BELLEVILLE, ON - Charlie Graham's three outstanding saves off Nail Yakupov, an end-to-end rush from Brady Austin and a complete team effort of hard work and perserverance combined for a much needed Bulls win on Saturday night. With so much going wrong of late, the team pushed all of the distractions aside and knocked off one of the most skilled teams in Canadian Junior Hockey, collecting a 5-4 shootout win over the Sarnia Sting.

The Bulls returned home from the road to a sizeable crowd of enthusiastic fans as they set out to lock down a much needed second win of the month in their stretch drive toward the postseason.

After a pre-game puckdrop featuring Belleville native and fresh NHL face Andrew Shaw alongside P.K. Subban who were both off for the All-Star Break, the two teams got down to business.

Charlie Graham got the nod in goal for the Bulls and he was a character of influence in the early going, coming up with big saves off Reid Boucher and Tyler Brown from within striking distance. Graham looked calm and confident as he instilled a sense of confidence in his team in the period's late stages.

The Sting would go on to outshoot Belleville 13-8 through the game's opening twenty minutes, but the Bulls kept pace and battled their way to three first period powerplays that saw no output.

Sarnia's Ludvig Rensfeldt got the ball rolling 1:59 into the second period when an odd-man rush ended badly for the Bulls. Reid Boucher sent a cross-ice feed to Rensfeldt who beat Graham who had no chance of getting across to stop the big-bodied Swede. According to Bulls Goaltending Instructor Sebastien Farrese, Graham would later rebound from a goal that may have shown he was being too aggressive early on in challenging shooters. "Charlie shows a great ability to adjust his approach as the game progresses. On Sarnia's first goal he wasn't able to react to the cross-ice pass because he was being overly aggressive, but by the third period he'd adapted well and was a huge factor in tonight's win."

Garrett Hooey would burn his old mates at 9:06 to put Belleville on the board. Sarnia goaltender J.P. Anderson, who fought the puck all night, misjudged a rolling puck he went behind the net to play. Anderson lost his balance as Austen Brassard centred for Hooey who hit the bullseye for his 10th of the season.

Just when the Bulls were starting to pick up some steam, Rensfeldt, a gold medalist at this year's World Junior Hockey Championship got on the scoresheet again. In a rare event, Rensfeldt walked the goal line out of the corner, snuck the puck behind Graham and slammed it into the gaping net when it came out on the other side of the crease. 

Belleville's situation got worse one minute later on Domenic Alberga's 11th goal of the year as a result of the Bulls losing several battles in their own zone. The Sting plugged away to eventually beat a helpless Graham on a rebound as Jacques Beaulieau's squad was out to a 3-1 lead.

As always, the Bulls fans on hand remained faithful and didn't stop cheering despite the deficit. In time, their boys would pull out of the temporary funk and churn out one of the most entertaining games at the Yardmen all season.

The resurgence began at 16:08 as overaged forward Jordan Mayer led the charge up ice, quickly dishing off on the backhand to Austen Brassard who sent a shot onto Anderson's right-handed catching glove. Anderson wasn't able to squeeze the puck as it fell to his feet, allowing Mayer to feast on the rebound for his 13th as the Yardmen erupted.

A great defensive play 22 seconds into the third period continued to turn the tide for the Bulls as crafty Sarnia forward Brett Thompson, who wound up with three assists on the night, saw a wide open Ryan Spooner in the slot. Thompson's attempted feed through the middle however was knocked aside by the stick of Jason Shaw, springing Brendan Gaunce in transition who beat Anderson with a shot over the glove from the top of the left circle. Gaunce's 22nd goal snapped him out of a four game point drought, his longest of the season as the Bulls were tied up at three.

The Sting had one last gasp in regulation time as Ryan Spooner refused to be left out of the scoring column. A Belleville East Division nemesis for three years of his career was determined to be one in the Western Conference as well as Spooner picked up the garbage, banging in a rebound at 3:29 of the third as Rensfeldt collected his third point of the night.

