Bulls Upset First Place Aces With Three Goals in Third
Scott Langdon, of San Francisco, and Garry Nunn, of the Aces, look for the puck as Zach Harrison, of the Aces, slams Sacha Guimond, of San Francisco, into the boards in hockey action on Friday, October 26, 2012 at the Sullivan Arena.
Bob Hallinen — Anchorage Daily News
The Bulls shock the Aces with a dominating third period to take a much needed two points on the road. The Bulls were able to pull away from Aces in the third with a three goal outburst which give the Bulls their first victory over the first place Aces. The offense was led by Christian Ouellet with two goals and Rob Kwiet with a goal and an assist. Taylor Nelson came up big again as he stopped 23 of 25 shots on goal. Bulls out shot the Aces 31 to 25.
First Period:
The first period of the contest was a feeling out process as neither really forced the action early in the first half. During the first nine minutes of the period both teams combined for paltry four shots on goal. The first breakthrough came at the 9:25 mark of the first as Rob Kwiet opened the scoring as he beat Mark Guggenberger on the Bulls’ third shot of the period. The two teams seemed to come alive after the goal as the shots began to come. The Aces were able to respond at 11:51 as Zach Harrison tied the game with his 11th goal on the season. Neither team had a chance on special teams as the only penalties came on a scrap between the Bulls’ Han Benson and the Aces’ Dustin Molle. Aces out shot the Bulls 10 to eight on the period.
Second Period:
The second period started very similar to first as neither team could really find a way to jump start the offense. The Aces were given the a shot on the power play as Jordan Clendenning was called for tripping. The Bulls penalty kill showed why it has been one of the top units in the league recently as they killed off the Alaska power play. The Bulls would again grab the lead as Christian Ouellet would net his first goal for the Bulls at 9:39 in the second. Shortly after, the Bulls would take another penalty as Jonathan Lessard would be called for the tripping penalty. The Aces would get nothing to show for it as the Bulls again killed off the man advantage. The Bull would find themselves again short handed as Peter Sivak found his way to box with a slash. The penalty would be negated by hooking call on Gary Nunn that set the teams up for a little four on four hockey. The Aces knotted the game back as the teams just got back to even strength with a goal from Chris Clackson. The Aces again out shot the Bulls 10 to seven.
Third Period:
The Bulls found the legs in the third period as they dominated Alaska from the jump. They were able to ramp up the offense pressure and puck possession as they out shot the Aces 16 to five in the period. The go ahead goal came at 9:56 in third as Jordan Clendenning scored his fourth goal of the season. The Bulls would add the dagger goal as Christian Ouellet found the back of the net for a second time at 14:22 in the period. Cody Carlson added an exclamation mark as he netted the empty netter with just 15 seconds remaining in the contest. Bulls finished the night out shooting the Aces 31 to 25.
The Bulls again played a complete game. They were able to score some badly needed road goals against the Aces. They were led by Christian Ouellet, who scored his first two goals since coming to the Bulls in the Bowers trade. They also received goals from Rob Kwiet, Jordan Clendenning, and Cody Carlson. Taylor Nelson had another solid night with his third straight game of allowing just two goals. He was helped out by a strong defensive effort that killed off all three of Alaska’s power play opportunities and held the Aces to just 25 shots on net. The Bulls also held Aces leading scorer Nick Mazzolini to no points and just one shot on the night. The Bulls improve to 16-20-5, while the Aces fall to 31-11-2. These two teams meet for game two of this weekend series tomorrow night at 8:15 pacific.
Three Stars:
- Christian Ouellet – San Francisco
- Jordan Morrison – San Francisco
- Zach Harrison – Alaska