1. 1/5/2016 Belleville Bulls' Adam Bignell, on leaving jersey at centre ice after final game: 'I almost chickened out' | Buzzing The Net ­ Yahoo Sports Canada
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/jrhockey­buzzing­the­net/belleville­bulls­­adam­bignell­ohl­april­5­2015­180924513.html 1/7
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By Neate Sager
5 April, 2015 2:09 PM
Buzzing The Net
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Belleville Bulls' Adam
Bignell, on leaving jersey
at centre ice after final
game: 'I almost
chickened out'
Adam Bignell was a second­generation Bull, following his father Greg (Aaron
Bell, OHL Images)
As one of the last players to be on the ice in a Belleville Bulls
jersey on Thursday when the team played its final Ontario Hockey
League game, Bignell made a memory. With fans remaining in
their seats, channeling the anguish of losing the Bulls into
cheering, a celebration of the life of a team that was a pulse of a
community, Bignell peeled off his black, orange and gold No. 55
jersey and carefully placed it at centre ice, like he was laying a
wreath.
"My family has been so proud to have been part of the Bulls
organization," Bignell, whose father Greg Bignell and uncle Todd
Hawkins were Bulls teammates in the late 1980s, said Saturday
after arriving home in Kitchener. "That was a big part of why I laid
my jersey down at centre ice — to honour all the players who
played before me, and the fans and just the town of Belleville. I
thought it'd be a nice gesture to say thank you, that I was able to
be part of the last year.
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2. 1/5/2016 Belleville Bulls' Adam Bignell, on leaving jersey at centre ice after final game: 'I almost chickened out' | Buzzing The Net ­ Yahoo Sports Canada
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/jrhockey­buzzing­the­net/belleville­bulls­­adam­bignell­ohl­april­5­2015­180924513.html 2/7
Adam Bignell of the Belleville Bulls. Photo by Aaron
Bell/OHL Images
"It was just kind of a spur of the moment thing," added Bignell, a
21­year­old who played 295 regular­ and post­season games for
the Bulls over five seasons. "All the players left the ice. I was one
of the last guys. Everyone in the building was still in their seats. I
thought about doing it. I almost chickened out and said, 'you know
what, I'll regret it if I don't do it." I took my jersey off and people
thought at first I was going to throw my jersey into the stands. I
went down and I placed it at centre.
"The response I got the next day from fans, it was pretty
incredible," Bignell added. "Some people were in tears. I guess it
was a pretty special moment."
After years of
political
gridlock and
inaction
regarding
upgrades to
Yardmen
Arena, Bulls
owner Gord
Simmonds sold
the franchise in
March to
Michael
Andlauer,
where it will be
rechristened
as the Hamilton Bulldogs and remain in the OHL's East Division.
The Bulls logo and brand will remain with the eastern Ontario city,
much like Cleveland kept the Browns name and colours after
losing its NFL team to Baltimore in 1995. (Unlike Cleveland,
Belleville hasn't been guaranteed a replacement franchise.)
'It still hasn't set in for me'
Bulls players found out on March 12.
"It was a shock to us," Bignell said. "We got called in after practice
and the owner, Mr. Simmonds was there and basically told us, the
team's been sold and would be moving to Hamilton. We found out
the same day it was released to the media. It was kind of a big
shock to us, and to be honest, it still hasn't set in for me, that it
was the last season for the Bulls."
A defensive defenceman, Bignell initially decided against the
claimed 'not to
know any'
Russian players
before U.S. loss
to Russia
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3. 1/5/2016 Belleville Bulls' Adam Bignell, on leaving jersey at centre ice after final game: 'I almost chickened out' | Buzzing The Net ­ Yahoo Sports Canada
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/jrhockey­buzzing­the­net/belleville­bulls­­adam­bignell­ohl­april­5­2015­180924513.html 3/7
sometimes uncertain lot of a 20­year­old and enrolled at the
University of Waterloo last summer, moving closer to his dad and
his mum, Denise Bignell. He was 17 games into the season with
Ontario University Athletics' Waterloo Warriors when Bulls coach­
GM George Burnett asked him to return. The team was running
with just two 20­year­olds, wings Brett Gustavsen and Brett
Welychka, and had an open overage spot.
"It was really out of the blue," Bignell said. "I didn't want to quit on
my teammates at Waterloo. But I had a long conversation with the
coach there, Brian Bourque, about it. He said, 'just do what you
have to' and understood. It happened pretty fast. I didn't want to
have any regrets about not finishing my last year in the OHL.
"It's funny, I hadn't scored in my four previous years in the OHL,"
added Bignell, whose father was an OHL head coach in the late
'90s and early 2000s at North Bay and Kingston. "My last game
when I was knew I was leaving — I was going to Belleville next
day — I scored. It was against the Windsor Lancers and I scored
on Parker Van Buskirk and he's a Belleville Bulls alumni."
That twist of hockey fate made Thursday's moment possible. The
volume of responses Bignell received over the following 24 hours
let him know he had made the right move.
"That's the coolest thing about Belleville, the relationship you had
with the fans," added Bignell, who plans to take summer courses
at Waterloo in order to catch up on a missed half­year of school.
"There are so many kids and even adults I am pretty close with
after five years [in the OHL]. A lot of people reached out to me on
Facebook and on texts just thanked me for what I did.
"At the time, I didn't think it was going to be that big of deal. But it
just shows how much people care about the team. I was just glad I
could finish off like that."
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Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on
Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.
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