It seems like only yesterday the Bullets were hoisting the cup for the Mason Dixon Championship. But it is a new season and the Bullets have a bunch of new faces. So it seems only fitting that the Bullets begin the 08-09 season where they left off in 07-08, at the Hershey Park arena.

The Bullets kicked off their season against Shippensburg University, a team who had already played four games so far in their season. This would be a good test to see how the Bullets would play together with all their new players. Playing at the historical Herhsey Park arena, never felt more like old time hockey then it did this night. Not only did both teams get the ambiance of the historic building, but the warm September tempature caused the rink to produce a thick fog, as if playing on an old pond.

The game started slowly for the new Gburg team. They were all trying to get their bearings as this was the first time some of the players had played in a game with one another. However, Gettysburg had their chances, as did Shippensburg but neither team could capitalize. It was late in the first as the fog was starting to get thick, a Shippensburg forward broke in behind the Gburg defense, and although newcomer Brad Zanoni stopped the player from scoring, the Shippensburg player was awarded a penalty shot. The player scored on the shot past Senior goaltender Cory Waldron and the Bullets ended the period down by one.

This was not the start Gettysburg was hoping for. They had to learn quickly to play as a team and to start capitalizing on some of their chances. They seemed to do just that as 40 seconds in to the period captain Phil Deyette ripped a shot past the Ship goaltender with assists from Junior Ryan Flanagan and Sophomore Eddie Rupp. Minutes later the Bullets were awarded a powerplay, and this time Flanagan blew a shot past the goaltender with assists from freshmen Grahm Harkins and Peter Nason. The Bullets were not done on the powerplay as they were awarded another one minutes later it was newcomer Kal Decato who banged home a rebound on a shot from Flanagan.

Special team success continued for the Bullets as they were killing a penalty midway through the second and Junior Mark Bouchard stole the puck, took a quick shot, and senior Tom Swon picked up the rebound and ripped a shot past the goaltender. With time winding down in the period the Bullets were enjoying their 4-1 lead, when Flanagan blasted his second of the night. Finally at the end of the period Gettysburg was once again on the powerplay, senior Dave Frascarelli banged home a shot on the goal line giving Gettysburg a comfortable 6-1 lead.

The final period started with the Bullets feeling confident about their 6-1 lead. Perhaps, too confident as they began to take penalties, and Ship capitalized three times on the powerplay past new Gburg goaltender Pete Dawson. With the fog getting thicker and thicker, the Bullets had to dig down to get back on track. They did just that as Flanagan and Deyette fed a pass to Harkins who blasted it pass the goaltender to give them a three goal lead. And that lead would be enough as the Bullets won their first game of the season 7-4.

Goaltender Cory Waldron stopped 14 shots as Dawson stopped 18 on the night, both standing strong giving Gburg their first win of the year. The Bullets face the tough MDCHA opponent Bucknell next Friday for their home opener at York. We would like to thank all our fans that made the trip to the game and hope to see you again.

Pictures coming soon to the Media Page