The Alberni Valley Bulldogs exploded for three 3rd period goals on Saturday night as they pulled away from a stubborn Cowichan team to earn a 4-1 win at the Multiplex.
The game was scoreless after 20 and tied 1-1 after 40.
The Bulldogs got their league-leading 12th short-handed goal of the year in the 2nd period as Brandon Buhr pulled off a magical backhand spin-o-rama goal that got the crowd of nearly 1300 off their feet in amazement. For Buhr, it was his 7th goal in 13 games since returning to the Bulldogs prior to Christmas.
Tied 1-1 in the 3rd, the Bulldogs scored 3 times in just over 4 minutes to ice the contest. Will Elger (16th), AJ Vasko (6th) and Cam VanSickle (16th) rounded out the scoring.
Hobie Hedquist stopped 23 of 24 shots on a relatively quiet night for him. The effort earned Hedquist the 2nd star of the game and now gives him 50 career wins as Bulldog. Hedquist trails only Frank Slubowski for the franchise lead at 53 wins.
The victory improved the Bulldogs overall record to 25-17-3-1, good for 54 points and 3rd place in the Coastal Conference standings. The race for seeding is tight and appears that it will head down to the wire. Coquitlam trails the Bulldogs by 2 points, while the Grizzlies and Chiefs are 4 points back.
The Bulldogs will have some rest in front of them as they don’t play again until Saturday night when they host the Caps again at 7:00 pm.
