The Dogs began their week in Trail on Thursday with the only meeting of the season between the Bulldogs and Smoke Eaters. An early Bulldog power play was cancelled out by a penalty just seconds into it, but it still led to the first goal of the game during four-aside action when Arty Kalashnikov found former Smoke Eater Daniel Delbianco walking down the middle off the blue line with a perfect pass that he snapped through the legs of Lyndon Standwood. Hunter Stewart also assisted the marker 4:54 into the first. The Dogs would have several glorious chances to build the lead with long shifts of hemming the Smokies in their zone, but they couldn’t bury one. Just seconds after a breakaway save by Matt Larose the Smoke Eaters tied the game with the lively end boards in Trail assisting the goal with a point shot miss bouncing right back in front and onto the tape of Erik Cooper who fired it over a fallen Larose. Assists on the play went to Connor Tiechko and Dane Birks 9:53 into the first. Again the Dogs would have several great chances to take the lead back but they couldn’t find the net, the best of which being a Chase Van Allen point shot that hit the crossbar and stayed out. Late in the period the Smoke Eaters took the lead for the first time on the power play when Matt Larose made the initial save on the point shot, but couldn’t find the rebound as Tiechko found it behind him and tapped it in with assists to Clayton McEwan and Garrett McMullen at 17:31 of the first. The Bulldogs went to the power play early in the second looking to tie it, but it was Matt Larose who was forced to come up with a big save on a Luke Bertolucci shorthanded breakaway. That would prove huge as just seconds later the Dogs tied it up on an odd man rush as Walker Hyland sent the puck ahead to Ryan Lough on a partial break up the right wing. Lough would send a pass cross-ice to Hunter Stewart driving the net, who ended up missing short-side but the puck bounced right back out the opposite side where Lough fired it into the open side for a 2-2 tie at 5:28 of the second. The score would stay that way until the back half of the period with the Smokies again scoring on the power play to take a 3-2 lead when Brent Baltus tipped in a Marley Keca point shot. Erik Cooper also assisted on the play at 13:55 of the second for a 3-2 Trail lead after two periods. The Smoke Eaters would have a glorious chance to build the lead early in the third, but again Matt Larose came up with the save on a breakaway chance by Tanner Clarkson. A bad break at the other end would keep the Smokies in the lead when a Josh Mitchell shot from the deep slot again hit the crossbar and stayed out. That would prove huge as just moments later it was 4-2 Smokies when the Dogs couldn’t get the puck out of their zone and a poor giveaway resulted in a breakaway for Craig Martin that he slid home on the backhand. Riley McDougall picked up the only assist 5:03 into the third. Just over two minutes later the Smokies blew the game open to make it 5-2 as Brent Baltus found a loose puck on a scramble and jammed it home, with assists to Brenden Heinrich and Luke Bertolucci 7:22 into the third. One more for good measure made it a 6-2 final when Tanner Clarkson walked to the net down the right wing and went high short-side on Larose. McDougall picked up the only assist at 13:49.
Final shots favoured the Bulldogs 34-32 with Matt Larose and Lyndon Standwood being the goalies of record. Trail went 2 for 5 on the power play while the Dogs went 1 for 6.
The Dogs weekend continued Friday on a tough travel day as they headed from Grand Forks to West Kelowna to face the Warriors. The Dogs didn’t appear to be fazed by the long day of travel, as they carried most of the play through the first period. They would end up trailing on the scoreboard though as they gave up one odd-man rush to many with Travis Blanleil finishing off a cross-ice pass from Brennan Clark before Matt Larose could get over 4:14 into the first. The Warriors came THAT close to building their lead later in the frame, but a shot hit the post and stayed out. While the Dogs led the shots 9-4 after one they trailed the game 1-0. The second period saw the Dogs again come out with good energy and they would be rewarded for it when they tied the game just short of three minutes into the period when Tryg Strand pounded a rebound home off a Turner Popoff point shot from the right point. Ryan Lough also assisted on the play 2:56 into the period. The Dogs would have several great chances to build their lead later in the period when they went to back-to-back power plays but Dwayne Rodrigue was fantastic in the Warriors goal to keep it tied. Just seconds after the power play was over the Dogs went up 2-1 on the rush with Yan and Arty Kalashnikov working the puck perfectly before Arty dropped it back to Brandon Halls walking down the slot where he put a wrist shot top corner glove side on Rodrigue at the 15:43 mark of the second. The game would take a big turn just moments later when the Warriors picked up two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the same play, the second appearing to go to the Coaching Staff who was unhappy with the no-call/call resulting in a full two-minute 5 on 3 for the Dogs and the ejection of Warriors Head Coach Rylan Ferster. The Dogs would capitalize on the opportunity when Evan Tironese took a pass in the right circle that he quickly snapped through the legs of Rodrigue for a 3-1 Dogs lead from Josh Mitchell and Ryan Lough at 17:48 of the third. The period would have an ugly ending as Walker Hyland was challenged by Ben Betker, resulting in a decisive win for Hyland in the fight and an extra two minutes to the Warriors. When the dust settled the Dogs found the net again less than a minute into the third to make it 4-1 when Evan Tironese put a shot on net that was tipped by Tryg Strand. Rodrigue would keep the first shot out but he couldn’t find the rebound before Hunter Stewart roofed it for the three-goal lead 51 seconds into the third period. That goal would prove huge as the Warriors trimmed the gap to 4-2 six minutes later with the teams playing four-aside after another dust up with Brett McKinnon banking a wrap around off a skate and in for an unassisted marker at the 6:52 mark. The Warriors would push hard to get back into it the rest of the way and had several glorious chances but Matt Larose was rock solid in protecting the lead as the Dogs held on with one more late penalty kill with just over four minutes to play.
Final shots favoured the Bulldogs 40-27 with Matt Larose picking up the win while Dwayne Rodrigue took the loss. The Dogs went 2 for 7 on the power play while the Warriors went 0 for 5.
The Dogs weekend concluded Saturday night when they visited the Vernon Vipers, the back-to back-to back BCHL Champs. Once again the Dogs started the game very well, going to the power play early and scoring early into the advantage when Walker Hyland blew a slap shot past Kirby Halcrow from the left point. Assists on the play went to Josh Mitchell and Trent Dorais, just 10 seconds into the power play and 1:51 into the first for a 1-0 Dogs lead after one with the Dogs leading the shots 8-3. The Vipers came out and very quickly erased the lead early in the second as a shot thrown at the net from the left half wall was re-directed in by Ben Gamache to tie it at 1-1 just 1:36 into the frame with Marc Hetnik also picking up an assist. The score stayed that way until the late stages of the period when the Dogs got in penalty trouble with back-to-back penalties to Walker Hyland. The Dogs would kill off the first one, but the Vipers scored just five seconds into the second one as they won the faceoff and found the net when Adam Tambellini one-timed a Brett Corkey pass through the legs of Fenkell as he tried to come over. Mike Zalewski also picked up an assist on the pla
