A total of 26 games played, eight goals, 15 points and a +/- rating of +6. Those are the career stats of Shane Bulitka against the North Bay Battalion. But on January 26th, 2020, Bultika scored a goal at Memorial Gardens and the fans cheered.
“It’s definitely a nice thing to hear. I’ve scored in this building before, I’ve always found this building a fun one to play in, but a different feeling for sure scoring for the home team,” says Bulitka.
The fans cheered because Bultika was wearing the appropriate jersey of the North Bay Battalion; the team whose jersey he will wear to finish out his Ontario Hockey League career. After playing for four seasons with the arch-rival Sudbury Wolves, the overage Bulitka found himself leaving the Nickle City for the Gateway City at this years OHL trade deadline.
“I was surprised,” says Bulitka upon finding out about the trade. “I was in the gym in Sudbury, we had a game that night. I got pulled out of the gym and was told to go to the GM’s office and that’s when they told me I had been traded.”
“It was mixed emotions for sure because I had been in Sudbury for so long, but I was excited to come to North Bay and get a lot of ice time.”
After watching Bulitka over the last few weekends, that talk of being excited to be here is genuine.
Here’s a guy who was finally a part of a team that was in a playoff position with their sights set on a deep run into the post-season. After three and a half years of playing on teams that were bad to mediocre to finally getting back to the top of the division last year, the thinking was that as one of the overage players, Bulitka would get to finish his career with the team he started it with.
Those plans would not fall in to place and not only would Bulitka find himself moving away from Sudbury but going to a team very much on the outside of the playoff picture. But Bulitka has taken the transition in stride according to Battalion Head Coach Ryan Oulahen.
He says, “All the applause goes to him because he has handled this like a pro. He just loves the game of hockey and he loves getting better everyday. He brings his work ethic and comes ready to compete.”
It’s not just on the ice that Bulitka shows how valuable he can be to a team, but Oulahen says the young core of the Battalion are following his lead off the ice as well.
He says, “I think he’s going to be a sneaky little benefit for our young group to watch him every single day to see how he goes about his business. What we’ve noticed from him is the constant professionalism that he brings. He does not stop, in games and in practices, he is really a driving force. We absolutely love everything that he has brought because it’s not easy. It could not have been an easy situation for him.”
The news of the trade caught a lot of people off guard when it was announced that he was heading to the Battalion and Troops Captain Brad Chenier was going the other way. I received a text minutes after it was announced by a source in the Sudbury organization who simply said, “I’m in total disbelief. Bully (his nickname) was a heart and soul guy. It’s going to be tough to break the news to the rest of the team.”
When the Wolves came to North Bay on January 23rd, 13 days after the trade, our ice level reporter on Country-600 Derek Lindemann asked Wolves Captain Macauley Carson about the trade and he responded with, “me and Shane got drafted to Sudbury together and I’ve been through the trenches with him. It’s really sad losing a guy like that. What he did for our team and the city of Sudbury, he’s one of the best guys I’ve ever been around. Hard to replace a guy like that. Great to get a quality guy like Chenier, he’s been awesome for us but it’s a little tough to lose a good friend like Shane.”
For a player to be that candid in the middle of a game shows the type of impact Bulitka had on his former teammates.
Bulitka says, “we had such a tight-knit group and we basically grew up playing together and developed together and then to be traded at the deadline was a different feeling. And then having to play against them right away was a bit of a shock.”
He was such an important part of the organization that in his first game back in Sudbury he was honoured during a pregame ceremony and presented with a Wolves jersey by Team Owner Dario Zulich.
“It was really nice gesture by them. Dario Zulich has done a lot for that organization and it was nice to be recognized by him and the fans,” says Bulitka.
“Just seeing how the year was progressing there was a lot of interest out there in Brad Chenier,” said General Manager Adam Dennis at the time of the trade. “The only way we could get a deal like that done was by bringing in a quality piece like Shane Bulitka. He brings a lot of the same leadership and captain type qualities that Chenier did and I think he’s going to become a fan favourite over the next few months here in North Bay.”
It really is too bad that Bulitka will only be a part of the organization for such a short time as he’s fully understood the reasoning for the trade and what is expected of him with being one of two overage players on the roster. He says, “I just want to do whatever I can to help the team win games.”
“I didn’t know anybody on the team when I first came in and my linemates (Luke Moncada and Brandon Coe) really welcomed me with open arms. I thought the first few games we were a little of chemistry wise, but we’ve started to get things better lately.”
Like most players, Bulitka was introduced to the game at a young age, but he was fortunate to get to see the game in one of the epicentres of junior hockey as his family is from Ilderton, Ontario just outside of London and he says his father would take him to Knights games.
“That’s where I fell in love with the game and I asked if I could play and I’ve just been loving playing this game ever since. The atmosphere was incredible, it was super loud, the fans were into it. It made me want to be on the ice.”
“It’s kind of funny to look back on that,” he says. “Growing up and watching the games in that building and then being able to step onto the ice as a player in that building and within the OHL it’s really nice.”
What will be really nice is if this young group of players take everything Bulitka is showing them and reproduce the same positive impact as they grow and mature in their own development. With a group that on any given night has as many as 12 first and second-year players in their lineup, the leadership and experience and positivity that Bulitka brings will only benefit this group in the years to come.
