A 3-1 deficit after 40 minutes was too much to overcome as the Bulldogs fell 3-2 at home to the Grizzlies on Saturday night
There was good pace early, but both goalies were good as it stayed scoreless through the media time out. Victoria opened the scoring off an offensive zone faceoff that resulted in a five foot breakaway for Landen Ward. Ryder Shea made the save, but Michael Dowdall roofed the rebound to make it 1-0 with under seven minutes to play in the first. The Bulldogs earned a power play and answered to tie the game three minutes later, as Jacob Terpstra and Brendan DeFeo set up Caden Tremblay who walked across the zone before putting a wrist shot home high, short-side on Carter Capton to make it 1-1 after one.
The Grizzlies took the lead back on the power play three minutes into the second, as Max Silver walked in to the right circle and picked the top corner over the blocker of Shea to make it 2-1. It stayed that way until there was five minutes to play in the period when they built the lead to 3-1 as Artur Gross walked the puck into the zone off a neutral zone draw and picked the top corner over the glove of Shea. The Bulldogs pushed hard in the final five minutes of the period and had several near misses around the net, as Carter Capton came up big to protect the lead.
The Bulldogs pressed to start the third, and continued to be snakebitten around the attacking net. A long extended attacking zone shift ended up in Victoria being called for too many men. The Bulldogs would again connect on the power play, as Jacob Terpstra one-timed home a beautiful feed by Brenden Espenell short-side from the left wing wall to make it 3-2 with under 10 minutes to play. That’s as close as the comeback came, as the Bulldogs couldn’t find the equalizer and the Grizzlies held on to the buzzer.
Shots were 38-27 Bulldogs, with Carter Capton earning 1st star honours with the win while Ryder Shea took the loss. The Bulldogs went 2 for 7 on the power play while the Grizzlies went 1 for 2.
The Bulldogs next see action Wednesday night when they host the Chilliwack Chiefs.
