BULLS/MYSTICKS 1/12
Dennis Wells
ITS A MIRACLE! Bulls WIN!! Tonight in Birmingham before
11,000, the Bulls finally won a breather at home,
topping the Mysticks for the fifth straight time, this
time 6-2. The Bulls, energized by both the large crowd
and an influx of new players, scored a 5 on 3 power play
goal and a shorthanded goal while racing to a 3-0 first
period lead, this despite allowing Mobile tons of great
scoring chances. In the second, Mobile continued to
storm the nets, putting great pressure on the Bulls "d"
(or lack of it). In fact there was very little defense
played by either team. In the third, Mobile scored early
to make it 3-2, and everyone sensed yet another Bulls
collapse coming, especially since Mobile had overcome
a 6-1 deficit before coming back to win 7-6 at Nashville
earlier in the week. But Chris Bergeron skated around
the Mobile defense to make it 4-2, then Ole Kjenstad
did the same shorthanded, wrapping it around the net
and holding it until Mobile G Larry Dyck (just down from
the IHL, whats he doing in this league??) committed,
went down, and Ole went top shelf to make it 5-2 and
send the huge crowd into a frenzy. The Bulls added another
5 on 3 pp goal to put the icing on the cake. The story,
and star, of the game without a doubt was new Bulls
goaltender Mike Heinke, who was spectacular in his Bulls
debut. He stopped 41 of 43 shots, but that doesnt tell
the whole story. I cant tell you how many were great
quality scoring chances, but it was alot. Without him,
Mobile easily could have had 6 or 7 goals. Its only one
game, but its very encouraging. The Bulls now head off
on a big 4 game road trip, to Mobile, Louisiana(2),
and Knoxville. The Bulls have to find a way to at least
break even on the trip. It will be interesting to see
if the team comes together. For the first time, we
have a complete roster, a full complement of defesnsmen,
and have added a quality 2nd goalie. Its time for the
Bulls to pick up the pace and have a good second half.
****The crowd of 10,957 was the 8th biggest of all time
for the Bulls.
****Reggie Brezeault made his debut tonight and looked
pretty good, although not playing a whole lot.
****Thanks to the roster changes, the Bulls were able to
move Rob Donovan back to offense, and I think it made a
difference in the way the lines played.
****Lance Brady was back in uniform for the Bulls.
****Not sure, but I think we have released Chris Grenville.
He was not in the roster tonight...
1ST PER- 1. BIR- Donovan (Bergeron,Joyce) 3:26 (5 on 3)
2. BIR- Hebert (Bergeron,Creagh) 11:18
3. BIR- Joyce (Mathieu) 17:20 SH
2ND PER- 4. Mob- Sylvester (Craievich,Suk) 7:11 pp
3RD PER- 5. Mob- Hoffman (????????) 0:51
6. BIR- Bergeron (?????) 3:58
7. BIR- Kjenstad (u) 6:10 SH
8. BIR- Brady (Donovan,Mathieu) 17:52 (5 on 3)
Mobile 0--1--1----2 16--18--09---------
43
BULLS 3--0--3---6 11--07--11---------
29
PP- Bulls 2-5 Mobile 1-10
One final note- the win was great and everything, but the Bulls
must find a way to beat GOOD teams. We are undefeated
(10-0-0) against below .500 teams, yet only 7-16-2 against
winning teams, and we are an unbelievable 1-15-2 in our
last 18 games against winning teams...... ouch
Dennis in Birmingham