Players of the Ontario Hockey League have an expiry date; there are only five seasons between being old enough to get drafted and being too old to play in the league. This creates a high turnover rate since the better player’s only play four seasons before turning pro and only a handful of sixteen-year-olds play their first season; the average player is gone after only three seasons. For this reason, teams must focus on re-building properly during the draft and player development with good coaches in order to experience success.

Most junior hockey teams that win consistently do so by re-building around a core group of players every three to four years apart. This is the OHL “Circle of Life” teams that win one year, lose the next while they re-build, and then those players develop and win again. By gathering a core group of talent with players around the same age, you have more players in their prime playing together.

Fans in Belleville were lucky enough to witness this pattern develop on a team that won three of four division titles, plus had a playoff winning percentage of .661, played in eleven playoff series, three Conference Finals appearances, one OHL final appearance and a Memorial Cup appearance. These successful teams were built around the core of similar aged players that the Bulls acquired born in 1988 and 1989.

The 1988’s were acquired at the 2004 OHL draft when the Bulls selected Matt Beleskey, Shawn Matthias and Nick Pageau. General Manager George Burnett than made a mid-season trade with the Plymouth Whalers to add Cory Tanaka to the young core. The 1989’s were all obtained the following season in what might be the greatest Bulls draft class of all-time with Bryan Cameron, Mike Murphy, P.K. Subban and Eric Tangradi. The Bulls gathered eight players that all had long junior careers with the same team and reached their potential at the same time.

Any junior team with eight players in their prime is going to be competitive and if a team makes the right moves for role players, they could easily go from a competitive team to a championship team. The expiry date has now passed on all eight of those players careers in Belleville but once again, they are gathering talent.

The core of the current Bulls are made up of eight players with 1992 and 1993 birthdays and many of them can draw comparisons to the previous core of Bulls that were so successful.

The first group of the new core are the players born in 1992. Even though the Bulls have eight players in this category at this point, only Stephen Silas, Alex Aleardi, Julian Luciani and Braeden Corbeth have emerged as core players (playing regularly in all situations).

Stephen Silas has already developed into a polished “Power Play Quarterback” with over 60 percent of his points on the Power Play this season. Silas’s all-round game, focus and efficiency with the puck will make him the key to the Bulls transition game, an important role filled by P.K. Subban, Nigel Williams and Shawn Lalonde on past teams.

Alex Aleardi has proven to be a regular contributor offensively, including the fact that Aleardi has more points as a Bull (30 Points in 36 Games) than the veteran he was traded for Matt Tipoff has as a Ranger (28 Points in 40 Games).

Julian Luciani looks very similar to former Bull Nick Pageau, both players are very steady every night, can be physical in tougher games and never look out of place in any situation. In addition, Luciani has looked more and more confident with the puck; in September, he would play the puck every two to three seconds and now, he’s showing enough composure to see some Power Play time.

The final 1992, Braeden Corbeth could be the big breakout player in the Bulls’ near future. Corebeth could be the “Cory Tanaka” of the new core. With Corebeth’s speed he could become an elite penalty killer and he is motivated every shift making him ideal for star defensive forward. Corebeth, much like Tanaka, is offensively talented enough to not look out of place on the team’s top lines and seems to have instant chemistry with whoever he plays alongside.

The second group of the new core is made up of the players born in 1993 that are all developing well ahead of schedule due to the Bulls commitment to the youth movement this season. They have all seen a significant amount of playing time and have learned how to balance the pressures of both hockey and school (as of my last conversation with Bulls Educational Consultant, Peggy Burris, she was pleased to announce that there isn’t a single Bull failing any class or course at either High School or Post-Secondary Education).

The Bulls selected four players in the 2009 OHL draft that made the team immediately in Tyson Teichmann, Michael Curtis, Steven Strong and Alex Basso. The Bulls were also able to add Austen Brassard to the group in another mid-season trade to complement an already talented group of 1993’s.

Tyson Teichmann, much like Mike Murphy, is an undersized flexible goaltender with exceptional post to post speed. The “X-Factor” between Murphy and Teichmann is how mentally tough Murphy was throughout his career. Murphy played very confidently on the top of the crease, challenging shooters and covering up every puck he could reach; which is why he had to often dive across the net to make the dramatic saves. Teichmann is just as good of an athlete as Mike Murphy; all he needs to do is add that type of confidence and mental toughness to his game.

Austen Brassard, in his rookie season, looks like he is going to be a great power forward comparable to a Shawn Matthias or Eric Tangradi. Like both former Bulls, Brassard loves to handle the puck in high traffic areas, uses his big body to shield the puck from defenders along the boards, can play physical and has a very powerful shot. Later in their careers, both Matthias and Tangradi became elite players by improving their body position around the crease and finding ways to find shooting space in the offensive zone; look for that to be the next step in Brassard’s development.

Michael Curtis can already be labelled as an “intelligent” hockey player. Most of his goals have been a result of him being in great position at the right time; you can put him on the ice in any situation and you know he is not going to hurt the team. Smart, hard-working players like Curtis have a high upside because they are always willing work with the coaching staff to get better; in his first season Curtis has already improved his face-offs and penalty killing. Michael Curtis also has the “Matt Beleskey” factor which is that tendency to make a big play when the team needs momentum. Curtis is the type of player that will block an important shot, win a key face-off, stand-up for his teammates, play his best with the game on the line and is a natural leader by example much like Beleskey.

