The Belleville Bulls can take some solace in putting together a tremendous effort. Unfortunately it won’t help in their desperate hunt for as many points as they can muster in the final stretch of the regular season.
Adam Comrie scored the winning goal with 1:15 left in the third period to push the Guelph Storm to a 5-4 win over the Bulls at Yardmen Arena on Saturday.
The Bulls battled back from a two-goal deficit late in the third period and then thought they tied the game with the goalie on the bench for an extra attacker but the goal was hit with a high stick and disallowed. It was the Bulls third straight loss.
After a scoreless first period, Carter Sandlak opened the scoring for the Storm with a powerplay goal early in the second period and then Mathew Sisca padded Guelph’s lead just 32 seconds later. Jan Kaminsky put the Bulls on the board with his first OHL goal less than a minute later but Francis Menard restored Guelph’s two-goal lead midway through the period. Kyle DeCoste put in his 16th of the season before the middle frame expired.
Peter Holland pushed Guelph’s lead back to two in the third period before Shawn Lalonde and Richard Panik counted a little more than a minute apart to tie the game at four.
Adam Comrie put Guelph ahead a again when his snapshot from the point eluded Bulls’ netminder Anthony Peters’ glove hand.
The Bulls pressed in the closing seconds with Peters on the bench for an extra attacker and thought they tied the game in the final minute but video replay revealed that the puck was knocked in by Adam Payerl with a high stick and disallowed.
Peters made 18 saves in the loss and was replaced early in the second period by rookie Tyson Teichmann, who stopped four of the five shots he faced. Peters was back in the Bulls’ net to start the third period.
DeCoste and Stephen Silas each had a pair of assists for the Bulls, who were scoreless on five powerplay chances. Guelph converted one of three chances with the man-advantage.
The Bulls slipped to 16-29-1-6 and are now eight points out of a playoff berth with 16 games left in the regular season. They host the Ottawa 67’s on Wednesday (7:05 p.m. on TV Cogeco and AM 800 CJBQ).
Photo: Aaron Bell/QuinteHockey.ca
