The Dogs opened their road trip with a huge bang in Merritt on Friday, as they tied a team record for goals on the road with a 9-3 win. It would be the Centennials who got on the board first on an Alex Valenti wrap around goal 13:05 into the first. The Dogs would draw even minutes later on a 5 on 3 power play as Mitch MacMillan was set up in the slot where he ripped it home high glove on Cole Holowenko. Assists went to Kevin Ross and Casey Bailey at the 14:47 mark. The Dogs really came out flying in the second as before the period was 30 seconds old it was Sam Mitchell found on the doorstep by Trent Dorais for a 2-1 Dogs lead. Less than two minutes later the Dogs got a lucky one as a Nick Cecere dump in hit a seam in the glass and ended up on the stick of Josh Mitchell in the slot with a wide open net to shoot at that he made no mistake on for a 3-1 Bulldog lead 2:13 into the period. Just three minutes later it was 4-1 as Kevin Ross sent Mitch MacMillan in on the shorthanded breakaway where he went high blocker this time on Holowenko. Johnny Rogic also assisted at 5:26 of the second. The scoring settled down for a little but later in the period the Dogs found the net in quick succession again. First it was Mitch MacMillan (the final of the four brothers in the game to score) roofing a rebound in front on the power play with 2:23 in the period for a 5-1 Dogs lead. David Dziurzynski and Mitch MacMillan assisted. Less than a minute later Casey Bailey scored his first career goal on another Dogs power play as he put a Josh Mitchell rebound home. Sam Mitchell also assisted on the play at 18:47 of the period for a 6-1 Dogs lead after two. The third period saw the trend continue, as Mitch MacMillan completed the hat trick tipping in a Kevin Ross shot from the point 4:15 in to make it 7-1 with Dziurzynski also adding an assist. Just over a minute later again Sam Mitchell sent Dziurzynski over the Merritt line on the rush where he blew a slap shot from the top of the left circle past Keith Hamilton (who came in the start the third) for an 8-1 Dogs lead at the 5:29 mark. Dziurzynski finally finished the scoring on a nice set up from Luke Fenske and Jesse Halikas as he walked right to the net and jammed his own rebound home for a 9-1 lead and another power play goal for the Dogs with 11:48 gone in the third. The Centennials caught the Dogs maybe relaxing a bit late in the game to add two late ones ? from Silvan Harper on the breakaway at 15:41 and Andrew Pickering on the power play at 19:11 to give us the final score of 9-3 Bulldogs.
Shots favoured the Dogs 57-36 (a season high for the Dogs) with Frank Slubowski and Cole Holowenko being the goalies of record. The Dogs were 5 for 10 on the power play (possibly a team record for power play goals in a game) while the Centennials were 1 for 4.
Saturday the Dogs road trip continued as they took to the ice in Salmon Arm to battle the Silverbacks. The first period was a defensive struggle with only 8 shots combined by both teams with Salmon Arm having five of those eight. They would have the only goal of the opening frame as the Dogs lost the puck on the rush into the Salmon Arm zone which resulted in a breakaway the other way for Cory Chakeen who made no mistake as he cut down the right wing and cut to the backhand to slide it past Slubowski for a 1-0 ?Backs lead after one. Assists on the play went to Tyler Gubb and Mark Zengerle at 13:36 of the first. Neither team was able to generate much in the way of offense in the second either, with Salmon Arm getting the only goal of the frame on the power play as Travis Statchuk went high short side on Slubowski from the right circle for a 2-0 ?Backs lead after two. Assists on that goal went to Greg Noyes and Jagger Dirk at 12:25 of the second. They then built the lead to 3-0 with a weird one in the third as Slubowski would stop a wrap around attempt, only to have the puck go high in the air, off of him on the way down, and then onto the goal line where David Killip poked it in for a 3-0 lead 5:28 into the period, no assists were given on the goal. The Dogs finally got on the board with 5:14 to play when Mitch MacMillan did a good job to stick with the puck after he was stopped on the breakaway as he found Trent Dorais with a cross ice pass that he potted into the open net. Moments later they almost got within one as David Dziurzynski had a great chance but his shot hit the cross bar and stayed out and 3-1 would be as close as the Dogs would get.
Final shots were even at 22 a piece with Frank Slubowski and Tony Ierfino being the goalies of record. The Silverbacks were 1 for 4 on the power play while the Dogs were 0 for 3.
Sunday afternoon the Dogs finished their trip as they rolled into Vernon to face the defending BCHL and Canadian Champion Vernon Vipers. The Dogs got off to a good start in this one, taking a 1-0 lead 9:31 into the first as a Ryan Corbiell shot was blocked but Warren Muir found the rebound and put it home for his first of the season and a 1-0 Dogs lead. Former Viper Trent Dorais also assisted on the play. The lead was short lived though as Vernon came back less than a minute later when Rob Short beat Frank Slubowski five hole to tie the game at 1-1 at the 10:03 mark. Cole Ikkala and Dylan Walchuk picked up the helpers. The Vipers would take a 2-1 lead early in the second as Nick Amies put a wrist shot on goal that handcuffed Frank Slubowski and dribbled over the line for an un-assisted marker 2:41 into the second. The Vipers then built their lead to 3-1 just past the halfway mark of the game when Braden Pimm came out from behind the net and threw a cross crease pass to a wide open Jonathan Milhouse who one-timed it into the open side 10:10 into the second. The final goal of the game came in the late stages of the second with a cross ice pass hitting traffic and finding Dylan Walchuk in the slot where he slapped one home for a 4-1 Viper lead with 2:08 left in the second. Mike Collins and Jonathan Milhouse picked up the assists. The third period would see no scoring as both teams had their chances. Scott Lewan came into the game for the third period in relief of Frank Slubowski and made several good stops in his first game action since the season opener.
Final shots favoured the Vipers 39-20 with Frank Slubowski taking the loss facing 30 shots in 40 minutes of action and giving up four goals. Graeme Gordon picked up the win for the Vipers. The Dogs were 0 for 2 on the power play while the Vipers were 0 for 3.
The Dogs have two games coming up this week with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in town on Thursday, followed by the Nanaimo Clippers visiting the Pound on Saturday.