Alex Basso, on some nights, looks eerily similar to P.K. Subban during his rookie season. Both players love to carry the puck up ice, have the agility to make defenders look helpless at times and have a powerful yet sometimes wild shot. Subban’s advantage over Basso was how aggressively he played in the defensive end. Subban engaged every player in his radius always forcing the play and went after every loose puck like it was his to lose. Basso needs to add that aggressive dedication to his game to reach Subban’s level, but already looks like he will become a strong offensive defenseman.

The final piece of the of the 1993’s is Steven Strong who is a steady and reliable defenseman who is calm handling the puck in his own zone without creating turnovers much like former Bulls Geoff Killing and Marc Cantin (who were also big parts of the Bulls Playoff teams). Much like both Killing and Cantin, they needed to play smaller roles at the beginning of their careers with little ice time in their rookie campaigns. Both Killing and Cantin jumped from being the Bulls fifth or sixth defenseman to playing nearly thirty-five minutes a night and becoming team leaders when they totally dedicated themselves to team success and defensive play. Steven Strong is capable of making that same step and although he isn’t as big as Killing or Cantin, he could be more of a physical force already showing the ability to make big hits at this level.

Whether the Bulls make the playoffs or not, I will still look at this as a successful season. The previous Belleville Bulls core of players were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in both 2005 and 2006 and it was because they failed together that they developed a hatred for losing and became a more competitive team. This new core group of Bulls have had to deal with the frustration of losing, recovering from injuries and the nightly battle of avoiding being a healthy scratch (a growing pain for all young players). Most teams get closer when battling adversity and it’s how they turn the corner together that defines them as a team.

The previous Bulls core and the new core both have many similarities. In 2006, the Bulls helped complement their core by adding a talented First Round pick in Shawn Lalonde. Now four years later, the Bulls have a core of eight talented players and a top pick in the upcoming OHL draft. Bulls’ fans might not be getting excited about the playoffs, but they should be getting excited about the draft.

To all the Bulls fans, I say enjoy your long summer because things are about to come full circle and you will probably be busy for the next couple of March’s and April’s.

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With no Bulls games until the weekend and things being pretty quiet on the local front, I figured I’d pass along just a few videos I came across that you might find interesting.

First video is of former Bulls defenceman P.K. Subban at the AHL All-Star game in Portland, Maine. Subban, who was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round at 43rd overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, has 9G, 19A for 28PTS in 43 games this season with the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Second video is a couple of weeks old now. It’s highlights from a game between the Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks on January 5th. This is the game that Matt Beleskey scored his first NHL goal. Since that goal, Beleskey’s heated up with four goals in seven games. On Sunday night in Calgary he had a career high in ice time with 21:55. Looks like he’ll be sticking in the NHL. You can see the goal at around the 45 second mark. Corey Perry fishes the puck out of the net for a great souvenir.

Third Video is of Windsor Spitfires forward Adam Henrique going crazy on Belleville native Nick Cousins. The game, which was played on January 16th, saw a bunch of fights and nastiness involving star players like Taylor Hall and Greg Nemisz. There’s lots of highlights from this game on Youtube. Henrique’s actions earned him a five game suspension. A pair of Soo players, Michael Quesnele and Brian Shaw, also recieved suspensions stemming from incidents in this game, but only for two games.

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I’ve been talking to a lot of fans and people who follow the Bulls and we talk about what’s going well and what isn’t. And I’ve been consistently hearing about a pair players that Bulls fans feel have been underachieving. The two names that I hear the most complaints about are Shawn Lalonde and Andy Bathgate. I’ve been thinking about this for a while and here’s my assessment of this hot-button issue. Feel free to flame away if you disagree, because I know these are two players that fans are very passionate about. I’d love to hear what other people think about these two big name Bulls.

Let’s start on defence with the longest tenured Bull, Shawn Lalonde. Right now, if you break down his offensive numbers month-by-month, he’s on pace to have his best month of the season. Overall he’s been pretty consistent in terms of production. But you can’t help but to expect more.

Even if the numbers say otherwise, his offensive game has slipped as the year has progressed. He doesn’t skate with the puck up-ice with the same authority that he had earlier in the season, when there were shifts where he would gain the offensive zone all on his own and rush end-to-end like a vintage Brian Leetch. Those rushes never happen anymore. He doesn’t have the same presence as he used to and his game has lost some of its panache.

There are games when he looks completely disinterested out there. And then of course, there’s his poor defensive play, which I think just about everyone who follows this team closely is aware of. The sky’s the limit for this Lalonde, I just hope he can buckle down for these last 22 games of the season.

One final thought on Lalonde. Not to get all emo or dramatic, but I find there’s a bit of a tragic element to the way his final days as a Bull are playing out. Here’s a guy, who’s the last remaining part of the core of the great Memorial Cup team. His offensive accomplishments are prolific. He’s a player who fans adored and always supported him. He came to camp this season saying he wanted to be a career Bull, which was great.

But now as his time in a Bulls uniform winds down and his play on some nights shows zero interest in the team’s success, the fans are starting to get frustrated and his career in Belleville is looking like it might end on a sour note. Should that happen, he won’t be praised or remembered as one of the most prolific offensive forces to ever man the Bulls blueline. If he plays hard and helps lead this team to a playoff appearance, (however brief it might be) it’ll ensure that he leaves Belleville in the fans good books, leaving behind a great legacy that fans will remember years after he’s gone.

