The Belleville Bulls opened a three game weekend road trip with a 4-2 victory over the Erie Otters Thursday night in the Otters annual Thanksgiving game.  Matt Tipoff led the offensive attack for the Bulls, scoring once and adding two assists while Mike Murphy stopped 39 shots in the win.

 The two sides began the game with a furious pace that saw four goals scored in the first five and a half minutes into opening period.  Bryan Cameron opened the scoring just over one minute into the first period when he fired a loose puck past Otters goaltender Shane Owen from the side of the net.  Tipoff and Cory Tanaka assisted on Cameron’s league leading 20^th goal of the season.  It marked the fourth consecutive season that Cameron had scored at least 20 goals, making him just the second Bull in franchise history to accomplish this feat joining Dunc MacIntyre.  Eric Tangradi extended Belleville’s lead to 2-0 less than two minutes later when he one-timed a P.K. Subban pass past Owen from the slot.  Nick Palmieri also assisted on Tangradi’s 17^th goal of the season.  Erie was quick to respond, cutting the lead to 2-1 just 37 seconds later when Brandon Biggers deflected a nice Zack Torquato pass past Murphy.  The Otters then tied the score less than two minutes later when Luke Gazdic jammed his own rebound past Murphy.  Following the quick start to the game, the two sides settled into a more tight checking style while Murphy and Owen were solid when called upon.  The Bulls were able to restore their lead with less than two minutes remaining in the first period when Tipoff skated out of the corner and into the slot before firing a shot between the pads of Owen for what turned out to be the eventual game winning goal.  Tanaka and Subban earned assists on Tipoff’s eighth goal of the season.  Shots on goal in the first period favoured the Otters 15-14.

 The two sides played a scoreless second period of play, as both Murphy and Owen were excellent during the middle frame to keep the score 3-2 for Belleville heading into the third period.  Shots on goal in the second period were 18-13 Erie.

 Both teams played sound defensive hockey to begin the third period, as the Bulls continued to hold onto the 3-2 advantage.  Palmieri gave the Bulls some much needed breathing room with just over four minutes remaining in the third period when he scored against his former team after one-timing a perfect Tipoff pass past Owen from the side of the net.  Tangradi also assisted on Palmieri’s ninth goal of the season.  Belleville then was able to hold off the Otters late comeback attempts to preserve the victory.  Shots on goal in the third period were 8-7 Erie and overall favoured the Otters 41-34.

 Murphy enjoyed another strong game in goal for Belleville, stopping 39 shots to earn his 15^th victory of the season while Owen made 30 saves in a losing effort for Erie.  The Bulls finished the game scoreless in three power play attempts while Erie failed to convert in two opportunities with the man advantage.  The three stars of the game were Murphy, Tangradi, and Biggers.  With the win, the Bulls improve their record to 18-6-2-2 while the Otters drop to 11-13-1-0 with the defeat.  Belleville will now continue their road trip in Guelph on Friday night before travelling to Owen Sound to face the Attack on Saturday.  The next Bulls home game is on Wednesday, December 3^rd when they will host the Kingston Frontenacs.  Game time is 7:15pm at the Yardmen Arena.  Tickets for the game are available at the Bulls Box Office.

Photo: Aaron Bell

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Game Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.