Bulls Dismantle Titans; Streak at Seven

The Bradford Bulls demolished the unbeaten Temiscaming Titans 7-2 in GMHL action on Wednesday night at the Bob Fallis Arena, in Bradford. The Titans were sporting an intimidating 6-0-0 record going into last night's contest, but they were no match for the resilient Bulls -- which continue to lead the GMHL with a 7-0-1 record after the opening eight games of the 2013-14 season.

Giving up the first goal of the game has been a trend for the Bulls this season. It was no different last night. The Titans drew first blood twenty-eight seconds into the first period as 21 year-old defenseman Chris Levesque notched his second goal of the season while Bradford's Stephen Heape was serving a bench minor. The Bulls responded rather quickly, when Jacob Bauchman collected his team-leading tenth goal of the season at 1:18 of the period. The score would remain tied until 18:49, when Phoenix-native Daniel Gowans earned his first goal as a Bradford Bull on the powerplay, just 19 seconds after Temiscaming blueliner Ashton Haley was sent to the sin bin for slashing. The Bulls carried a 2-1 lead into the second period.

Bradford strengthened their lead at 5:34 of the second when Nikita Litviak scored his third goal of the season. Litviak would add another at the 16:22 mark to give the Bulls a commanding 4-2 lead going into the third period. Scarborugh- native Cory Evelyn tallied the only goal for the Titans in the second period.

In the third period, the Bulls began to take complete control over the game. Bradford scored three unanswered goals in the final frame, one of which was Nikita Litviak's third of the game. Litviak was named as the game's first star.

Savitsky had scored the Bulls' sixth goal and 17 year-old defenseman Sergey Shchenkov scored an unassisted marker at 13:38 to soundly end the Titan's reign.

Bradford goalie Sergey Bolshakov stopped 36 shots to collect his fifth win of the young season. The Russian-born import has been one of the biggest impact players for the Bulls this season as he was named Bradford's ' Bull of the Month' earlier this week. Titans netminder Jonathan Goulet  turned aside 35 shots, but the headlining story was Litviak's first hat-trick as a Bradford Bull. The 18 year-old was imported straight from Moscow, Russia alongside goaltender Bolshakov this off-season.

The Bulls now have a solid lead over the other nineteen teams in the GMHL standings with an impeccable 7-0-1 record. Bradford will host the Alliston Coyotes next Wednesday at Bob Fallis Arena as the team looks to move an inch closer to a ten game unbeaten streak. The puck drop is at 8:00p.m.

Stefan Spiroff, Bradford Bulls