Evaluation in short: Lalonde is sickly talented, thus expectations are justifiably high. He needs to elevate his play down the stretch in order to end his great Bulls career on a positive note.

Now to Andy Bathgate. I must admit, for most of the year I’ve been disappointed with what he’s shown. But sitting back and reflecting on his situation, I’ve come to this pretty blunt conclusion. He just isn’t that good. Getting drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins came as a surprise to many people and I think it placed unrealistic expectations upon him. He suddenly became thought of as a go-to guy, when really, he’s a role player.

Breaking down his goal production over the course of the season looks like this:
September: 1G in 4GP
October: 0G in 13GP
November: 7G in 13GP, his best month by far 14pts in total, but three of those goals came in the Hat-Trick game
December: 1G in 9GP
January: 2G in 11GP

The Pens drafted a player that had just 17 points in 49 OHL games. His Junior A stats in 2007-08 were 14G-30A-44Pts in 40 games. Good, but not great. I’ve yet to see any signs that the soon-to-be 19 year old has a sick pair of hands just waiting to break out. His goals are scored from the slot and in front of the net and are of the ‘garbage’ variety. You don’t see big moves or soft hands from Bathgate.

Evaluation in short: I think it’s time to view Bathgate as a third liner and evaluate him on a third line criteria rather than a top-six criteria which fosters unrealistic expectations. Asking him to be a better shot blocker, face-off man, PK specialist and two-way player would be a better set of demands from fans rather than expecting him to be an offensive piece in the rebuild.

So there you have it. That’s my opinion on two of the most talked about Bulls players this season. I hope to see Lalonde get on a roll down the stretch and I’d love nothing more than to have Andy Bathgate use this article as motivation, turn into an offensive force and make me eat crow. You can never have enough top-six forwards and going to the Yardmen is a lot more fun when free fries are being given away. But this is how I see things right now.

Feel free to comment.

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Two games of interest on Thursday night in the OHL.

First, the Belleville Bulls fell 5-1 to the Petes in Peterborough. Meanwhile, in Windsor, a pair of first place teams hooked up in a game that saw the Barrie Colts hand the Spitfires a 4-2 defeat. Also the game featured former Pete Zack Kassian making his Windsor debut with a bang. We’ll get to that in a minute

Belleville Falls 5-1 in Peterborough
The young team that looked so good against Sudbury in their previous game looked almost as bad as the Wolves on Thursday night. The Bulls had a decent first period and were able to take a 1-0 lead on an Andy Bathgate goal, in the opening minute of the second period, but then fell apart giving up five unanswered goals.

The biggest obstacle for this team to overcome in their race for the playoffs will be consistency. That’s a tall order for such a young team and no doubt that we’ll probably see a few more games similar to this one along the way, but if the Bulls can avoid falling into a slump and keep these poor efforts down to a minimum, the playoffs are attainable.

On the flip side, if the Bulls do miss the playoffs this season, it’ll be courtesy of the Petes. The teams have played five times with Peterborough picking up wins in each contest. Two games that could really stand out are the home opener in which the Petes scored late in regulation to steal a 3-2 win and the December 9th game which was decided on a controversial game-winning shootout goal that featured a stop/start from Pat Daley. That’s two maybe three possible points lost that could loom huge come the end of the season. Not to mention the 1-0 loss in Peterborough on New Year’s eve and a 4-3 shootout loss on November 4th. That’s another couple of attainable points that got weren’t put in the bank.

Still, things could be worse. This team, even at such a young age, has the skill level to get to the playoffs. That much was made clear in the Sudbury game. I really like what I see from Richard Panik, He’s got good moves. drives to the net and he cares about his defensive responsibilities, playing a good two-way game. He’ll be a good mentor for the young forwards finding their way in the league.

And Braden Corbeth should be back from his broken jaw soon. His speed will really help. Imagine him and Aleardi on a line together. Who do you put out with those two and will he be able to keep up??

I’m looking forward to seeing how the Bulls rebound against a good team like the London Knights on Saturday. Should be a good indicator of what this team is capable of when the chips are down.

Barrie beats Windsor 4-2
While Belleville and Peterborough were battling, the (sort of) new-look Windsor Spitfires were facing Barrie in a battle of the two top teams in the league. Windsor picked up three former Bulls and one Pete before the trade deadline, but only one of those players was in the lineup on Thursday. Philipp Grubauer backed up Troy Passingham, Marc Cantin was suspended and Stephen Johnston is still hurt. The only newcomer to suit up for Windsor was former Pete Zach Kassian, and he only got in half a game.

The big story of the night wasn’t that Barrie handed the Spitfires a 4-2 loss in Windsor. Instead, the big story was a Kassian hit on Matt Kennedy. The hit got national attention (on TSN, see video above) and now Kassian is suspended indefinitely and will meet with David Branch early next week.

It’ll be interesting to see how Branch handles this. In my opinion, this hit is worse than the Liambas hit on Fanelli. Kassian went hunting for the hit through the neutral zone, hit an unsuspecting guy who didn’t even have the puck, and left his feet. Kassian probably deserves to be suspended to for the remainder of the season, but will his “big name” status makes a difference? What about the fact that he plays for a big-market team like Windsor?

A lot of people think Windsor got fleeced on the Kassian deal, and now he might be gone for the year. Windsor fans are already panicking. Could they be ripe for an upset in the playoffs? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Never a dull week in the OHL!

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In a game that was being hyped by some as the most important game of the Belleville Bulls’ season so far, the team delivered an almost perfect performance, thrashing the Sudbury Wolves, 7-0. Just about every player on the ice from the goaltender out contributed to the win.

Anthony Peters, making his Bulls debut, turned aside 24 shots to earn a shutout. Talk about a great first impression. He didn’t give anything up in the first half of the game, giving the Bulls time to blow it open in the second and third periods. Sudbury also took a few good runs at him but it didn’t fluster him at all.

Stephen Silas was an offensive wizard, picking up four assists in all. The nicest of the four came on Austen Brassard’s second goal of the game. Silas recovered from a poke-check by a Sudbury player that almost lead to a breakaway and neatly fired a shot on goal that Brassard deflected. You can see the play at the 2:22 mark of the highlight video above.

Bjorn Krupp has quietly improved over the course of the season and the fans have started to take notice. After he neatly broke up a Sudbury rush in the second period, one fan could be heard bellowing “Atta boy, Kruppie!” What a difference a few months make.

Alex Basso ‘only’ picked up an assist, but this 16 year old continues to impress. He made some terrific breakout passes and oozed confidence with the puck while walking the blueline in the Wolves end. His foot speed continues to get better. I’m already looking forward to seeing him play next year as a 17 year old.

Upfront, the ‘ABC Line’ of Aleardi, Brassard and Curtis offered a glimpse into the future of this Bulls team. The line combined for four goals and seven points and had fans salivating over what the future holds for these kids. The highlight video speaks for itself. They scored in different ways using some nice passing as well as going to the net and tipping pucks in. Credit as the be given to George Burnett, who acquired two of these three talented kids in a re-building year.

Luke Judson, who looks to have earned the ‘C’ for the rest of the year, had a very good game. Not only did he open the scoring with another goal (that’s five consecutive games he’s scored) but he made some nice passes to set up his teammates. The nicest of which was a cross-box feed to Richard Panik. (2:43 on highlight video)

Richard Panik has shown a lot in his first three games as a Bull. He’s a big boy who can skate, dangle and put the puck in the net. His size is an important addition to this smaller and younger Bulls team.

Three games into the trade with Windsor, it looks like a good deal for both sides. Windsor gets a very good goaltender in Philipp Grubauer, Marc Cantin is an excellent playoff performer with his shot-blocking ability and big hits and if Stephen Johnston can get healthy, he can make a difference and earn himself a contract playing just across the river from the NHL team that drafted him.

The Bulls added some slick and young offensive talent in Brassard that will be here for the next few years. They also got bigger and better up front for this year’s playoff push with the addition of Panik who looks to be the team’s only power forward and they get back some of the toughness they lost with Cantin in the form of Paul Bezzo.

This is an exciting time of year and it’s something that hasn’t been seen in a while in Belleville: The race to the playoffs. The Bulls big win over Sudbury sent the message that they aren’t throwing in the towel on this season. It should be an exciting final 24 games.

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Shawn Lalonde has set a new benchmark for offensive defensemen with the Belleville Bulls. Lalonde already holds the record for most goals by a defenseman in a single season as he scored nineteen goals last season. On Sunday Night in Oshawa Lalonde also broke the franchise record for most career goals by a defenseman.

Although it’s not the most historic team record, in fact it only lasted nine months and twenty days since it was last broken. P.K. Subban scored in his last game as a Bull on March 14, 2009 against the Barrie Colts. Subban intercepted a puck at his own blue line, skated up ice and then let go a slap-shot that beat the goaltender high on the glove side and just inside the post. It was a classic Subban goal; just as Lalonde’s goal to break the record was a typical Shawn Lalonde play. Lalonde took a pass from Stephen Silas, used his speed to jump start a rush and then snapped a wrist shot into the top corner past the goaltender’s glove hand.

Lalonde had tied Subban’s record on December 2, and was stuck on career goal number forty-two for eight games. Several people might call that a drought but, maybe it was just Lalonde waiting for the perfect opportunity. P.K. Subban’s younger brother, Malcolm has recently been called up to the Bulls on a short term basis to serve as the teams back-up goaltender. Malcolm’s OHL stint was set to come to an end after Sunday’s game in Oshawa as Tyson Teichmann returns from the Under-17 Championships. Seeing as it was Malcolm’s last game with the team, his parents Karl and Maria were in attendance. This was Lalonde’s perfect opportunity to pass former teammate Subban in the record books with three members of Subban’s family in the building.

Over the last five seasons, Lalonde and Subban together removed all former Bulls defensemen from the record book. Lalonde broke Darren Gani’s record for most goals in a season (formerly 17 goals, now 19 goals). Subban broke several records including Scott Boston’s record for career points (formerly 187 points, now 190 points), Radim Bicanek’s record for career goals in the playoffs (formerly 8 goals, now 16 goals) and Jason Lawmaster’s records for career assists and points in the playoffs (formerly 22 assists, now 35 assists); (formerly 27 points, now 51 points). At this time, it seems that there aren’t any other former Bulls left to pass and Lalonde has to settle for chasing his former teammate.

