 Event Spotlight:
Bullies Use Captain Rivard To Defeat Renegades
Monday, February 18, 2002
By Boog Williams
SJSports Staff Writer
It was Kinko's Kids Day at the Mall and the 4,789 fans in attendance enjoyed a 4-3 win. The first 1000 kids (14 and younger) received the inaugural set of Boardwalk Bullies trading cards, were treated to special events and giveaways in the concourse, and were invited to a post game skate with the Bullies players. All this in addition to the regular lineup of between period fan activities.
After playing four games in five nights, the Bullies needed to increase their lead for the final spot for the playoffs in the Northern Conference of the ECHL. The Captain of the Bullies, Stefan Rivard, had three assists and a goal to lead the Bullies to the win. This game gave them a four point swing. The Bullies increased their lead to nine points over the Richmond Renegades. The win also moved the Bullies into a three-way tie for second place in the Northeast Division with Roanoke and Charlotte. They are now only 12 points behind the Trenton Titans.
 In the first period, Bullies Shane Belter, scored the first goal of the game with assists going to Rivard and Vratislav Cech. The second goal for the Bullies was a power play goal scored by J.F Caudron. Richmond's Aaron Fox was in the box for high sticking while Caudron scored, with assists going to Jamie O'Leary and Rivard.
In the second period, the Bullies used another power play to increase their lead to 3-0. The goal was scored by Cech with an assist to Luke Curtin and in his third assist of the game, Rivard. With less than two minutes in the period, the Renegades scored on a goal by Garrett Prosofsky, with the only assist going to Dan Vandermeer. The period ended with the Bullies leading 3-1.
In the final period, the Bullies gained back their three goal lead on a goal by Rivard. The Captain was assisted by Scott Matzka and Curtin. With about 12 minutes left in the game, Richmond's Steven Dumonski started to throw his weight around to give a spark to the Renegades. Dumonski squared off against the Bullies Daniel Lacroix and won the fight. The Renegades scored almost 2 minutes later to make it 4-2. The goal was scored by Jerry Gernander, with an assist to Prosofsky. Bullies goalie, Shawn Degagne, didn't even see the shot as it went by. The last goal by the Renegades was scored with 37 seconds left on a rebound. Lars Petterson scored the goal with assists to Prosofsky and Mike Siklenka. Bullies goalie, Degagne, faced 34 shots, made 31 saves, and improved his record to 13-8-4-1.
After the game the players were on the ice with the fans for a skate around. The players were available to both talk to the fans and give autographs, which made the fans who stayed around very happy.
Photos by Gregg Williams
                          
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