The Bulldogs travelled down to Victoria on Wednesday night for another winner-take-all Game 5 on the road, their second in a week. After lacklustre efforts in Victoria for Games 1 and 3, the Bulldogs were outstanding to start the game – with the huge contingent of Bulldog fans that infiltrated the Bear Mountain Arena no doubt playing a part in their energetic start. The Dogs had plenty of pucks on net early, and even drew the games first power play. They weren’t able to connect on it though, and shortly afterwards the Grizzlies ended up on the man advantage and they drew first blood when Myles Fitzgerald worked the give and go with Leo, setting up for a one-timer in tight that he ripped past Jay Deo. Kade Pilton also picked up an assist on the play at 9:46 of the first for a 1-0 Grizzlies lead after one.
The Bulldogs continued to be resilient in the second period as they continued to trail 1-0 into the back half of the second period, keeping it that way with back to back penalty kills, after Manny Gialedakis was stopped earlier on a penalty shot by Brady Rouleau. Gialedakis would exit the penalty box undetected where Evan Tironese found him with a beautiful stretch pass through the seam and Gialedakis didn’t miss this time, going backhand-fivehole on Rouleau at 12:11 of the second to tie it at 1-1. The score would stay that way until the late stages of the second period when David Mazurek was whistled for goalie interference. The Bulldogs would make good on the power play, winning several extended battles and keeping the puck in the zone, taking advantage of one of the Grizzlies breaking his stick as they never let the puck get out of the zone. Jared Wilson would just miss the net on back-to-back one-timer attempts from the top of the line, but he didn’t miss on his third chance as Evan Tironese walked across the zone to the left circle and showed incredible patience before finding Wilson on the right side of the slot where he ripped a one-timer top corner under the bar to make it 2-1. Bo Pellah also picked up an assist on the play at 19:26 of the second for a 2-1 Dogs lead after two periods.
The third period saw the Bulldogs try to defend the lead, and the Grizzlies push hard for the equalizer to stay alive. The Dogs did a fairly good job to salt the time away and keep it 2-1 until the late stages of the game, but the Grizzlies kept pushing and eventually tied the game as Myles Fitzgerald put the puck out front to Leo Fitzgerald who snapped it past the blocker arm of Jay Deo. Blake Thompson would also pick up an assist on the play at 15:11 of the third period as the game was tied at 2-2. The Grizzlies would have a fantastic chance to win the game in the final 30 seconds of regulation but Jay Deo got his right pad down to rob David Mazurek on a breakaway.
The delay to start overtime to wait for the ice to dry would end up being longer than the actual overtime as the Dogs attacked on the rush on the opening shift and ended the game and the series as Ryan Lough walked down the right wing and found Evan Tironese, who then kicked the puck to Mak Bardon – yes MAK BARDON, who walked across the crease and scored top corner short side on Rouleau as the Dogs ended up celebrating in front of their huge throng of fans that again made their way down to Victoria to cheer them on. The goal came just 18 seconds into overtime.
Final shots favoured the Grizzlies 41-24 with Jay Deo picking up the win and 3rd star honours. The Dogs went 1 for 4 on the power play while the Grizzlies went 1 for 3. The Coastal Conference Finals begin Friday and Saturday in Surrey, before action shifts to the Dog Pound for Games 3 and 4 Monday and Tuesday.
