For the second straight season the Bradford Bulls entered the South Division Finals against the North York Renegades, this season though the Bulls had a chip on their shoulder.

After looking like one of the strongest teams in the South last season the Bulls met up with the Renegades where North York unfortunately made short work of Bradford, sweeping the Bulls on the way to the Russell Cup National Championship.

The Bulls had a long offseason to think about what happened, and it wouldn’t happen again.

Entering this season the Bulls wanted to establish their dominance in the South Division and did just that, despite finishing second in the South Division standings they were the #1 team against South Division teams in terms of winning percentage winning 21 out of 22 matchups against South Division opponents including 3 of 4 regular season matchups against those same Renegades.

All signs pointed towards this Bulls team making a push for the Cup, during the regular season they had a balanced attack led by the trio of 50+ Point Scorers Kaden Laverdiere (65, on route to a South Division MVP Nomination), Tyler Bortkiewicz (56) and Linus Callenvik (51). There Blue line was led by one of the most talented defensemen in the league as their Captain Zach Correia set a tone each night that made it easy for the team to follow him. In the pipes the Bulls put their expectations on the shoulders of a somewhat unproven goaltender named John Delaney, and did he ever deliver. Delaney Led the league in Wins, setting a new franchise record with 20 in the regular season, he also led the South Division in total Saves with 1034.

This time when the Bulls met the Renegades, they were ready quickly going up 2-0 in the series, before dropping game 3. That would be as close as the Renegades would get though as the Bulls would win the next 2 games to claim the South Division Title and head to the Russell Cup Finals for the first time since 2014 when they defeated they defeated the Bradford Rattlers.

The same Rattlers they face in the finals this season.

Will the momentum of a near perfect playoffs be enough for the Bulls to bring home their second Russell Cup title? Tune in to find out.

HOW THEY GOT TO THE RUSSELL CUP FINALS

South Division Playoffs

1^st Round: defeated Northumberland 2-0 (6-1, 5-3)

North Division Semi-Finals: defeated Durham 3-0 (6-3, 8-4, 6-0)

North Division Finals: defeated North York 4-1 (6-2, 3-2 OT, 2-6, 7-2, 5-3)

Player Information:

Average Age: 19.03 Years (4^th youngest out of 15 teams in the GMHL)

Average Height: 182.97cm (Tallest out of 15 teams in the GMHL)

Average Weight: 175 Lbs (7^th lightest out of 15 teams in GMHL)

Regular Season:

Record (W-L-OTL): 26-16-0 (2^nd in South Division, 5^th in GMHL)

Goals for: 294 (2^nd in South Division, 7^th in GMHL)

Goals against: 161 (T-3^rd in South Division, T-7^th in GMHL)

Power play: 38 out of 259 (14.7%, 3^rd in South Division, 7^th in GMHL)

Penalty killing: 215 of 245 (87.8%, 4^th in South Division, 4^th in GMHL)

Longest winning streak: 5 (Sept 20^th to Oct 4^th)

Top 3 scorers:

• Kaden Laverdiere – 24G 41A 65P (3^rd in South Divison, 15^thin GMHL)

• Tyler Bortkiewicz – 18G 38A 56P (6^th in South Division and 21^st in GMHL)

• Linus Callenvik – 25G 26A 51P (10^th in South Division and 28^th in GMHL)

Award Winners:

GMHL South Division Coach of the Year Curtis Warren

GMHL South Division Defenseman of the Year Zach Correia

GMHL South Division MVP Runner-Up Kaden Laverdiere

GMHL South Division Goalie of the Year Runner-Up John Delaney

GMHL South Division Most Sportsmanlike Runner-Up Dylan Bauer

PLAYOFFS

Record: 9-1

Goals for: 54

Goals against: 24

Top 3 scorers:

• Jacob Gilbert – 10G 16A 26P

• Linus Callenvik– 10G 9A 19P

• Tyler Bortkiewicz – 7G 12A 19P

RUSSELL CUP CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

Second Appearance (Previously in 2014)

One Russell Cup Championship (2014)

GMHL Power Rankings

November – 7^th

December – 4^th

January – 3^rd

February – 6^th