Lalonde is also getting prepared to follow Subban into the ranks of professional hockey. Lalonde signed his first NHL contract with the Chicago Blackhawks last week after being the teams 3^rd round pick in the 2008 NHL Draft. Since he signed with the Blackhawks, the 2009-10 Season will be his last in the OHL. Next season, he will either be in the NHL or with one of the Hawks minor league affiliates (AHL-Rockford Icehogs or ECHL-Toledo Walleye).

The new records set by Shawn Lalonde and P.K. Subban will be a tall order for future players to surpass. Even more impressive than their records is the chain of talented Bulls defensemen they have established. Stephen Silas, has already in his second season, emerged as the next star on the Bulls blue-line. Although Silas doesn’t have the offensive capabilities of Lalonde and Subban, his hockey intellect and overall game has NHL scouts drooling over his potential. Belleville also has a pair of sixteen-year-olds in Alex Basso and Steven Strong; who are already playing a regular shift and getting ice time in all situations in their rookie season.

Recently around the OHL, when Lalonde’s name comes up it’s been attached to trade rumors with the looming trade deadline (January 11). Lalonde’s comments leading up to the deadline all have been that he wants to stay in Belleville and loves playing for the Bulls. Until something happens (or doesn’t), rumors will continue to circulate. Rumors aside, one of the facts about Shawn Lalonde is that no Bulls defenseman has ever scored more goals than him. Congratulations Shawn!

Belleville Bulls Defenseman with 20 or more Career Goals

Defenseman GP G G/GP ratio Seasons

Shawn Lalonde             221       43         0.195                2006-10

P.K. Subban                   234       42         0.179                2005-09

Michael Jacobsen         255       37         0.145                1997-01

Darren Gani                   175       34         0.194                1982-85

Bryan Marchment          208       32         0.154                1985-89

Scott Boston                   255       31         0.122                1988-92

Dan Preston                   236       29         0.123                1991-95

Radim Bicanek             112       29         0.259                1993-95

Marc Dupuis                  262       24         0.092                1992-96

Matt “Bud” Kelly             201       21         0.104                2002-06

Brian Chapman            183       21         0.115                1985-88

Rob Crocock                 206       20         0.097                1981-84

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Over the last five seasons, the Toronto Marlboros winning culture has produced extremely talented players to the OHL, NCAA and NHL. This season, the Bulls used three of their 14 OHL Draft Picks to acquire the next group of Marlboro stars.

Last season, the Marlboros had another banner year leading up to the OHL Cup, an invitational tournament of the top Minor-Midget teams across Ontario and USA. They were the top ranked team entering the tournament and seemed to get stronger as the tournament continued.

In the semi-finals, the Marlboros faced the York Simcoe Express, a team that had three players selected in the OHL’s first round Daniel Catenacci (Greyhounds), Ryan Murphy (Rangers) and Barclay Goodrow (Battalion). The Marlboros won 9-1; goaltender Malcolm Subban stopped all but one shot, while eight of his teammates had multi-point games (Michael Curtis scored two goals). It was the forth trip to the tournament finals in the last five years for the Marlboros organization.

In the Championship Final, the Marlboros would face the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs lead by stars, Luke Heitkamp (Petes) and Boone Jenner (Generals). Once more, the Marlboros were able to take their game to the next level. Yet again, Subban stopped all but one shot while Michael Curtis scored the game-winning goal and assisted on the go-ahead goal where he was named the player of the game in a 5-1 win.

A few months later, the Belleville Bulls would select the core of that championship team to help assemble the future of their re-building team. In the second round of the OHL Draft, the Bulls would pick the Marlboro’s team Captain, Michael Curtis. In the fourth round, they would add the Marlboro’s best two-way defenseman and Head Coaches son in Steven Strong. Subsequently in the eleventh round, the Bulls took the Marlboro’s starting goaltender, Malcolm Subban who is also former-Bull P.K. Subban’s younger brother.

The last time the Marlboros won the OHL cup was the 2004-05 season. At the time, the Belleville Bulls were in a re-building approach and used their first pick in the draft to select a player from the Championship team. The player selected was Bryan Cameron, who scored 131 goals in Belleville which ranks him the fourth All-Time in Bulls history. Cameron’s off-season trade to Barrie continues to help the Bulls current re-building plans by giving them forward, Adam Payerl and three draft picks (2^nd, 3^rd and 8^th Round).

It is appropriate to say that the last time the Bulls picked a member from the championship Marlboros it turned out pretty good for the organization. Keep in mind that this time the Bulls are re-building with three members of a championship Marlboros team.

The Bulls are getting steady play from rookies, Michael Curtis and Steven Strong who already are showing signs of promise for the Bulls future plans. This week, the Bulls have called up Malcolm Subban to serve as a back-up goaltender while Philipp Grubauer is away at the World Junior “B” Pool Tournament and Tyson Teichmann is away at the Under-17 Championship Tournament. This will complete the reunion of the players; however, instead of wearing Marlboros blue and white they will be in the red, yellow and black of the Belleville Bulls.

