(photo: Owen Stanley)
For a second straight season, the Bulldogs opened with a win over their rivals, after a 5-2 win in Nanaimo on Friday night.
The Bulldogs opened the scoring, on a nice feed by Brendan DeFeo to Samuel Leonard in the right circle, that he buried upstairs short-side on Seguin-Lescarbeau. Wyatt Blace also drew an assist on the play at 12:49 of the first.
The Bulldogs built their lead just short of five minutes into the second, on a greasy scramble on a delayed penalty that saw Kai Matthew poke the puck home. No signal came from the referee, but the Bulldogs believed that they had scored and celebrated accordingly, as the Officials went to video review. After a second look, a goal was awarded, with Kai Matthew getting credit before the second was a five minutes old. Nanaimo would answer to tie the game a minute and change later, with Justin Collins one-timing a faceoff win through the wickets of Shea to make it 2-1. The Clippers would tie the game before the midway mark of the period, with Elliot Perreault burying a cross-ice pass on the rush past Shea to make it 2-2. The Bulldogs responded, taking a 3-2 lead on a quick strike that saw Wyatt Davis sent a stretch pass ahead for Wyatt Blace, who dished off to Samuel Leonard on a 2 on 0 rush that he fired home five hole. Nanaimo had a great chance to tie it with under five minutes left when Jack Rimmer was awarded a penalty shot, but Ryder Shea came up with a blocker save to preserve the lead. With 14 seconds left in the period the Bulldogs restored their two-goal lead, again on an odd-man rush on a Davis stretch pass ahead for Wyatt Blace, who dished off to Kenyon McIsaac. He one-touched it over for Jacob Terpstra, who buried a one-timer upstairs to make it 4-2 after two.
The only scoring in the third came in the late stages, as Brenden Espenell picked off a pass while shorthanded, and sent Jacob Terpstra in alone on a shorthanded breakaway that he finished high glove side to make it a 5-2 final.
Ryder Shea earned the win while Eliot Seguin-Lescarbeau took the loss.
The teams meet tomorrow night in Port Alberni for a rematch in the Bulldogs Home Opener.
