The Bulldogs faced the defending Champion Penticton Vees Saturday evening, where they got off to a great start, taking an early 5-0 lead in shots and controlling the play forcing Chad Katunar to make several great saves. The Dogs continued to press, but got caught on a neutral ice turnover as Ryan Gropp attacked the Dogs zone and split the D to skate in on the breakaway where he deked and beat Jay Deo five-hole for the unassisted marker at the 9:38 mark. Just over a minute later it was 2-0 when Louie Nanne scored from Jedd Soleway and Wade Murphy. You might have thought that the Dogs would have been deflated after such a great effort saw them down 2-0, but they pushed right back and again had several crazy shifts on the attack in the Vees zone, but they couldn’t beat Katunar, and when they did, the puck rolled painfully wide of the post. The Vees would again go up ice and score against the flow of play as Jedd Soleway threw the puck at the net where it was tipped home by Louie Nanne from a sharp angle at 16:23 for a 3-0 lead. The Vees would take a 4-0 lead into the room at the buzzer on a dump in from centre ice that was rimmed down the right side where it ended up in the left corner. Wade Murphy would find it and throw it cross-crease where Jedd Soleway banged it home at the buzzer. Louie Nanne also picked up an assist on the play at 19:59 of the first.
The second period saw Brad Rebagliati enter the Dogs net, and he did well to hold the fort with several good saves early to keep it 4-0. The Dogs would take a too-many-men penalty that came back to bite them as the Vees went up 5-0 when Louie Nanne completed the hat trick, one-timing a feed from the slot through the legs of Rebagliati from Sean Flanagan and Troy Stecher at 10:42 of the second. Less than two minutes later the Dogs battled back to get on the board as Mitch Crisanti fed the puck back to the left point to Kurt Gosselin who wristed it home past Katunar. Assists went to Nick Kerr and Zach Funk at 12:02 of the second. Less than two minutes later it was 5-2 and the Dogs had the momentum as they connected on the power play as Matt Hansen found Teal Burns at the bottom of the left circle where he set up Chase Van Allen with a cross-ice one-timer at 14:12. The Dogs weren’t able to build on the momentum though as less than a minute later it was 6-2 when Louie Nanne was set up with another cross-ice one-timer on the rush that he made no mistake on. Assists went to Jedd Soleway and Wade Murphy. Just a minute and a half later it was 7-2 once again on an odd-man rush as Soleway kept the puck up the left wing and beat Rebagliati five-hole. Troy Stecher picked up the only assist at 16:38 of the second.
Despite being down by five goals to start the period the Bulldogs didn’t show any quit, coming out and making it a 7-3 game just 2:16 into the period on the power play as Jared Wilson ripped a one-timer from the top of the point off the post and in from the top of the blue line. It looked like it might have been tipped by Manny Gialedakis, but Wilson got the credit with Hansen picking up the only assist. Less than three minutes later it was 7-4 on another goal that looked like it might have been scored by Gialedakis as he banked a centering pass off traffic and in. Teal Burns would get credit for the goal – he was certainly in the area – with Gialedakis picking up the only assist at 5:00 of the third. The Vees would stop any Bulldog thoughts of a miracle comeback just short of the midway mark of the period when they connected on their third power play goal of the game as Sam Mellor roofed a pass at the backdoor before Rebagliati could get over. Assists on the play went to John Siemer and Brad McClure at 9:46 of the third for the 8-4 final.
Final shots favoured the Bulldogs 34-29 in a losing cause for Jay Deo in net while Chad Katunar picked up the win for the Vees. The Dogs went 2 for 6 on the power play while the Vees went 3 for 6.
