What a difference a week makes. The Dogs returned from a four game road trip last weekend where they went 1 and 3 and competed hard but just didn?t have that extra push needed to turn a competitive effort into a winning one.
Cue a major shakeup in team?s leadership structure as the coaching staff and management said that they weren?t ready to give up on this team and they believed that the potential was here for a winner. Two games later against the top two teams in the league and two come from behind victories later, the moves look like pretty smart ones.
Game one of the week saw the Nanaimo Clippers at the pound for the first time this season on Thursday night. The game didn?t start all that bad but the Clippers quickly made the Dogs pay for taking penalties as Brodie Zuk made it 1-0 at the 10:55 mark on the power play. This was an odd play and a good bounce for Nanaimo, as Matt Irwin misfired on the one-timer from the right point. That shot bounced off of Brad McConnell and right onto the tape of Zuk who had nothing but net to shoot at and he made no mistake. Less than five minutes later it was Eric Filiou scoring into the wide open side, this one created by Russell Goodman going to the net and ending up on top of Harrison May. May had no chance as Filiou tapped it in for the 2-0 Clippers lead from Goodman and Mikael Bedard at the 16:44 mark on the power play again. The Clippers made that lead 3-0 just 1:17 into period two as Brad McConnell picked up the end-board bounce of a Kevin Noble point shot that went wide. McConnell quickly wrapped it around into the far corner before May could recover with assists to Noble and Bedard as even the most diehard of Bulldog fans might not have believed a win would?ve been possible for the home side at this point. Good thing the Bulldogs didn?t give up though. Instead they chipped away and dug in, and finally got some momentum and the crowd into the game. That in turn led to sustained pressure, which in turn led to a Bulldog power play chance. On that power play it was Josh Pineiro getting the Dogs on the board with his first BCHL goal getting a quick wrist shot away from the high slot past the glove side of Michael Garman to trim the gap to 3-1. The lone assist on the power play goal went to Lee Patzer 11:36 into the second. Three minutes later the pound was really rocking as the Dogs were within one with Sawyer Eichel one-timing a cross ice pass home from the top of the crease as Marcello Ranallo saved the puck near the Clipper blue line as it looked like it was headed out. Kevin Ross would draw the second assist on the play as it was 3-2 with 5:09 left in period two and into the third period. Early in the third the Dogs tied it up at 3-3 as Isaac Smeltzer took a pass from Chris Moulson from behind the goal and one-timed a shot from the right side through the five hole of Michael Garman with Moulson and Kerr drawing the assists on the second Bulldog power play marker of the game. The Dogs kept the momentum going and then got a fortunate bounce of their own seven minutes later, again on the power play, as a centering pass hit something and found Lee Patzer, sitting unmarked on the top of the Clipper crease. Patzer showed great patience as he pulled the puck to his backhand and lifted it into the open side, sending the Pound crowd into a frenzy and giving the Bulldogs four straight goals for a 4-3 lead. Chris Moulson and Isaac Smeltzer drew the assists on the goal at the 9:56 mark. The crowd went from frenzied to incensed mere seconds later as Shane Malone retaliated to a Mikael Bedard slash. What looked like a double minor at the most somehow turned into a NINE MINUTE penalty to Malone. Nothing good will come of me saying anything more about this one. Anyone that was there knows, from both sides of the puck. The end result was Nanaimo going on a seven minute power play in the final 10 minutes of the game looking for the tying goal. The boo birds would be out seconds afterwards as the Clippers would tie it up at 4-4 with a nice tip in by Brad McConnell on a Matt Irwin point shot, with Eric Filiou getting the second assist with 8:47 left in regulation. The Dogs weren?t out of the woods yet with still more than six minutes remaining on the Clipper power play as they looked for the go ahead marker. The Dogs would dig in on the penalty kill though and with the help of the home crowd held the game at 4-4 killing off the remainder of the penalty as the fans in the pound showed their approval with a roaring standing ovation. The remainder of regulation time would see no scoring as through 60 minutes the score was deadlocked and overtime would be needed. The sudden death hockey wasn?t what I had expected as through the first overtime and into double overtime it appeared that both teams were trying more to not LOSE rather than trying to WIN, as both sides were playing very cautious and patient. With 1:21 left in the second overtime, Josh Pineiro tried to dance by Kevin Noble at the Clipper blue line and ended up drawing a penalty call as he was caught with a knee as he tried to slip by. Of course that penalty resulted in the automatic penalty shot. Pineiro would end up looking like a 50 goal man, not a BCHL rookie who had scored his first career goal earlier in the night, as he used Detroit Red Wing Pavel Datsyuk?s signature move faking and pulling the puck laterally right to left and lifting it into the open side to score one of the all-time beauties in Dog-Pound history for the 5-4 Bulldog win. Shots favoured Nanaimo 42-31 with Harrison May getting the win in goal. Michael Garman took the loss in net for the Clippers. The Dogs were 3 for 5 on the power play while the Clippers were 3 for 9.
One note of mention would be a game-saver by Isaac Smeltzer as time ticked away in the second period, as after the Dogs had made it a 3-2 game. Smeltzer fell across the goal line and prevented what looked like a sure goal on an attempted wrap around. Not to say that the team couldn?t have come back from that, but it would?ve been a tough one to take.
With the win the Dogs are still the only team to beat the Clippers this season, and now they?ve beaten them twice, home and road. It was the first Clippers road loss of the season.
The Dogs had Friday off before hosting the high-flying Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Saturday night. Salmon Arm was indeed high-flying, coming into the pound after two straight wins on the Island in Victoria and Cowichan, scoring 14 times in two games. The Dogs would get off to a quick start in this one, as Marcello Ranallo put a shot past Jason Horstman from the left point on a 5 on 3 power play just 3:54 in for a 1-0 Dog lead. No assist was given on the play but there should?ve been at least one with the cross-ice pass across the blue line. The Dogs would later kill off a 5 on 3 for Salmon Arm to hold the 1-0 lead, but it would be their own power play that would be their undoing in the final minutes of the first with Evan Pighin carrying the puck 1 on 1 over the Dogs blue line and cutting from left to right. Pighin put a quick low shot back inside the left post for the shorthanded marker and a 1-1 tie with 1:07 left in the first. No assists were given on this goal as well as it was 1-1 into period two. Early in the second it was Pighin again making it 2-1 Salmon Arm as he took a pass on the top of the crease on an odd-man rush and slid it past May with Jeff Smith and Ryan Forgaard getting the assists at the 3:29 mark. It would be Pighin completing the natural hat trick with 2:30 left in the second as he picked up a bounce off a Damon Kipp shot from the high slot that had hit the cross bar and deposited it into the open net. Kipp oddly wouldn?t get an assist on the play as they went to Derek Lee and Hank Van Boxmeer as it was 3-1 Salmon Arm after two. Cue the Dogs
