The Bulldogs return to action coming off the BCHL Christmas Break this weekend with two games on the road as they visit the Victoria Grizzlies Friday night and the Powell River Kings for an early start on New Year’s Eve Saturday night. The Dogs enter play on a two game losing streak and a three-game winless slide with losses to Surrey and Coquitlam and a tie versus Langley. The Dogs are in 8th place in the Coastal Conference with a record of 11-17-2 and 0 for 24 points, two back of the 7th placed Rivermen with the Dogs holding four games in hand. The Dogs are 14 points back of the 4th placed Coquitlam Express who hold the last playoff spot with the Dogs having three games in hand on the Express.
The Grizzlies sit 6thin the Conference entering play Friday with a record of 17-18-0-0 for 34 points. Like the Dogs they also lost their final two games heading into the break to Cowichan and Surrey with both games being played at the Bear Mountain Arena.
Friday’s game is the fourth head to head meeting between the teams this season and the third straight at the Bear Mountain Arena. After the Bulldogs picked up a 6-3 win in their second game of the season back on September 30th at the Dog Pound the Grizzlies have won the last two – 3-2 on November 9th and 6-3 on November 18th.
Catch the pregame show Friday night from the Bear Mountain Arena at 7:00 with the play-by-play to follow at 7:15pm on 93.3 The Peak FM, our website at www.933thepeak.com, and watch the Pay-Per View Broadcast by visiting the BCHL’s Live Portal HERE
The Kings enter play Friday night sitting 3rd in the Conference, with a record of 19-12-2 and 2 for 42 points, five back of the Conference leading Capitals. They were last in action Thursday night as they returned from the break with a 2-1 loss to the Express in Coquitlam. It was 1-0 Express after 20 minutes on a power play goal eleven minutes into the game, and 1-1 after two periods as the Kings scored the only goal of the second at the six minute mark by Steven Schmidt. The game remained tied 1-1 until the late stages of the third when the Express got the winner with three minutes to play for the 2-1 final.
Shots favoured the Kings 32-31 with Sean Maguire earning 3rd star honours while getting tagged with the loss. The Kings went 0 for 2 on the power play while the Express went 1 for 4.
It’s the fourth meeting between the teams so far on the campaign with the Kings holding a 2-1 edge. After the Kings won the first game 4-1 in Powell River in early October the Dogs won the return match by the game 4-1 score at the Dog Pound in late October. The Kings won the most recent meeting, once again by a 4-1 score, as they built up a 4-0 lead and held the Dogs off the board on Teddy Bear Toss night until the dying seconds of the game on December 2nd.
Game time Saturday night from the Hap Parker Arena is 5:00. Get it all on 93.3 The Peak FM, www.933thepeak.com or the BCHL website at www.bchl.ca with the pregame show kicking off at 4:45
