After their most successful week of the season which resulted in their first two game winning streak of the year, The Alberni Valley Bulldogs head to the road with quite a task to keep that winning streak going. That task is a three game-two and a half day road trip to the Lower Mainland to face three divisional rivals, two of which they haven?t seen yet this season in the Surrey Eagles and the Burnaby Express.
After the trip to the Interior just a couple of weeks ago, this trip should seem easy- just over the hump, onto the boat, and over to the hotel. What?s odd is the fact that the Dogs have played six games already this season against Interior opponents, yet they won?t see all of their divisional foes until this weekend is done. Make no mistake, this is a huge weekend. These are four point games. If the Dogs hope to make the playoffs this year, a strong weekend with winning results would be a good start to make up some ground in the standings. On the other side, a bad weekend will make that deficit even larger. The Dogs won?t have the luxury of the home crowd this weekend, so getting behind 2 and 3 goals isn?t a good idea.
Game 1 of the trip is Friday in Surrey on the Olympic-sized surface of the South Surrey Arena. The Dogs and Eagles have not met yet this season. Surrey enters this week sitting in second place in the Coastal Conference with a record of 9-7-0 and 2. Their most recent game action was last Saturday in Prince George, a 5-4 loss at the hands of the Spruce Kings. The Eagles showed big-time heart in this one, as they were down 4-1 after two periods before battling back to tie it at 4-4 with less than seven minutes remaining in the third, only to see Prince George score the heartbreaker with under four minutes to play. The Eagles will have a mid-week game to tune up for the Dogs coming into town on Friday, as they host the Victoria Grizzlies on Wednesday night. Much like the ice surfaces in Quesnel and Merritt, the surface size in Surrey is a factor, but on the other side of the spectrum. While Merritt and Quesnel are smaller than regulation, Surrey is larger. Instead of less time and space, there is MORE of it. This can be both good and bad. There is more room to beat the opposition, but also more room for the opposition to beat you. The Dogs must be ready and prepared for this. I don?t usually spend too much time worrying about or mentioning individuals, but BEWARE SCOTT KNOWLES. His numbers alone tell you he?s scary- 34 points already. What?s scary is his speed. Knowles can FLY and uses the big surface to his advantage.
Friday night?s pregame show from the South Surrey Arena kicks off at 6:45pm with the puck drop at 7:00pm. Catch all the action on your radio in the Alberni Valley on 93.3 The Peak FM, and anywhere in the world on your computer through the BCHL?s Fanzone at www.bchl.bc.ca
Saturday sees the Dogs facing the final team in the Coastal Conference that they haven?t seen yet this season, the Burnaby Express. The Express are quite a different team than the squad they iced last year and two years ago when they won the RBC. No more Kyle Turris (too bad we can?t watch him, but good thing the Dogs don?t have to defend him), no more Tyler McNeely, no more Jovan Matic. Possibly the biggest change is behind the bench, as Rick Lanz left the Express in the off season to take a head coaching job with the Victoria Grizzlies. Of course he never ended up in Victoria as just before training camp the NHL scooped him up. While Lanz is gone the general philosophies might remain as the Express promoted from within, naming former assistant Dave McLellan as the new Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations. The Express have gotten off to a respectable start in spite of all the turnover, sitting at 6 wins and 9 losses heading into this week. With that record the Express hold a one point lead on the Dogs for seventh in the Conference, in spite of playing two less games. The Dogs might be expecting lots of scoring chances going into this one, as Burnaby has given up the second most goals in the Coast on average, 4.70 goals against per game. The only team giving up more is Langley at 5.10 a game. The Express enter play this week on a three game losing streak, most recently in action Sunday afternoon at home where they were defeated 4-2 by the Vernon Vipers. The last Burnaby win was against- you guessed it- Vernon, on Saturday, October 13th. The night before that the Express were the first team this season to defeat the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in regulation time with a 3-2 win in Salmon Arm. The Dogs know firsthand how good Salmon Arm is so hopefully this keeps them on their toes about Burnaby is nothing else does. Before hosting the Dogs on Saturday Burnaby is home to Powell River on Friday night.
The Bill Copeland is usually a rink that lacks atmosphere. The Bulldogs must come ready to work for this one, and fired up before they even enter the rink as they will need to create their own atmosphere. This is a HUGE game with the Dogs being able to potentially leapfrog Burnaby, or fall further behind them, barring Friday?s results of course.
Friday?s pregame show from the Bill Copeland Arena is on the air at 7:15pm with the play-by-play just after 7:30. Catch the action on your radio on 93.3 The Peak FM in the Alberni Valley, or anywhere else in the world on your computer through the BCHL Fanzone at www.bchl.bc.ca
Sunday afternoon the Dogs make their first trip of the season to the George Preston Recreation Centre in Langley for their second meeting this season with the Langley Chiefs. It was quite the contest earlier this season when these teams hooked up at the Dog Pound on November 6th, as the Dogs raced out to a 3-0 lead by the final five minutes of the opening period. The Chiefs would make a change in net that would spark the team in a big way, as they scored three times in three minutes to erase the deficit before the Dogs knew what had hit them. The Chiefs would go up 5-4 late in the second, before building the lead to 6-4 with 9:06 left in regulation. Marcello Ranallo made it a 6-5 game with 4:21 left but the comeback bid came up short when Justin Smith scored into the empty net with 31 seconds to play, after several huge stops by Scott Orth in the Langley net in the last 90 seconds of the game protected the lead.
While the Chiefs have struggled defensively, giving up the most goals per game in the Conference as previously mentioned, they are extremely dangerous and talented in the other end- they have the most goals FOR average in the Coast at 4.50 per game. Simply said, what they lack in defence they make up for in offense.
One must hope that the Dogs learned a valuable lesson when they played Langley this season earlier at home- If you don?t play 60 minutes, if you take your foot off the gas, they?ll kill you. As evidenced by the three goal lead disappearing in three minutes. The Chiefs host Nanaimo on Thursday night before having Friday and Saturday off before the Dogs roll in Sunday afternoon. It would be a good idea for the Dogs to come out flying and get off to a good start in this one as I would expect them to be more ?game ready? than the Chiefs. On the other side of that, the Dogs should try at all costs to avoid a situation where they would need to stage a comeback in the latter stages of the game because the Chiefs will most likely have the energy advantage having two days off going into the game.
Sunday afternoon?s pregame show from the George Preston Recreation Centre is on the air at 1:45 with the puck drop at 2pm. Hear all the action on your radio on 93.3 The Peak FM in the
