The Dogs began their final weekend before the Christmas Break Friday night when they visited the Coquitlam Express for the first time this season. The game started ominously for the Dogs once again, as they ended up in the penalty box half a minute into the game. Half a minute later, it was 1-0 Express as Brady Shaw tipped in a Clinton Atkinson point shot. John Siemer and Alex Petan picked up the assists 1:08 into the first. The Express built the lead to 2-0 in the back half of the period when Malcolm McKinney kept the puck on a 2 on 1 rush and roofed a shot high short-side on Matt Larose. Alex Petan and Taylor Bourne picked up the assists 11:23 in. Larose would be called upon to keep the game close just half a minute later when he stopped Brady Shaw on a breakaway. Shaw would be awarded a penalty shot on the play, Larose stopped that too as it was 2-0 Coquitlam after one. The Dogs came out flat and the Express came out steaming down the tracks in the second, as they had at the very least two breakaways early in the period that Matt Larose stopped to keep it 2-0. The Dogs then went to the power play, but it was the Express who found the back of the net, on yet another breakway as Malcolm McKinney was sent in alone where he slid it through the legs of Larose. Alex Petan and Zach Hodder picked up the helpers on the shorthanded marker 3:28 into the second. The Dogs then ended up in big time penalty trouble as the Express were awarded three straight two-man advantages. It was 4-0 on the first 5 on 3 as Brady Shaw jammed in a cross-crease feed from Alex Kerfoot. Assists went to Clinton Atkinson and Alex Petan 7:40 into the second. The Dogs were penalized again as the puck went in, and the Express went back to the 5 on 3 where they made it 5-0 less than 30 seconds later when McKinney completed the hat trick beating Matt Larose five-hole from the left faceoff dot. Assists went to Rajan Sidhu and Zach Hodder at the 8:06 mark. Max Fenkell would then enter the game and he was greeted by another 5 on 3. While the Dogs killed it off, they couldn’t kill the second penalty before it was 6-0 as Dante Godinho was set up in the slot where he beat Fenkell five-hole from John Siemer and Clinton Atkinson 11:10 into the second. Just two minutes later the Dogs broke the shutout when they scored on a power play of their own as Dylan Nowakowski made a nifty cross-crease pass to Walker Hyland who fired it into the open net 13:44 into the second to make it 6-1. Just over two minutes later it was 7-1 Express as Max Fenkell made the first save but couldn’t get back to the post in time as John Siemer banked one in from below the goal line. Jason Bird got the only helper at 15:57 of the second. The Dogs would answer to make it 7-2 in the dying seconds of the period as Nowakowski again set up Walker Hyland in a similar play to the first, finding him in front of the net where he ripped one under the crossbar. Evan Tironese also picked up an assist on the play at 19:50 of the second period. The only goal of the third was one more on the power play for the Express as a highlight reel passing play made a great save by Max Fenkell moments earlier a distant memory as Brady Shaw completed the hat trick on a backdoor one-timer. Assists on the play went to Malcolm McKinney and Clinton Atkinson for the 8-2 final.
Final shots favoured the Bulldogs 43-38 with Matt Larose taking the loss giving up 5 goals on 20 shots before Max Fenkell entered the game in relief, giving up 3 goals on 18 shots. Cole Huggins picked up the win for the Express. The Dogs went 1 for 6 on the power play while the Express went 5 for 9, and added a shorthanded goal as well.
The Dogs weekend finished Saturday when they visited the Eagles for the third time this season. The Dogs had a much better start to this game, with great scoring chances early for Dylan Nowakowski and Evan Tironese stopped by Connor Barrie in the Eagle net. It would then be Max Fenkell’s turn to shine as he made a great save on a backdoor one-timer set up on an Eagle power play chance on Linden Saip. The Dogs then gave up their second penalty shot in as many games as Brandon Tanev was taken down on a breakaway. Max Fenkell would stand tall as he got his right bad on the Tanev deke to keep it 0-0 after one with the shots favouring the Dogs 12-8. What the first period lacked in scoring was certainly made up for in the second as the teams combined for six goals. It was the Dogs jumping out to a 1-0 lead on the power play as Lars Hepso sent the puck back to the right point for Chase Van Allen, who threw a quick shot on net that was stopped by Barrie. Josh Mitchell was in the paint and found the rebound though, lifting it into the top of the net for a 1-0 Dogs lead 1:50 into the second. The lead wouldn’t last long though as the Eagles tied it up minutes later on a power play of their own as a Matt Cronin one-timer from the right point was deflected on net by Alex Hagen. Max Fenkell made the first save, but the rebound ended up on the tape of Robert Lindores off the back post where he tapped it into the open net as it was 1-1 4:25 into the second. The Dogs once again took the lead three minutes later when Daniel Delbianco scored his first career goal as he was found wide open walking to the net down the left side by Dylan Nowakowski as he snapped one past Barrie. Turner Popoff also drew a helper on the play at 7:07 of the second. The lead was gone in a blink of an eye this time as the Eagles tied it up less than a minute later as Michael Stenerson was sent in on a breakaway by Linden Saip that he finished with a glove-side deke on Max Fenkell at the 7:54 mark. The Dogs would go to a power play minutes later to try and retake the lead, but it was instead the Eagles scoring shorthanded just 8 seconds into the Dogs power play on another breakaway set up by Linden Saip as he flipped it ahead for Sean McGovern who scored high blocker-side on Fenkell for the first Eagles lead of the game at 3-2 9:46 into the second. The Eagles would build the lead to 4-2 after two when Charles Orzetti was found walking right down the middle of the Dogs zone by Brandon Tanev where he snapped a shot low glove-side on Fenkell at 18:09 of the second. The Dogs came out flying in the third period, quickly erasing the two-goal deficit and tying the game. It was first Arty Kalashnikov converted a Ryan Lough feed to the slot with a low one-timer 1:50 in making it 4-3 with Lars Hepso also assisting on the play. Hepso then converted a penalty shot attempt just over a minute later as the Dogs were awarded the opportunity after an Eagle defender covered the puck in the crease on a mad scramble. Hepso would score with the same move he was successful on earlier in the season on a penalty shot as he went low blocker side and snapped it home to make it 4-4 2:54 into the third. Less than two minutes later the Eagles came right back as Brett Mulcahy threw a shot on net from a sharp angle that was stopped by Fenkell, but the rebound ended up out front for Demico Hannoun who banged it home. Sean McGovern also assisted the play 4:04 into the third. Just 14 seconds later the Eagles took a 6-4 lead on a 2 on 1 rush as Alex Hagen converted a Sean McGovern cross-ice pass. Robert Lindores also assisted at 4:18 of the third as the Dogs called time out to settle things down. Six minutes later it was a one goal game again when Lars Hepso roofed a rebound on a scramble after several great saves by Barrie for his second of the game and a 6-5 Surrey lead at 10:16 of the third from Josh Mitchell and Arty Kalashnikov. The Dogs would play great hockey with a short bench down to the final seconds but they were unable to get the equalizer as the Eagles made the lead stand.
Final shots favoured the Bulldogs 37-28 with Max Fenkell taking the loss and Connor Barrie earning the win. The Dogs went 1 for 4 on the power play, while the Eagles went 1 for 3 while al
