Bad Second Period Dooms Bulls in Loss to Bakersfield
San Francisco Bulls vs Bakersfield Condors January 13, 2013 – Photos Courtesy of Mike Tkacheff, Source: San Francisco Bulls Homepage
The San Francisco Bulls fell to the last place Bakersfield Condors 4-2 as a horrible second period set the stage for the Condors to pull the upset. Taylor Nelson was chased from the game after giving up a pair of goals in the matter of 11 seconds. The Condor’s Nicolas Tremblay scored the back breaker just three minutes later as he netted one short handed. The Bulls got goals from Peter Sivak and Kris Belan. The Bulls had an impressive 41 shots on goal but Scott Greenham saved 39 of them.
First period:
The first period was a pretty frenetic as both teams piled on the shots. The Condors out shot the Bulls 17 to 14. Four different Bulls are tied with the team lead in shots at two, while Peter Boyd led the Condors with 4 shots. Both goalies stood tall as the neither teams was able to find the back of the net. Taylor Nelson of San Francisco stopped all 14 shots and Bakersfield Scott Greenham stopped all 17 that he saw. Neither team had to use their special teams as both teams managed to play a clean first period.
Second Period:
The Condors came out flying in the second as they were able to net two goals in the first 69 seconds. Francis Verreault scored the first at just 58 seconds into second period, which was his 10th on the season. The Condors scored again in just 11 seconds as Jacob Legace was able to poke home a loose rebound. The quick two goals led to coach Pat Curcio to pull Nelson from net and bring in backup goalie Bryan Hince. Shortly after Justin Bowers drew a penalty as Francis Verreault was called for boarding. The Bulls power play was lifeless and not threatening the Condors at all. Then Nicolas Tremblay made the Bulls pay as he was able to slice through the Bulls skaters and wrist home a short handed goal to give the Condors a three goal advantage. The Bulls showed some signs of life as Peter Sivak scored his third goal in as many games after Jonathan Lessard gave Sivak a beautiful outlet pass to send him in all alone as he was able to wrist it home to cut the lead to two. The Bulls got another shot at the man advantage as Tyson Gimblett was called for a holding penalty. They came away with nothing to show for it as they came up empty with the extra man. San Francisco took it’s first penalty on a holding minor by Joe Sova. The penalty stepped up to the plate again killed off the man advantage.
Third Period:
The Bulls again applied the pressure in the third period as they went on the full attack trying to make up the deficit. Around five minutes into the third the found their break through as Kris Belan netted his sixth goal of the season as the Bulls were able to pull to within just a single goal. The special teams would not be needed as just two penalties occurred at the same time as both teams took coincidental minor penalties which kept either one from the man advantage. Bryan Hince did his part in third as he was able to keep the Condors seven shots out of the net, until he was pulled for an extra attacker as Jacob Legace iced the game as he put away the empty net with 25 seconds remaining in the game. The Bulls had 18 shots in just that period alone as they had a staggering 41 shots total on the game.
This game came down a bad half period by the Bulls. Poor defending and poor goal tending led to the Condors pulling out to a three to nothing lead in the matter of a few minutes and the Bulls would never recover. They did a great job offensively as they were able get off 41 shots but were only able to capitalize on just two. Peter Sivak now has three goals in three games as he continues to roll. The Bulls fall to 13-19-5 and the Condors are now 11-25-3 on the season. The Bulls travel to Stockton on Friday to take on the Thunders as they kick off a three game series against their local rival.
Three Stars
- Nicolas Tremblay – Bakersfield
- Scott Greenham – Bakersfield
- Jonathan Lessard – SF