By Aaron Bell
Eric Tangradi wants to lead by example and with his performance in leading the Belleville Bulls to a Game 4 win over the Niagara IceDogs that is exactly what he’s doing.
Tangradi scored four goals and added an assist to lift the Bulls to a 5-2 win over the IceDogs in St. Catharines on Tuesday. The win gives the Bulls a 3-1 lead in the series after goalie Jeremy Smith made a 50-save performance to steal a 2-0 win for the IceDogs in Belleville on Sunday.
“I guess I had the hot hand tonight,” Tangradi said. “I just wanted to work hard and get pucks to the net. We knew we had to test Smith tonight and that’s what we tried to do.”
Tangradi said that the pressure was on the Bulls’ top players to find a way to put pucks past Smith after his human highlight-reel performance on Sunday.
“We just tried to get traffic in front of him,” said Tangradi, who moved into a tie for the playoff scoring lead with Dale Mitchell of the Windsor Spitfires. “A couple of my goals I just tried to use the defenceman as a screen on the rush. On the powerplay we just went hard to the blue paint and it worked out well for us.”
Tangradi is no stranger to playoff success. As an OHL rookie, he had a breakout post-season with eight goals and 17 points in 15 games that helped the Bulls advance to the Eastern Conference championship. Last year, he scored seven goals and 18 points in 21 games, helping the Bulls get to Game 7 in the OHL Championship Series. He has eight goals and 18 points in 10 games this year and Bulls’ Coach and GM George Burnett challenged his leaders to take control of Game 4.
“I think it’s important that we are able to seize back some of the momentum that might have fallen in their favour the other night,” Burnett said before the game on Tuesday. “I think our top guys are anxious to get back in the game and lead our team to what may be our biggest game in the series to date.”
The Bulls could wrap up the series on home ice on Thursday to make their third straight appearance in the Rogers Eastern Conference Championship Series.
“We want to keep the intensity that we had tonight,” Tangradi said. “We know they are different buildings but we want to play the same system and same team game and things will be OK for us.”
Wallen scores big marker:
The left winger for the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors missed three months after suffering a brain aneurysm in October and wasn’t sure that he would ever get to play again. But the speedy forward returned to the Majors’ lineup in January and on Tuesday he capitalized on a powerplay in overtime to score the game-winning goal in a 4-3 win over the Brampton Battalion.
The goal gave the Majors a 2-2 tie in their Eastern Conference playoff matchup against the favoured Battalion.
“It’s the best kind of goal to score,” Wallen told The Mississauga News. “That kind of goal means so much for the team because you win. We have a lot of energy right now. We’re in a zone.”
Tavares helps special cause:
London Knights’ star John Tavares was at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto recently to support the Merry Go Round Children's Foundation and the Kids, Cops, and Computers program.
Tavares, who became the OHL’s all-time leading goal scorer last month, helped auction off one of his Team Canada jerseys from the World Junior Hockey Championships.
“We were delighted to have John Tavares attend the Merry Go Round Children’s Foundation 5th Annual Hockey Hall of Fame Mixer,” said G Scott Paterson, Chairman of the Merry Go Round Children’s Foundation. “John’s attendance was very well received by our 400 guests and he was able to spend time with a young Merry Go Round recipient who explained to him how she benefited from our Kids, Cops and Computer Program.”
Tavares was one of several local Sports Celebrities that were on hand for the event, which raised more than $100,000 for the Merry Go Round Foundation.
The Merry Go Round Children's Foundation is a Toronto, Ontario-based charity whose mission is to level the playing field for children by donating complete state-of-the-art home computer systems, including internet access to those children who are observed by teachers to embody a passion for learning and the potential to excel academically if given more opportunity.
