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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Birmingham Bulls are making waves to start the season as they defend their regular season championship from the 2023-24 campaign.

After going 1-1 on the opening weekend of the season, the Bulls beat the Evansville Thunderbolts 4-1 on Friday, Oct. 25 at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena and topped the Pensacola Ice Flyers 5-2 on Saturday, Oct. 26 at the Pensacola Bay Center.

Birmingham started the weekend off with a home tilt against Evansville, which was the first time the two sides met since the Thunderbolts shocked the Bulls in the first round of the President’s Cup Playoffs last season.

Carson Rose wasted little time in putting old nightmares to rest, scoring his fourth goal of the season off a Drake Glover assist just 1:33 into the game.

Less than a minute later though, Evansville’s Matthew Barnaby tied up the game at 1-1, and that scoreline held through the first intermission even after a mid-period power play chance from Birmingham.

After the Bulls killed off a high sticking call in the opening half of the period, Michael Gillespie scored with 9:45 remaining in the second period to put the Bulls back on top 2-1.

That proved to be the decisive blow as Birmingham remained on top even as the game devolved into chaos with 11 penalties after Gillespie scored.

Just as the Thunderbolts’ Matthew Hobbs came out of the box from starting a fight early in the third period, Nikta Kozyrev opened his scoring account for the season, making the score 3-1 with 15:48 remaining in the game.

Then, the same man who opened the scoring shut it down as Rose scored his second of the game with 6:31 remaining to seal the 4-1 win.

He was named the First Star of the game for his two-goal night, while Arkhip Ledziankou earned the Second Star for securing two assists and defenseman Kyler Matthews was the Third Star.

The Bulls took the momentum from their second straight win into their road trip down south to take on Pensacola for a Saturday night showdown.

The teams got chippy right out of the gate as the Ice Flyers’ Tyler Adams started a fight with Jamie Dorsey just 1:30 into the game. Birmingham couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing power play or its next man-advantage when Pensacola’s CJ Hayes got called for slashing at the 4:28 mark.

Those two chances nearly proved costly when Cameron Cook put the Ice Flyers up 1-0 with 9:25 remaining in the opening period.

Just under two minutes later though, Kyler Matthews equalized with his first goal of the season, taking the teams into the locker rooms for the first intermission tied at 1-1.

That set up a barrage of goals in the second period.

Rose kicked off the scoring with a pair of goals, first with an unassisted effort with 16:01 remaining in the period and then one off a Kozyrev assist with 11:20 left in the second.

Then, MacGregor Sinclair notched his first goal of the season off a Ledziankou assist to make the lead 4-1 with 3:03 left in the second period.

After an altercation between Hayes and the Bulls’ Matt Clark to start the third period that resulted in a game misconduct for Hayes, Matt Weisner got one back for Pensacola to make the score 4-2 with 14:11 remaining in the game.

The Ice Flyers couldn’t get any closer than that though, and an empty net foal from Kolten Olynek with 1:11 remaining sealed the 5-2 victory.

Rose earned the First Star yet again with two goals and an assist, Matthews took the Second Star thanks to his goal and goaltender Hayden Stewart was the Third Star for earning 31 saves against just two allowed goals.

The Birmingham Bulls will be back at home on Nov. 1 and 2 for a two-game homestand against the Macon Mayhem. Both games will start at 7 p.m. at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena.