The Bullets blew an early lead and were stymied by the Renegades goaltender, Steven Sweet, all night. Sweet previously played one game with The Bullets.

 

The Bullets played a flawless first period, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by Joey Evans and Daniel Sherkin. They outshot the Renegades 13-5 in the frame.

 

Just as The Bullets looked to be in control of this one, they dropped their guard and allowed their lead to be cut in half only one minute into the second.

 

The Renegades had renewed life and it was no longer The Bullets who had full control. The rest of the second was mostly a puck possesion period, with very little shots making it on goal.

 

The Bullets entered the third up by one, and although they played an overall even final frame, there was nothing they could do except helplessly watch their lead get blown with a little over two minutes left in the game.

 

As upsetting as allowing the tying goal was, things got even worse. With overtime looming, an innocent enough looking play developed for the Renegades in which they potted what would stand as the game winner.   

 

With under forty seconds to play, goaltender Stroll was pulled for an extra attacker, but it wasn't enough time for The Bullets to tie the game, and the Renegades scored into the empty net on a clearing play from their own zone.

 

The Renegades robbed The Bullets of two extremely important points in the standings. "We really needed those [expletive deleted] points, and we felt the entire [expletive deleted] game was in our control. We just haven't been able to learn from our [expletive deleted] mistakes this year. You've got to give them credit though. Those [expletive deleted] wouldn't let us build on our fantastic first period. I wouldn't say they took it to us at any point of the game, but they had some solid goaltending and were persistent, something that we didn't [expletive deleted] do tonight", a very outraged Dustin Stroll said after the game.

 

The final shots in this one was 23-15 in favour of The Bullets.

 

The Bullets need to turn it around next week, as the season is quickly drawing to a close. Puckdrop is at 10pm.

 

NOTES: Max Shuster is the only Bullet to have a multi-game point streak. He has gotten points in 4 straight games.

 

 

 

 

In the second game of the home-and-home series, the Bullets withstood a late three-minute Team Blue powerplay to pick up a very important 5-2 win. It was yet another evenly-matched and physical affair, but it was the Bullets who played textbook hockey and came out on top.

 

The game plan was to alienate Team Blue's top players, former Bullets stars Jordan Roberts and Mike Ceresney. Despite allowing a goal to each of them, they were neutralized for the majority of the game. After their goals, on the odd occasion when either of them would get through, Benji Lightstone was there to shut the door.

 

Lightstone stopped 21 shots, a couple of them being highlight-reel saves. It was easily his best game of the season. Since getting rocked for eight goals in his first start, Lightstone has gone 3-1-1 with a 2.40 GAA and .846 SP%; very solid numbers and part of the reason the Bullets are enjoying their best season in franchise history. Management must be very happy that both of their goaltenders are delivering solid performances this season.

 

Max Shuster opened the scoring in record time. Only moments into the game, Shuster scored his fifth goal of the year. He would later close out the scoring and record his sixth goal of the season in an exceptional effort. "Its going to be tough to sleep tonight," he said after the game.

 

After Tyler Cohen was called for interference, Team Blue capitalized quickly to tie the game.

 

Only minutes later Team Blue struck again to take the lead.

 

Momentum appeared to be in Team Blue's favour, but the Bullets would not let up. With 1:42 left in the first, Brandon Spears scored his third goal of the season to even the game at two.

 

The second period was the most even and intense of the game. It was back and forth hockey with the goaltenders really being the standouts. The shots in the second were 8-5 in favour of the Bullets, but not a single goal was scored in the period.

 

The third was a completely different story. The Bullets came out with their best stuff, and exploited every weakness in Team Blue's playbook.

 

Ben Ashkin scored what proved to the game winner early on on a great breakout play. Brandon Spears passed from his own zone right up to the offensize blue line, where his brother Adam was waiting for the puck. He fed Ashkin, who of course made no blunders and buried his twelth goal of the season.

 

The game turned ugly at this point. A member of Team Blue checked Daniel Sherkin hard into the boards for no apparent reason, and this sparked mayhem. After it was all said and done, the Bullets were going to be down a man for three minutes.

 

Whereas Lightstone made highlight-reel saves stopping pucks, it was Tyler Cohen who scored the most lavish goal of the evening. He stole the puck from an opposing forward and deked out the lone defenseman before heading towards the net and finishing off the fantastic play. He deked the defenseman so badly that it probably made him slightly delusional.

