ECHL Colorado Eagles

Bulls Take Back & Forth Battle, 5-4, in Shootout

February 28, 2013 - ECHL (ECHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The San Francisco Bulls defeated the Colorado Eagles, 5-4, in a back-and-forth game that took a shootout to decide. For the short-benched Eagles (playing with just 13 skaters), the overtime loss gave them a point in each game of the completed four-game home stand in which they earned six of eight possible points, before they take off on a seven-game road trip.

Colorado got on the board first when Collin Bowman -- who had a shot ring off the post four minutes in -- had another shot from the right point redirected by Steve Haddon in the low slot at 12:52. San Francisco countered on a rush less than two minutes later when Yanni Gourde's centering pass from the left wing made its way all the to the right wing where Bryan Cameron was able to throw it into the net as Kyle Jones couldn't make it all the way across the goal in time.

The teams continued to trade goals throughout the second period. Colorado went back on top two minutes in -- just eight seconds into their first power play of the night -- when Trent Daavettila laced a shot from the point past Thomas Heemskerk. The Bulls answered four and a half minutes later when Christian Ouellet tucked the puck inside the left post on a shorthanded, 2-on-1 rush.

Colorado nearly went back on top 11 minutes into the second period when Ray Kaunisto rung his own shorthanded shot off the post, then the Bulls nearly scored when the play went to the other end of the ice, except that Isaac Smeltzer swept the puck off the goal line behind the Eagles' netminder.

Then at 17:36 of the second, Bowman picked up the puck inside the offensive blue line, performed a toe-drag around a defender to position himself in the high slot, skated down between the circles and beat Heemskerk, blocker side, to cap off the silky-smooth stickhandling.

But it took less than a minute for San Francisco to answer again, knotting the game up at 3 prior to the third period. The puck was tied up for an extended period behind the Eagles' net, deep in the zone, before being freed up and worked to a wide open Simon Danis-Pepin at the point. The 6-foot-7-inch blueliner sent the puck on net and had it deflect past Jones.

Kyle Ostrow put Colorado back on top once more six and a half minutes into the third period when he came out from behind the Bulls' cage and roofed a back-hander to make it 4-3. But 10 minutes later the Bulls tied things up again when Peter Sivak threw a bad-angle shot on net from the left wing boards.

With the game knotted up at four, the game went to a tightly-contested overtime period that saw each team register three shots, but neither found the back of the net. And in the shootout, Dean Ouellet was the only one of five Bulls shooters to beat Jones, while Heemskerk shutout the five Eagles shooters he faced.

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ECHL Stories from February 28, 2013


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