The Bulldogs visited the Clippers Friday night to open their best-of-five series and the 2013 BCHL Playoffs. There was great energy early, but not a lot in the way of chances. That changed when the Clippers were awarded a power play just two minutes into the game. The Clippers would generate several good chances, but Jay Deo was fantastic. The Bulldogs would go to the power play shortly afterwards where they connected as Evan Tironese fed Jared Wilson at the right point, where he walked down the wall before throwing a puck on net that was jammed home by Ryan Lough in the paint. Assists went to Wilson and Hunter Stewart at 8:46 of the first. The Bulldogs would have several glorious chances to build the lead, most notably Chase Paylor on a partial breakaway, and Ryan Lough on an odd-man rush, but both opportunities missed the net. The Clippers would push hard in the final minute of the period to even it up but the Dogs made the lead stand through 20 minutes.
The second period was barely two minutes old when the Dogs connected to lead 2-0 as they continued to push the pace, as Teal Burns dumped the puck in and chasing hard after it forcing Jayson Argue to play the puck up the boards and then race back to his net. Before he got to his net he appeared to lose his footing, resulting in a wide open cage for Matt Hansen who one-timed a Manny Gialedakis pass home at 2:33 of the second. The Bulldogs would come close to building their lead shortly afterwards but Argue made a fantastic save on Kurt Gosselin diving over with his blocker on a cross-ice set up. The Clippers would push back and gain momentum, hemming the Dogs in for several shifts and eventually finding the net off a faceoff win. Jay Deo made the first save on Kyle Kramer, but Greg Fraser potted the rebound from the slot to make it 2-1, with Josh Bryan also drawing an assist on the play at 9:46 of the second. The Bulldogs would get their feet back under them and take the two goal lead back thanks to a great shift by the fourth line as Dylan Haugen won a battle to knock the puck loose and find Nick Kerr, who threw the puck at the crease where it deflected in off of the stick of Jon Brumwell to make 3-1 at 13:07 of the second. The two goal lead didn’t last long though, as on the next shift the Clippers found the net on the rush as Jay Deo made a left toe save off of Kyle Kramer but the rebound bounced off his pad, off the skate of Bo Pellah and in. Brock Maschmeyer picked up the only assist at 13:32 of the second as the Dogs carried a 3-2 lead into the room after 40 minutes.
The Clippers were the better team to start the third period, pushing hard for the equalizer and controlling the bulk of the play. They would go to a power play chance shortly afterwards but the Dogs appeared to find their composure again with a solid penalty kill. The Clippers would keep pushing though, and ended up tying the game after the Dogs failed to get the puck out of their zone due to several soft plays. Taylor Grobowski would throw the puck at the net where Brendan Forbes found it and deked it past Deo, with Greg Fraser also picking up an assist on the play 5:49 into the third to make it 3-3. While the Bulldogs had their opportunities it would be the Clippers taking their first lead of the game at the end of a long shift of hemming the Dogs in their end as Austin Dick took a pass at the left point and put a wrist shot on net that had eyes, finding the top corner, far side on Deo to make it 3-3 at 11:10 of the third from Michael McNicholas.
Final shots favoured the Clippers 40-36 with Jayson Argue and Jay Deo being the goalies of record. The Bulldogs went 1 for 3 on the power play while the Clippers went 0 for 3. Game two goes Saturday night in Nanaimo.
