Despite outshooting Colorado with 4,279 roaring fans surrounding them, the Bulls stumbled to a 3-1 loss Saturday night.
COW PALACE — All of you out there in Readerland don’t need me to tell you that losses are never easy. Or fun, for that matter. Particularly when they happen at home two nights in a row.
Such was the case at the Cow Palace Saturday night.
Despite outshooting the opposition and having the roar of 4,279 fans surrounding them, the San Francisco Bulls fell to the Colorado Eagles 3-1.
The visiting Eagles completed a two-game weekend sweep of the Bulls after going 0-6-1-1 on the road heading into the weekend series.
Saturday night’s matchup started much like Friday’s, with fists flying. Simon Danis-Pepin and Jamie Devane would pick up fighting majors in a scoreless first period that saw the Bulls outshoot Colorado, 10-6.
The Eagles would eventually solve Thomas Heemskerk with a goal at 10:02 in the second period by forward Kevin Ulanski, with assistance from forward Riley Nelson. The period would end with a score of 1-0, with the Bulls still outshooting the Eagles 20-18.
Colorado’s Jack Combs would score at the start of the third period to give the Eagles the 2-0 advantage. What followed was a slashing and game misconduct call on Colorado’s Jake Marto after a move that looked as though it might have taken out Marek Viedensky’s knee.
As if on a redemption run, right wing Peter Sivak scored the Bulls first goal of the night — with help from Sacha Guimond and Dean Ouellet — to put the home team on the board 2-1 with 52 seconds left in regulation.
San Francisco seemed to have picked up momentum, but a last-minute choice to pull the goalie would prove fatal. With help from Chad Costello, Combs would slide the Eagles’ third goal into the Bulls’ empty net with a mere four seconds left in the game.
Looking on the bright side, the Bulls will have four days off and play their next game at home, a change to the multitude of road series that have dominated their schedule this season. Assistant coach Kyle Paige said of the upcoming schedule:
“It’ll be nice to be at home and have a normal practice schedule for more than two games at the time. . . The guys will get a day off to rest, and then practice as usual.”
The Bulls return to the ice Thursday, December 13 against division rival Stockton Thunder. The puck drops at 7:15 p.m.
