Bradford Bulls (2012–)

Bradford Bulls
City Bradford, Ontario, Canada
League Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League
Division South
Founded 2012
Home arena Bob Fallis Sports Centre
Colours Dark Blue, yellow, and White
              
Owner(s) Bob Russell
General manager Michael Telford (2014-15)
Head coach Michael Telford (2014-15)

The Bradford Bulls are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team based in Bradford, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League.

History

The Bulls were announced on February 23, 2012 by the GMHL.[1] They are the namesake of the old Bradford Bulls Junior C team that which became the Bradford Rattlers. The Ratters and Bulls will play out of different arenas in Bradford, but will finally give the Rattlers a true geographical rival.

The Bradford Bulls first regular season game was on September 16, 2012 in Bradford, Ontario, Canada. The game was on the road against the cross town rivals the Bradford Rattlers. The game resulted in a 6-2 loss for the Bulls but the Bulls had its first goal in GMHL franchise history. The first goal was scored by #2 Clint Zumer and assisted by hometown boy #22 Justin Tucker.

On September 26, 2012, the Bulls would pick up their first ever franchise victory. The Bulls defeated the Lefroy Wave, at home, 9-7. Donald Oldreive made 41 saves to pick up the victory.[2]

On March 26, 2013, the Bradford Bulls won the GMHL playoffs in a 4-games-to-1 series victory against their hometown rival and defending champion Bradford Rattlers. The Bulls finished the regular season first place in the South Division, fourth overall and three points out of second. The faced the Knights of Meaford in the first round and swept them 3-games-to-none. In the second round, they swept territorial rival Alliston Coyotes 3-games-to-none. Instead of a division final, the league elected to do a divisional crossover and the Bulls had to face the second seed from the North, the Temiscaming Royals. The Bulls took the series in a four game sweep and were set to face the Rattlers in a "Sidewalk Series" as they knocked off the first seeded Seguin Huskies. Although the Rattlers gave the Bulls their only loss of the playoffs, it was not nearly enough as the Bulls took their first league title in two years of existence.

Season-by-Season Standings

Season GP W L T OTL GF GA P Results Playoffs
2012-13 42 20 20 0 2 182 195 42 8th GMHL Lost Division Semi-final
2013-14 42 32 6 - 4 226 109 68 4th GMHL Won League
2014-15 42 12 29 - 1 144 221 25 5th SC Div - 15th GMHL Lost Conference Elimination
2015-16 42 25 13 0 4 226 168 54 4th C Div - 12th GMHL Lost Div. Quarterfinal, 3-0 (Riverkings)

Playoffs

Bradford Bulls defeated Toronto Canada Moose 3-games-to-1 in division quarter-final
Orangeville Americans defeated Bradford Bulls 3-games-to-1 in division semi-final
Bradford Bulls defeated Knights of Meaford 3-games-to-none in division quarter-final
Bradford Bulls defeated Alliston Coyotes 3-games-to-none in division semi-final
Bradford Bulls defeated Temiscaming Titans 4-games-to-none in crossover series
Bradford Bulls defeated Bradford Rattlers 4-games-to-1 in final Russell Cup Champions
Orangeville Americans defeated Bradford Bulls 6-5 (game) in Conference Elimination Round 1

League award winners

An annual award "to the player who is adjudged the most valuable player (MVP) in the regular season"
  • Finland Tomi Taavitsainen 2014
An annual award "to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the GMHL"
  • United States Zan Hobbs 2015
  • Russia Sergey Bolshakov 2014
  • Canada Devon Gillham 2013
An annual award "to the forward who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest ability at the position"
  • Finland Tomi Taavitsainen 2014
An annual award "to the goaltender adjudged to be the best at his position"
  • Russia Sergey Bolshakov 2014

Notable alumni

Team Captains

References

  1. http://www.bradfordbulls.ca/news/bulls_join_gmhl.html
  2. http://gmhl.net/wrapper/game.php?game_id=99518

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 23, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.