Over the last five seasons, the Toronto Marlboros have won two OHL Cups, had fifty-six players drafted into the OHL, eight players NHL drafted and have two players currently in the NHL (John Tavares and Sam Gagner). Check out some of them below:

-Toronto Marlboros defeated the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs with a 5-1 win in the OHL Cup Championship

2009 OHL Draft (13 Toronto Marlboros Selected)

Round     Team       Player                           Results

1              NIA         Lucas Lessio                 43 points in 26 games with St. Michael’s Buzzers (U. of Michigan)

1              BAR        Ryan Strome                 10 points in 29 games with the Barrie Colts

1              SAR        Brett Ritchie                  11 points in 31 games with the Sarnia Sting

1              MISS       Stuart Percy                  8 points in 26 games with the Mississauga S.M. Majors

2              BLV        Michael Curtis               9 points in 32 games with the Belleville Bulls

4              BLV        Steven Strong                4 points in 32 games with the Belleville Bulls

4              GUE        Zach Mitchell                3 points in 26 games with the Guelph Storm

11            BLV        Malcolm Subban          Following Brother P.K. to the Belleville Bulls

-Toronto Marlboros lost the OHL Cup in the Championship Final to the Toronto Jr. Canadiens 5-2

2008 OHL Draft (11 Toronto Marlboros Selected)

Round     Team       Player                           Results

1              LND        Christian Thomas        2^nd OHL season with LND/OSH (29 Points this season)

1              NIA         Freddie Hamilton         2^nd Season with Niagara Ice Dogs (21 Points this season)

2              MISS       J.P. Anderson              2^nd Season with Mississauga Majors (Won Gold Medal Under-17)

5              LND        Adam Clendening       USA National Under-17 Team Defenseman

5              SAR        Nathan Chiarlitti           2^nd Season with Sarnia Sting (9 Points this season)

-Toronto Marlboros lost the OHL Cup in the Championship Final to the Mississauga Ice Dogs 2-1

2007 OHL Draft (10 Toronto Marlboros Selected)

Round     Team       Player                           Results

1              KNG       Ethan Werek                    2^nd Season with Kingston Frontenacs (NYR 2^nd Round Pick)

1              LND        Michael Zador                 3^rd OHL season with LND/OSH, General Starting Goaltender

5              OTT        Marc Zanetti                     3^rd Season with Ottawa 67’s (10 Points this season)

7              PBO        Ricky Buehler                  3 games with the Peterborough Petes this season

7              LND        Daniel Erlich                    3^rd Season with London Knights (22 Points this season)

8              KIT         Michael Catenacci           3^rd Season with Kitchener Rangers (13 Points this season)

2006 OHL Draft (9 Toronto Marlboros Selected)

Round     Team       Player                            Results

5              BAR        Corey Trivino                 Boston University Forward (NYI 2^nd Round Pick)

8              ERI          Robyn Sertic                 Former Erie Otter, played 68 OHL Games

-Toronto Marlboros defeated the London Jr. Knights with a 5-0 win in the OHL Cup Championship

2005 OHL Draft (13 Toronto Marlboros Selected Total)

Round     Team       Player                           Results

1              OSH        John Tavares                 All-Time Leader with 215 OHL Goals (1^st Overall Pick NHL Draft)

1              WSR        Akim Aliu                        4 OHL Season with WSR/SBY/LND (CHI 2^nd Round Pick)

1              MISS       Brendan Smith              U. of Wisconsin Defenseman (DET 1^st Round Pick)

1              BLV        Bryan Cameron             131 Goals as a Bull, Now a Barrie Colt (LA 3^rd Round Pick)

2              OTT        Pat Daley                         Peterborough Petes Forward in his 5^th OHL Season

3              OTT        Steven Tarasuk              London Knights Defenseman in his 5^th OHL Season

3              SBY         Justin Vaive                   Miami University of Ohio (ANA 2^nd Round Pick)

4              LND        Sam Gagner                   3^rd Season with Edmonton Oilers (107 NHL Points)

5              SAR        Cody Goloubef                U. of Wisconsin Defenseman (CBJ 2^nd Round Pick)

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January 1, 2008 was a day that changed the Belleville Bulls goaltending. That evening, Mike Murphy had his usual outstanding game in a 5-2 win over division rivals the Peterborough Petes. However, that is not the game that changed Bulls goaltending; it was a game played in London, Ontario that made the difference.

At the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, a heavily favored and undefeated Team USA faced Germany. On paper, the match-up looked like it was an easy confidence boost for the American team and a certain victory. The starting goaltender for Germany was Philipp Grubauer.

Grubauer was originally picked by the German team because of his history of playing at his best when it matters the most. In the previous season while playing with Rosenheim Under-18, Grubauer had the leagues best Goals Against Average (1.33) in the playoffs. Even at age sixteen, Grubauer had already developed a reputation for playing his best when it matters.

Germany got the first goal on a lucky break when a pass hit off an American defenseman’s skate and bounced into his own net. At that point, nobody thought that Germany would win after all it was just a lucky bounce. After two quick goals, Team USA regained the lead. That’s when Grubauer took his game to another level as he made save after save while his German teammates worked their way back into the game. By the end of regulation, Germany had completed one of the biggest upset wins in tournament history.

That night the player that all the fans were cheering for, scouts were talking about, was Philipp Grubauer with 42 saves. He stopped the Americans on all five of their power plays and won the game despite Germany being out shot 44-24.

