By Rebecca Rempel
A hockey game is what fans walked into the Yardmen Arena Wednesday night to watch, and a hockey game is what they got.
The Belleville Bulls faced off against the Oshawa Generals to the applause of 2,503 fans.
Both the Bulls and the Generals have already cinched their playoff berths and are currently ranked eighth and seventh respectively, in the Eastern Conference.
After a fast-paced start of the game, the Generals were the first to put a point up on the board with Christian Thomas putting the puck in the back of the net in the seventeenth minute of the first period.
At the end of the first period, the Generals were leading the Bulls in shots on goal 16-10.
With Branden Morris in the sin bin for delay of game 13 minutes into the second period, Brendan Gaunce brought the Bulls back into the game with a short-handed goal to bring the crowd to their feet. John Wilson, better known as the ‘cymbal man’ at Bulls games, appeared dressed as Spiderman and banged happily away with his cymbals to celebrate the goal.
Quick to put a damper on the excitement, Generals’ Geoffrey Schemitsch scored in the remaining seconds of Morris’ penalty to pull the General’s ahead once again.
Belleville netminder Malcolm Subban stopped 12 shots in the second period, while Kevin Bailie stopped 10.
Five and a half minutes into the third period, Belleville defenceman Brady Austin earned his fourth goal of the season, and gave Spiderman another chance to celebrate, bringing the game to a draw.
With the game still tied 2-2 at the final regulation time buzzer, the teams entered sudden-death overtime.
Going into the game, the Bulls have lost only once this season in overtime, while the Generals have been defeated three time.
The puck bounced from end to end, with most shots going wide, until with a minute and 12 seconds left on the clock, Jake Worrad netted his fifth goal of the season, to bring the Bulls out on top for the night.
Of Worrad’s five goals, three have been game-winners.
Bull’s centre Gaunce was named first star of the night with two points in the game.
Generals Christian Thomas was second star, and Bull Austin as the third.
“We needed those two points and it’s good to get those two points,” said Carter Sandlak, a second-year leftwinger for the Bulls. “We battled hard out there and it felt good.”
“I feel like we got down a little bit, but after the Generals scored we picked it up and played our game plan,” said Sandlak.
“Hopefully we can use the win and take into playoffs and build on it,” said second-year Bulls defenceman Adam Bignell.
“We’re trying not to worry about who we’re going to play too much, but we definitely want to win these next two games,” said Bignell.
“We’re obviously looking ahead, but not too far,” said Sandlak.
Wednesday night’s game not only put an end to the Generals four-game winning streak, but also allowed the Bulls to bounce back from three losses in the past four games.
The Bulls have two regular season games left in the season. This Friday they will travel up the road to play against the Kingston Frontenacs, the last place team in the conference. Saturday the Bulls will face off against fifth place team, the Sudbury Wolves, for their last regular season home game.