It was quite the weekend for the Bulldogs as they earned four out of six points for the second straight weekend. The wins came Thursday over the defending BCHL and Royal Bank Cup Champion Burnaby Express, and in Nanaimo Sunday where the Dogs handed the Clippers their first loss. The two wins sandwiched an embarrassing defeat Friday at home against the Victoria Grizzlies.
The Dogs looked for their second win in a row Thursday against the defending BCHL and Royal Bank Cup Champion Burnaby Express. Like in Quesnel, this one started off with a bang. Just nine seconds into the first right off the puck drop Harry Zolnierczyk made it 1-0 on the breakaway from Ella and Michalchuk. 4:51 in it was 2-0 Dogs as Brad Harding set up Regan Smiley on the doorstep right after throwing a huge hit at centre and Smiley lifted it backhand past Gordon. Chad Plouffe notched an assist off the play. Off the ensuing puck drop Plouffe and Sciangula dropped the gloves for a spirited match coupled with the goal, and that had the dog pound really rocking. With Tyler McNeeley in the box for a check to the head, Bradyen Melrose walked in and beat a d man from the left wing boards to go five hole for a 3-0 lead at the 10:08 mark. Moments earlier Gordon made a huge stop on Melrose off a cross crease one time attempt. Assists on the goal went to Tyler Ruel and Daniel Hope. The Dogs would again go on the power play but this time Burnaby did the damage with Kyle Turris sent in alone by Kevin Tipper and Turris connected to trim the lead to 3-1 Dogs. Right back came Daniel Hope, beating the dman 1 on 1 with a nice stick handling move, then pulling the same move on Gordon on the breakaway and it was 4-1 17 seconds later with assists to Smeltzer and Lockwood, another power play goal and that did it for the first. The second was scoreless but featured plenty of great goaltending from Ryan Lafferty. The Dogs gave up another shorthanded breakaway but this time Lafferty bailed them out stopping Max Grassi. Later on a Burnaby 5 on 3 Lafferty did the splits making an amazing toe save on a back door one-timer attempt. Lafferty then somehow kept the second chance out. In the third Jeff Manyrk scored his first BCHL goal sneaking on a breakaway and wristing it low blocker and it was 5-1 Dogs 4:50 into the third with an assist to Chad Plouffe. Burnaby struck back quick, with Harltey firing home a nice high hard one making it 5-2 at the 6:24 mark. Kyle Turris then made it 5-3 with 4:50 to go in the game with a delayed penalty coming to the Dogs. The Dogs would then go on the power play where it appeared Torrey Lindsay scored his 1st BCHL goal on a redirect off a Smeltzer point shot and for the eventual final score of 6-3 with 2:35 to play. The goal was given to Smeltzer though, with assists Melrose and Ruel. There were two fights in the same stoppage shortly afterwards that have resulted in the suspension of Issac Smeltzer for Fridays and Sundays games. The Dogs out shot Burnaby 38-32. The Dogs were 3 for 11 on the power play. They also killed off 13 of 13 Burnaby power plays and for the first time this season the Dogs won two straight games.
The Dogs looked for their third straight win Friday night but this one was over almost before it begun as the Dogs were mauled by the Grizzlies 10-4. Before the ice was even wet at the pound the Dogs were down 4-0. A reversal of the last two starts for the Dogs against Burnaby Thursday and in Quesnel. Both games the Dogs scored less than 30 seconds into the game, and built a 3-0 lead by the halfway mark of the first. Friday, it was the Grizzlies scoring 16 seconds in, 2:06 in and 3:42 in both on the power play, and then 24 seconds later even strength and it was 4-0 and that would do it for Ryan Lafferty. The Dogs held the Grizz back for a couple of minutes before Gary Nunn made it 5-0 at the 9:48 mark on beautifully executed 2 on 1. Before the first was over the dogs finally made a dent in the lead with Brayden Melrose wrapping one home at the 17:55 mark and it was 5-1 Grizzlies after one, with assists to Ruel and Kremyr. Bulldogs coach Dave Whistle was given a bench minor and an ejection at the start of the second or at the end of the first, forcing Randy Buffie behind the bench as Whistle was the only coach on the bench for the game. Other than that incident, the second period started just like the first, with Pierre Girard making it 6-1 on the power play just 25 seconds in. Four minutes later, on another power play, Kevin Petovello scored his second of the night and it was 7-1. Again very late in the period the Dogs made another dent in the deficit with Nathan Westover scoring on the power play point shot and it was 7-2 Grizzlies after two.
