker of Galansky at 5:14 to collect his second point of the night.

With fifteen minutes left on the clock however the Saginaw Spirit, who have feasted on Eastern Conference opponents all season, found a way to get the job done. 

With their fourth powerplay of the night, former OHL first overall pick John McFarland banked a shot in behind Chartrand off the stick of Simon Gronvaldt who was trying to take away a passing lane through the middle. McFarland brought the Dow Event Center crowd to it's feet as their Spirit were suddenly tied at four and continued to show great perserverance despite falling behind on four separate occasions.

With 9:36 remaining, the Bulls coughed up a puck deep inside their own zone as McFarland took control, dishing to Fine and then on to Shalla in a nice tic-tac-toe goal that would serve as the eventual winner.

Garret Ross added an empty net goal to give Saginaw the 6-4 decision when all was said and done.

The Bulls were faced with a long ride home from Saginaw with no points to show for their weekend efforts. Assistant Coach Jake Grimes felt their results weren't due to a lack of desire or determination. "It's disappointing because I know the guys wanted results this weekend and they put the work in. There were some mental breakdowns tonight and Saginaw keyed on those. They didn't miss when they had opportunities."

Grimes was especially pleased with the work of Corson, Simmonds and Hooey in their icetime over the weekend, saying they filled their roles nicely. "I thought those three guys were our most consistent performers and they played against some very good players. If we can get our other lines to implement the grit, intensity and effective, simple approach to their game that this line showed we'll see more quality shifts from everyone.

The Spirit are now 9-2-2 this season against Eastern Conference opponents while the Bulls' road record falls to 7-9-0-0. 

The Bulls return to the comforts of home on Wednesday night as they try and get back on track against the Kingston Frontenacs at 7:05pm. Belleville is an impressive 12-3-0-0 at the Yardmen this season. For ticket information, contact the Bulls Box Office at 613-966-8338.