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Exciting Stuff for Young Bulls
Matt Luff with the puck from his first goal as a Belleville Bull.
Last Wednesday night, Matt Luff walked into a local restaurant and dropped a puck on the table in front of his mother. Not just any puck, mind you, but a most significant puck. It was his first goal as a Belleville Bull in the Ontario Hockey League. Details of the event are always marked on the side of the puck by training staff, after it is taped. You will find the same procedure takes place in all arenas after significant goal-scoring takes place.
Luff earned the honour of being selected as the second star of the game. On Saturday night, he was again selected as the second star. He had another goal and two assists in that game. With six points, he is tied for third in the league in rookie scoring. He realizes that it is a team game, and that he needs to contribute wherever necessary.
Going into Saturday night ’s game, the Bulls could brag about the fact they had the best goaltender in the OHL. Charlie Graham has been outstanding. He has a .962 save percentage, and a goals against average of 1.20—remarkable statistics for a Junior goalie. Graham stopped pucks in the Wellington Dukes cage before getting the call up to Belleville a couple of years ago. He has won all six of the games he has started this year.
Grimes before Saturday’s game. “Granted, we are playing really well at this time,” he told me. “Maybe a little better than expected. But I do believe that we can and will play better. And we are getting great goaltending.” Grimes patrols the bench along with Bellevillian Jason Supryka, assistants to George Burnett, the coach and general manager.
Last year was not a banner year for the Bulls. They missed the playoffs, and then spent the summer regrouping. It appears they made some good decisions, based on the results thus far. Another former Duke, Jake Marchment, is the team captain. He scored his first goal of the season Saturday night. At the 12-minute mark of the first period, the Bulls had scored four times on nine shots. A goalie change for the Niagara Ice Dogs stemmed the tide to some extent; nonetheless, the Bulls went on to win 8-5.
There were a lot of empty seats at the Yardmen Arena. I know there are a lot of bandwagon fans in the area, and they will start to come out soon. Rest assured, the boys can use fan support at any time in the season. I still believe that Cogeco TV coverage and radio coverage of the game does affect the number of fans in the seats, perhaps even more so in the colder weather.
The Ice Dogs had seven drafted players in their lineup whereas only three Bulls have been drafted: Marchment (Los Angeles Kings), Jordan Subban (Vancouver), and Remi Elie (Dallas).
After Wednesday’s game, coach Burnett summarized the efforts of Luff and Brandon Saigeon. “They’re playing good, sound minutes for us, so we are certainly pleased with where really all of our young players are at. But like our team, they have to continue to try and get better each and every day.”
The Bulls travel to Niagara for a game Thursday night, then head back home to play Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday, followed by Sarnia on Sunday. These early season trips have always been historically tough for the Bulls. I will follow them via radio, this time around.
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