The Bulls wouldn't knot things until 13:12 of the third, but not before an event that seemed to be a game-changing moment. Without a point on the night, Nail Yakupov broke in over the Belleville blueline on a breakaway, deked to the backhand and tried to put a shot up over the shoulder of Graham. The 16 year-old brought the Belleville crowd to a roar when he kept his glove up, snagging the quick release as Yakupov's best attempt of the game was turned aside. Just seconds later in the ensuing shift, Brady Austin resembled Bobby Orr in an end-to-end rush as the big defenceman lumbered through the neutral zone and cut wide down the left wing before beating Anderson through the legs with a low shot. The highlight reel rush put the Bulls in the driver's seat as the game would eventually spill over into overtime with the Bulls securing a point in the standings.

Graham again denied Yakupov in the extra frame that was largely dominated by the overwhelming puck control by the Sting inside the Belleville zone. The Bulls managed to outshoot their opponents in OT by a total of 4-3 though as they sent pucks towards the net at every opportunity.

The shootout started out sour for Belleville as Sarnia's first shooter Craig Hottot managed to beat Graham with a slick move to the forehand.

Belleville's first shooter Jordan Mayer mishandled the puck on his attempt against ex-teammate J.P. Anderson as the Yardmen came to a hush with the Bulls in a bad spot as Yakupov approached centre ice.

Fortunately for the Bulls, Graham had Yakupov's number all night and made a big pad save off the electrifying Russian. Yakupov tried to beat Graham through the legs but it almost seemed as if Charlie was ready for what was coming his way. "I was actually tipped off by Garrett Hooey who played with Nail last year in Sarnia," Graham said with a chuckle after the game. "He told me that he always liked going through the five-hole, so I made sure I was ready to close my legs quickly if I felt that's what he had in mind."

With the energy back on Belleville's side, Brendan Gaunce snapped a shot past Anderson's blocker before Graham made a blocker save off Spooner who used his signature pivot-step to try and catch Graham off balance but to no avail.

With the game on the line, another ex-Major and three year teammate of J.P. Anderson stepped up to take his shot. Joseph Cramarossa won the game on a move to the backhand as the Bulls took a 5-4 decision to avoid their worst month in franchise history with an exciting and well deserved win.

The Bulls' second shootout victory of the season over Sarnia was a weight lifted off the shoulders of the team. "As a captain there's nothing better than seeing the guys around you smiling," said Luke Judson following the game. "I know for myself I've really examined my game and tried to solve the problems that seem to keep popping up. Moving back to the blueline was a nice change for me tonight I think." Judson spent much of the game paired up with Stephen Silas on the backend, a role he saw two weeks ago in a loss in Ottawa. "You're always learning new things and Silo really helped me along back there." When the game was on the line however, Burnett moved Judson back up to forward as he nearly beat Anderson on a redirection from the slot in the last minute of the third period. "When coached moved me back up I really wanted to prove my worth and battle hard. It was nice to kind of get a second crack at things there and I'm just glad that all the boys can go home happy tonight."

The Bulls' OHL fortunes smiled upon them on Saturday, as 8th placed Oshawa fell to Brampton and Sudbury lost at home to Erie. The Bulls are now tied with the Generals for the Eastern Conference's last playoff spot while holding a game in hand.

Nail Yakupov was held pointless for just the fifth time this season while Ludvig Rensfeldt was named the game's second star with a pair of goals and an assist.

The 23-23-1-0 Bulls picked up their first win of the season when trailing after two periods in an impressive show of hard work and determination. Up next, the Brahmas head to Kitchener next Friday night to kick off a two game weekend road trip with another stop in Owen Sound on Saturday. They'll return home on Saturday, February 11th when they host the Guelph Storm in the Belleville General Hospital Sticks and Stones Event. For ticket information, contact the Bulls Box Office at 613-966-8338.