The Bulldogs opened their weekend with a bang in Victoria when they visited the Grizzlies. The Dogs got the puck in the Victoria end the first two or three shifts and didn?t let it out, building up early momentum. They would then draw a penalty, but couldn?t get much going on the power play.
As soon as the man advantage was over, the Dogs took a 1-0 lead when Curtis Tonello found Mitch MacMillan up the left wing out of the Dogs zone where he hit Warren Muir with a pass down the right side into the Victoria zone where he went high short-side on Richie Virtanen 7:55 into the first. Just 1:10 later the Dogs took a 2-0 lead when Tyler Berkholtz found Robert Lindores behind the net, where he put a pass to Kevin Ross at the top of the point where he one-timed a slap shot through Virtanen 9:05 into the opening period. Four minutes later the lead would be 3-0 as Jesse Halikas had his first two passes blocked, but the puck would come to Tyler Berkholtz who found Halikas wide open off the back post where he fired it home past Richie Virtanen at 14:36 of the first. That would do it for Virtanen on the night, as he was replaced by Colin Fernandes. The Grizzlies would find the net shortly afterwards to make a game of it, as Frank Slubowski made the initial save but couldn?t find the rebound off the scramble as Jimmy Carter scored into the open side to make it 3-1 Dogs. Brad Pawlowski and Dylan Nowakowski picked up the assists at the 16:44 mark of the first. The second period would see no scoring, and not a lot of chances as the Dogs took their two goal lead into the third period. With the Dogs down a man on the penalty kill, Johnny Rogic would make good on the only miscue of the night by Fernandes as he turned the puck over behind his net where Rogic stole it and brought it out front before roofing one on the backhand to make it 4-1, shorthanded and un-assisted with 11:09 gone in the third. The Grizzlies would get within two with just less than five minutes to play when a Brad Pawlowski point shot hit a stick and deflected past Slubowski to make it 4-2. Assists on the play went to Graeme Mccormick and Joel Lowry with 4:53 to play. That would be as close as the Grizzlies would get as the Dogs protected their lead as time expired.
Final shots favoured the Dogs 35-29 with Frank Slubowski and Richie Virtanen being the goalies of record. Both teams were 0 for 4 on the power play.
Saturday the Bulldogs returned to home ice for the first time in four games when they hosted the Surrey Eagles. The Dogs didn?t start this game as well as they had their previous two or three games as instead of jumping out to a minimum two goal first period lead ? which they did in Burnaby, Langley, and Victoria ? they went down 1-0 on a Jeff Regier slap shot from the right point that hit a Bulldog and changed direction to go past Frank Slubowski. Grant Toulmin had the only assist 6:06 into the first. Slubowski had come up with a great save moments earlier doing the splits to come across the crease to make a great save on a rebound chance to keep it 0-0. The Eagles would take that 1-0 lead into the second period, but it didn?t last long as the Dogs won the opening faceoff and dumped the puck into the Surrey end. Sam Mitchell hustled first to the puck, and threw a pass to Warren Muir who was driving the net. Muir would have his first chance stopped, but he was able to stick with it and put the rebound home to make it 1-1 just 13 seconds into the second period. The Dogs would take a 2-1 lead just three minutes later as they worked the puck beautifully on the power play as Warren Muir twice got the puck back to the line to Ryan Corbiell, who twice fed Luke Fenske at the right point. While both one-timers would just miss, the second one came right back out in front for Johnny Rogic to jam home for a 2-1 Dogs lead 3:11 into the period. Penalties would continue to play a factor in the period, with Warren Muir being sent to the box with the Dogs on the power play. Just four seconds later off the ensuing faceoff in the Dogs end, the Eagles would tie it at 2-2 when Erik Cooper got his first BCHL goal tipping in a Cole Gelly point shot 8:56 into the second. The Dogs would be given another penalty, resulting in a Surrey 5 on 3. That would end with the Dogs killing it off, and then Warren Muir jumping out of the penalty box in on the breakaway. He would be stopped by Lessard, and then again on a wrap around chance. When the whistle blew Muir was awarded a penalty shot. Lessard would come up with the stop on this one to keep it 2-2. When play resumed another big penalty would affect the game, as Mitch MacMillan was ejected for checking from behind. On the power play the Eagles would go up 3-2 on a nice set up where Michael Krgovich found Andew Wallace with a perfect back-door pass that he one-timed past Slubowski. Bradley McGowan also picked up an assist on the goal at 13:02 of the second. As they dropped the puck at centre, Jamus Lane and Tyler Berkholtz engaged in a spirited scrap. The penalty parade continued, as the Dogs were given two penalties in the span of 40 seconds that put them down another two men for a long duration. Again they would kill it, and the Eagles would be given a penalty of their own. When 4 on 4 hockey ended the Dogs went to the power play and tied the game as David Dziurzynski got the puck back to Kevin Ross at the right point where he blew a slap shot past Vinny Lessard to tie the game at 3-3 with 30 seconds to go in the period. Mark MacMillan and David Dziurzynski picked up the assists. The penalty parade continued in the third, with another spirited scrap happening off the opening puck drop as the two captains Sam Mitchell and Derek Henderson dropped the mitts for another good scrap. The Eagles would take their turn going down two men, and while the Dogs didn?t connect on the 5 on 3 they still found the net on the 5 on 4 as Warren Muir made a determined play to fight the puck to the net and somehow beat Lessard for an unassisted marker 7:50 into the third to make it 4-3. The Eagles didn?t quit though, as they fought back to even it up when Jamus Lane found an end-board carom that ended up on the goal line behind Slubowski that he poked over the line to tie it at 4-4. Wes Vannieuwenhuizen and Erik Cooper picked up the assists with 11:33 gone in the third. Both teams would have another chance on the power play to get the winner, but the penalty kills and the goaltenders held the tie. Then the Dogs had a glorious chance to get the winner with Tyler Morley being given four minutes for kneeing with 2:22 remaining in the third. The Dogs came close to winning it in regulation ? once hitting the post on a Kevin Ross shot, and once having a goal disallowed as the net was dislodged before the puck went in. The Eagles would do a great job to kill off the remainder of the penalty through the third and overtime, with Vinny Lessard coming up with several good stops and Andrew Wallace blocking several shots. The game would finally end in double overtime, as David Dziurzynski picked up his own rebound and walked to the net from the left side, undressing one defender and beating the other to the net where Lessard made the first save but he couldn?t get the rebound as Dziurzynski scored his second overtime winner of the season as the Pound erupted and the Dogs poured off the bench to celebrate.
Final shots favoured the Dogs 46-30 with Frank Slubowski and Vinny Lessard being the goalies of record. The Dogs went 3 for 9 on the power play while the Eagles went 1 for 9.
With the win the Dogs have now won two in a row. The two points were big ones as with the Langley loss on Saturday night the Dogs have a game in hand on them AN
