Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

At The Dawn Of A New Season- The moment we’ve all waited for for the last seven and a half months has finally arrived. The Puck drops Saturday as the NHL embarks on a lockout shorted 48 game campaign for the 2012-13 season. With the season being shorter, this could open the field up and create quite the race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs which start over 100 days from now. For all intensive purposes the abbreviated season created a it’s own tournament with all interconference games and teams jockeying for position to get to the final eight of their conference by the end of play on April 27th.

In Monday’s column I took a look at the Pacific Division and how it could shape up for this short season. I based the picks more on a feeling that I get for each team and how they should do. I will do the same for the Western Conference teams in the Northwest and Central Divisions. With 48 games, each team has a possible 96 points and I use a projected point total to gage how a specific team may do. For example (and also to recap my Pacific Division outlook), I projected the LA Kings to finish first in the Pacific Division with 76 points, followed by the Sharks with 65 points. Third was Phoenix with 62 points, followed by Dallas (58) and Anaheim (57). We’ll also look briefly at the Eastern Conference even though there are no interconference games this season. Let’s have a look at the two other Divisions in the Western Conference (projected points in parenthesis.

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Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-US PRESSWIRE

No Bull, San Francisco Bulls Are A Hit- The San Francisco Bulls opened their inaugural campaign this weekend in splitting two games with the Bakersfield Condors at the Cow Palace on Friday and Saturday. The Bulls dropped their opener 4-3, but came back the following night to handle the Condors 6-5. The opening night crowd of 8,277 witnessed the first professional hockey game played at the Cow Palace in 16 years. The Bulls Dean Ouellet scored the first goal in franchise history at 16:01 of the first period to tie the game at 1-1. Bakersfield would retake the lead late in the first period and eventually stretch the lead to 4-1 before the Bulls scored two goals in the third period to draw with one. Goals from Kevin Baker and Sacha Guimond cut the Condors lead to 4-3, however the Bulls could never find that tying goal they needed before time expired. Baker, Ouellet and Guimond goals were their first as professionals. Bulls goalie Thomas Heemskerk made 31 saves.

The following night the Bulls won their first game in franchise history before a smaller crowd of 3,659. The Bulls got the jump on Bakersfield as Kevin Baker scored on a break away goal just over four minutes into the game. Dean Ouellet, Matt Carter, Justin Bowers and Thomas Beauregard all scored in the second period as the Bulls jumped out to a 5-3 lead. The Bulls also had a 29-13 shot lead through the first two periods. Sacha Guimond scored early in the final period to give the Bulls a three goal lead which they held on to despite two late power play goals by the Condors. The Bulls now face the challenge of an early season nine game road trip before returning home to the Cow Palace on November 9th. The Bulls next game is in the Inland Empire city of Ontario as they take on the Ontario Reign Wednesday Night before moving on to Bakersfield for a two game set and rematch with the Condors.

The San Francisco Bulls won’t replace the San Jose Sharks, nor is that their intent. However the Bulls right now are playing hockey and there are no guarantees as to how long the NHL Lockout will continue. The Bulls provide a decent alternative in an established professional league that will prove to be entertaining for the fans, and a good place for the Sharks to scout prospects. For many of the players in this league a good number of them may or may not make the NHL. At the same time they are always going to give you 100 percent effort and will leave it all on the ice each and every night. That’s all you can ask of these players, and the games as the result are often times better and extremely entertaining for the fans. If you are able to, you should make it a point to go out and support the San Francisco Bulls, lockout or not.

Worcester Sharks Season is Underway- As for the Worcester Sharks, they opened the season with two losses in Norfolk versus the Admirals over the weekend. On Friday, the Sharks got goals from Travis Oleksuk and Sebastian Stalberg but it would not be enough as Norfolk scored two third period goals to take the opener 4-2. Alex Staylock made 21 saves in over 58 minutes. The following night the Sharks lost a 4-3 decision to the Admirals as the game was decided in a shootout. Yanni Gourde and James Sheppard scored in the first period. With Worcester trailing 3-2 in the third period Matt Tennyson’s goal tied the game and send the contest to overtime and ultimately a shootout. Harri Sateri made 25 saves in 65 minutes in the AHL Sharks net. The Sharks next game is Friday, October 19th against the Portland (Maine) Pirates. The home opener is Saturday Night against the Albany Devils.

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