That got the attention of many CHL scouts and General Managers, and luckily the Bulls had someone at the tournament. Bulls Assistant Coach, Jake Grimes had been named an Assistant on Team Ontario under Head Coach Jason Brooks (Guelph Storm Head Coach/GM). One of Coach Grimes duties was to scout teams that Team Ontario might face in future games.

Looking back, it would have been nice to have been a fly on the wall when George Burnett and Jake Grimes had conversations following the tournament. Whether the talks about Grubauer started then or later, it was enough for the Bulls select Grubauer with the 25^th overall pick in the 2008 CHL Import Draft. Grubauer was one of only three goaltenders taken in the Import Draft and the only one that was signed with the club that selected him.

In Grubauer’s first OHL season, he was expected to be a solid back-up for the leagues top goaltender, Mike Murphy. His season was highlighted by another surprising performance while playing for Germany.

At the World Junior Tournament when Germany was getting ready to play the biggest game of their tournament, they knew who to start. This time, there was a bigger spotlight for Grubauer. He would face eventual gold medal winner and host country Team Canada in a nationally televised game.

There was no upset win in the game against Canada, but once again there was a game star performance from Grubauer. This time, Germany was out shot 49-13; yet everyone was talking about the German Goaltender that made 45 saves.

This season, Grubauer was named the Bulls starting goaltender and his stellar play has been a bright spot in the Bulls line-up. With this opportunity, he has shown he has a natural ability to absorb rebounds, square up to shooters and his instincts on breakaways that has given the Bulls a solid last defense behind a group of young defencemen.

The month of December will be a big one for the Bulls goaltenders. Grubauer will again represent his county, this time at the World Junior “B” Division.

Bulls’ back-up goaltender Tyson Teichmann will have an opportunity to jump start his career at that very same Under-17 tournament where Philipp Grubauer first burst on to the hockey scene. He will play for Grimes, who is returning to the tournament with Team Ontario as the team’s head coach.

This season with Grubauer in net the Bulls have earned at least one point in 12 games either winning or forcing overtime/shootout. The Bulls were out shot in nine of those 12 games; including 48-13 shot differential in an overtime loss to the countries top team, the Windsor Spitfires.

With his ability to steal victories while his team is being out played I think it’s time for a new nickname; “Big Game” Grubauer.

Afterthought: Bulls defenceman Born Krupp was playing for the Americans against Germany (dual citizenship Germany/USA) at the 2008 Under-17 Tournament.

Photo: Aaron Bell/QuinteHockey.ca

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Andy Bathgate has recently become one of the hottest players in the OHL over the last three weeks. Prior to his production the Bulls were struggling to find secondary scoring support for Matt Tipoff, Shawn Lalonde and Stephen Silas and it is safe to say that Bathgate has become the solution to that problem.

Usually when the name Andy Bathgate comes up in conversation in nearly all hockey circles, they are talking about his Grandfather, the NHL Hall of Famer. This has never been an issue for the younger Andy Bathgate, most players like to talk about themselves and their own career; however, Andy is the opposite. Just Wednesday night in a post game interview, he was asked what his grandfather has taught him over the years. This instantly brought a huge smile to his face and he jokingly answered, “What hasn’t he taught me.” Afterward, he fondly began talking thoroughly about Andy Sr.’s influence.

Andy Bathgate has his place in hockey history. Although it has been 34 years since he last played professional hockey, his influence on the game is still obvious.

During his playing days, he was known for his graceful skating and with a powerful and accurate shot. Although Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion invented the slap shot, Bathgate perfected it. During his playing days, Andy was considered to have the second hardest shot in the NHL behind the pride of Belleville, Bobby Hull. Bathgate made the slap shot an offensive weapon coupled with his speed it allowed him to score 349 career NHL goals.

His innovations on the game didn’t stop there; On November 1, 1959, the New York Rangers Captain fired one of his laser shots off the face of then Montreal Canadiens goaltender, Jacques Plante. Plante left the ice for stitches and returned to the ice with the first ever goalie mask in hockey history.

After ten seasons with the Rangers, Bathgate was traded to the Maple Leafs where he battled knee injuries. Nevertheless, he was still the heart and soul of the 1964 Stanley Cup Champion team scoring timely goals, including the game winner in the final game to bring the Stanley Cup to the Leafs. There is no doubt that this Hall of Famer has left his mark on the game.

At this moment, it seems that the younger Bathgate is starting to make his mark on the hockey world. Andy is currently in a hot streak that has even the most seasoned fans saying they have never seen anything like this.

Leading up to this season Andy has only once had a multi-point game. Now suddenly, he has recorded three multi-point games in his last six played.

Back on November 7 (almost exactly 50 years after Andy “helped” invent the goalie mask), Andy scored the seventh fastest hat trick in OHL history. The historical natural hat trick came on three consecutive shots as the Bulls were trailing late in the game to his hometown team, the Brampton Battalion. The hat trick almost seemed like a gift to the Bulls faithful fans, the type of fans that don’t head for the parking lot when their team is down 2-0 with less than five minutes to play.

Over the last six games, the Belleville Bulls have scored 14 goals and Bathgate has either scored or assisted on 11 of those goals meaning he has been responsible for 79% of the team’s offense over that period.

It’s not just the fact that the young Bathgate has begun to score. Ironically, he has been doing exactly what his grandfather was known for; scoring important goals that have made the difference between winning and losing for his team.