 

The Bullets had to withstand a long three minute powerplay in the middle of the third before being rewarded with their own powerplay where Shuster made no mistake and put the lights out on Team Blue.

 

The two teams finished the regular season with an even 1-1 head-to-head record, however the Bullets have won the season series based on the goal differential tiebreaker. They won't meet again unless it is during the playoffs.

 

You can be sure to expect more great hockey and another intense game next week as the Bullets close out the regular season against rivals the Renegades. Puck drop is at 10:15pm. As always, we look forwrd to seeing you there!

 

NOTES: Forward Ben Ashkin now has four game winning goals, the most in team history. Mike Ceresney, with 41 points, has now dropped to third on Bullets all-time list; B. Spears is first with 46 points followed by Mike Adelson with 42 points. Sherkin will not be suspended for being ejected from the game. Five Bullets have multi-game point streaks going. They are (with # of games in brackets): Brandon Spears (5), Ben Ashkin (3), Tyler Cohen (3), Adam Spears (3), Max Shuster (3). Dustin Stroll gets the start in the last game of the regular season, while Lightstone will start the playoff opener the following week.   

 

 

 

The Bullets off-ice training has skyrocketed recently as the playoffs are quickly approaching.

 

Each team member is taking extra time to work on strength and endurance.

 

Being as physically fit as possible is a main key to surviving the grueling playoffs. Just ask any member of the Baby Bullets (the Bullets winter team affiliate), who went a remarkable 6-0-1 in their playoff run.

 

Ari Greenberg, Ben Ashkin, Joey Evans, Brandon Spears, Benji Lighstone, Mike Adelson and Tyler Cohen all helped in that amazing championship winning playoff.

 

"It was tough," Evans explained. "But the off-ice training helped way more than I thought it would. I figured it was all about practising on-ice. But then the trainers showed how a little extra effort in the gym could benefit us on-ice and we were all believers. And it certainly helped!", he continued.

 

Hopefully the extra work will pay off for the Bullets this season! 

 

 

 

 

"It will be different next week."

 

Barred from entering, these were the only words available to the media from the Bullets locker room after they suffered their second tough loss in three weeks.

 

It was as close a game as they come. Any observer could tell that both teams wanted to win badly.

 

The game repeatedly shifted in the others' favour, with the game really coming down to a goaltending dual. Dustin Stroll was strong, stopping 18 of 21 shots, but it wasn't enough as the Bullets couldn't beat Team Blue's goalie for a third time.

 

Coming into the game, when Stroll has started, the Bullets have averaged a whopping 7 goals for per game. That is why it was a little surprising to see the Bullets only finish with a pair.

 

The Bullets stuck to their game play and overall played well enough to win.

 

 

Ben Ashkin scored his team leading 11th goal of the season while Brandon Spears scored his second of the campaign. Adam Spears, Tyler Cohen and Max Shuster continued their point streaks by adding an assist each.

 

As hard as these two teams went at it this week, you can be sure to expect an even fiercer battle next week when they hook up again at 10:15pm.

 

 

 

 

The Bullets snapped their mini losing skid with a 5-2 victory last night.

 

The team asserted their position right from the get go in this one. By the time the second period started, the Bullets were focused on maintaining an almost insurmountable lead.

 

"Our game plan was to start off strong and fire shot after shot on goal," Steven Spears said. The Bullets executed their game plan well, outshooting the Pumpkins 12-3 after the first period, and 26-16 in the game. Out of those twelve shots, four crossed the goal line, giving the Bullets a huge lead.

 

Goaltender Benji Lightstone is really starting to find his game after an up and down start to the season. Lightstone made fourteen saves while delivering his second straight stellar performance.

 

Seven Bullets registered at least one point. Leading the way was Brandon Spears with a goal and two assists. Tyler Cohen had another strong performance with two goals. Both Hartley Blumenfeld and Adam Spears had a pair of assists.

 

The Bullets really sat back in the third period, and although allowing an early goal, were strong overall.

 

The Bullets record stands at 5-3-1 heading into a two game mini series against former Bullets forwards Mike Ceresney and Jordan Roberts.

 

NOTES: B. Spears' goal was his first of the season and his two assists have put him at eight on the season, which leads the team. Ben Ashkin's short one game goaless streak ended with his team leading tenth goal of the year. The Bullets will be facing Ceresney and Roberts for the first time since their release from the team.

 

 

 

Goaltender Dustin Stroll will miss his next start with what team officials are calling a leg injury.

 

Alternate goaltender Benji Lightstone will start in his place.