After a nervous start, and a tense 3rd, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs pulled away late and earned a 5-3 Game 1 win over the Cowichan Valley Capitals to open the Coastal Conference Quarterfinals presented by The Dock +.
The Caps were full value for a good start. They weathered an initial Bulldogs push and then got a pair of goals from Massimo Sarantos Lombardi at 12:26 and 14:19 of the 1st to stun the Dawg Pound faithful.
The Bulldogs got back into the game when Chase Klassen tipped home a Braden Blace point shot to give the Bulldogs life, down 2-1 after 20 minutes of play.
The Bulldogs would get the only two goals of the 2nd period.
Josh Zary on the power play at 3:51 and Brandon Buhr at 17:52, also on the power play gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the night headed to the locker room.
The Capitals would equalize as Shane LaVelle beat Hobie Hedquist to the post on a wraparound play at 4:22 of the 3rd to pull even.
After some tense play, Bulldogs Captain Stephen Castagna stole a puck and beat McCoy Bidewell to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead at 11:08. Ethan Bono put the game away at 17:36 finishing a pretty play as he wired it past Bidewell for a 5-3 lead.
The Bulldogs outshot the Caps 38-24 on the night.
The power play was red-hot for both teams as the Bulldogs went 2 for 4, while the Caps scored on their lone chance.
The atmosphere in the Dawg Pound was excellent all night as the Bulldogs played in front of a great opening night crowd of 1396, their largest playoff crowd since 1854 people sold out the Multiplex on March 18th 2013.
Game 2 goes tomorrow evening at 7:00 pm.