In Mississauga on November 6, he assisted on the teams only two goals in a 5-2 loss. Against Brampton, he scored “the hat trick” in two minutes and twenty-three seconds, his third goal stole a win from the Battalion with just over a minute left to play. In Kingston, he scored the team’s only goal which at the time tied the game, before the Frontenacs went on to a 4-1 win. Against Niagara, Bathgate had probably his best game of his OHL career so far with a goal and three assists in a 5-2 victory. Once again, on Wednesday night when it looked like Ottawa had the game in hand, he scored a breakaway goal mid-way through the third period to force overtime; then he was only Bull to score in the shootout to give them an opportunity to win the game.

Those that have been following Andy Bathgate over the last couple of years are not surprised by this sudden offensive production. He looks like the same prospect that dominated AAA hockey while with the Brampton Jr. Battalion playing on a line with former-Bull, Tyler Randell. He is also playing the same as he did two years ago in his All-Star season with the Georgetown Raiders prior to coming to the OHL.

Until this point, we hadn’t been able to see the real Andy Bathgate in the OHL. Injuries and a large group of experience forwards ahead of him in the depth chart had either kept Andy on the bottom lines or out of the line-up. Now that those things are behind him, I think it’s safe to say he is now playing up to and beyond the expectations that come with his last name.

Consequently Bulls fans, for as long as Andy stays on this hot streak, you should sit back and enjoy because his on-ice accomplishments over the past month are the type of things that hockey fans only get to see about every twenty to thirty years (or at least until the next member of his family comes along).

Andy Bathgate will always be a part of hockey history and it looks like his grandson is ready to become a part of hockey present and future.

Photo: Aaron Bell/QuinteHockey.ca

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It’s no secret that this seasons Bulls are a young team, but how young are they? These Bulls, even with the addition of veteran forward Kyle DeCoste are still the youngest team in the OHL. The Bulls average age is 17.58 years old, roughly a few days younger than the Oshawa Generals at 17.67 years old. It’s obvious that both those teams are rebuilding after facing each other in the Conference finals just two seasons ago.

In the OHL usually the more experienced teams tend to have more success, yet the only team below Belleville in the conference standings the Ottawa 67’s are the third oldest team in the league. Take a look in the Western Conference, Guelph (second oldest) currently are in seventh place and Plymouth (fourth oldest) are just ahead of them in sixth place.

The last time the Bulls were one of the youngest teams in the league was the 2004-05 season, Head Coach and General Manager George Burnett’s first year with the Bulls. With that group of players Coach Burnett and his staff developed a young core into a championship caliber team.

So if the current Bulls have the same circumstances, with the same staff than isn’t that just like hitting a reset button? If you walked up to any Bulls fan and told them they could re-live the last few championship seasons all over again by pushing a reset button, don’t you think they would push that button without hesitation?

As younger players, the Bulls haven’t finished growing yet so they are little short, but how short are they? The Bulls 26 players are an average height of 182.23 cm (roughly 5 Feet 11 ¾ inches) which is just barely the shortest team in the OHL. If only the Bulls didn’t trade six foot tall Luke Pither to the Barrie Colts who is just slightly taller than Belleville. (Although the Colts other ex-Bull, Bryan Cameron is only 5 foot 10 so they would probably cancel each other out). The Colts are on average 182.71 cm tall, followed with the Erie Otters at 182.78 to round out the shortest teams in the league.

So if the Bulls are the shortest team, why are we not witnessing players losing races to lose pucks? Aren’t they losing a few inches of reach to teams that have average heights of 6’2? Why are we not seeing the Bulls lose those races when the opposition has a three or four inch head start?

Now that we’ve established that the 2009-10 Bulls are the youngest and also the shortest team in the league, it is almost an inevitable conclusion but yes, they are also the lightest team in the OHL.

Back-up goaltender, Tyson Teichmann is actually the second lightest player in the league just 1 kg more than fellow rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington of the Owen Sound Attack.

The Bulls tip the scale with a 177 pound average which actually makes them the lightest team by a large amount. The next smallest team is the Sarnia Sting, who weighed in with an average of 180 pounds per player. The three pound difference doesn’t sound like a lot but over their 27 players, it’s a difference of 81 pounds between Belleville and the next smallest, Sarnia; it’s almost like the Sting had a free eighth grader to throw around on the ice last Saturday in their 4-2 victory over the Bulls. What will happen when the Bulls line up against the OHL’s heaviest team, the Erie Otters who have a 384 pound advantage. Forget having an eighth Grader advantage, they have a free full sized Sumo Wrestler for those battles in the corners.

Doesn’t that make you wonder, why are we not seeing Bulls get muscled off the puck? How is it possible that they have been able to cycle the puck along the boards without getting pushed around by much heavier defensemen?

Now that we have looked over the numbers it’s pretty safe to say that those myths about too young, too short, too light for the OHL don’t make sense when it comes to the Bulls. The myths don’t make sense because you can’t measure the size of a player’s heart, desire and passion.

This young group has already battled through key injuries and possibly the worst flu bug that the OHL has ever seen on one team. In mid-October most team officials were estimating that as many as 15 of the teams 26 players were showing flu symptoms.

A famous saying in sports circles comes to mind, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” It seems so far this season that this saying can lend itself to other animals as well.

After all, it’s not the size of the Bull in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the Bull.

Photo: Aaron Bell/QuinteHockey.ca

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