The Dogs week of action began in earnest on Tuesday night at home as they hosted the Victoria Grizzlies at the Pound. The Dogs came out flying early generating several glorious chances on their first couple of shifts, but Matthew Wong was rock solid- a sign of things to come.
Moments later the Dogs were sent to the penalty box and the Grizzlies went to the power play. They wasted no time with the man advantage, as Sean Stuart was set up on a pass back to the top of the right circle. Stuart snapped a quick shot high and under the bar glove side on David Aime for the 1-0 Grizzlies lead 4:21 in with the assists going to Brian Nugent and Grant Toulmin. Less than a minute later the Dogs were given a glorious chance to get back in the game, as Robbie Bailey was given a five minute major penalty for hitting Isaac Smeltzer from behind (into an open bench door, no less) at neutral ice. The Dogs would attack for a good portion of the power play, but they were unable to find the net before a costly turnover saw Justin Courtnall send Garry Nunn on a shorthanded breakaway from the Victoria blue line and in. Nunn put a beauty move and finish on David Aime, going backhand-shelf for the 2-0 heartbreaker. Courtnall and Ashford McMaster were added as the assistors on the goal in the first intermission. The goal came at the 9:14 mark of the first. Into period two, the Dogs gave the wrong guy a breakaway again, as Justin Courtnall sent Garry Nunn in alone again, as Courtnall took a hit from a Bulldogs defenseman who had stepped up on his own blue line to send Nunn in alone. Again Nunn made no mistake, dodging an Aime poke check to make it 3-0 Grizzlies 3:31 into the second. Justin Courtnall and Jonathan Milhouse picked up the assists. Minutes later, it was the same scoring play, as a Bulldog defender again stepped up in neutral ice. The resulting 2 on 1 chance for Victoria saw Nunn score on what LOOKED like an attempted cross-crease pass. Instead, the puck hit the stick of the diving Bulldog defender and deflected through the legs of Aime, proving that when it?s going right it goes right and when it?s going wrong it goes wrong. Again it was Courtnall and Milhouse assisting on Nunn?s third of the night, 5:54 into the second for a 4-0 Victoria lead. That would be the end of David Aime?s night as Harrison May came in off the bench. May was greeted moments later by another long 2 on 1 rush where he made a good glove save to keep the game 4-0 Victoria after two periods. The Grizzlies would build the Dogs lead to 5-0 on an odd man rush early in the third as this time it was Garry Nunn setting up Justin Courtnall with a cross ice pass that he put into the open side before May could get over. Jonathan Milhouse again picked up the second assist on the play, 4:17 into period three. The Dogs would come right back to break the shutout bid of Wong as Daniel Moriarty would put a shot on goal that resulted in a rebound that Evan Michalchuk pounced on in the right circle. Marcello Ranallo picked up the other assist on the play at the 5:02 mark. That would be as close as the Dogs would get though, as the Grizzlies walked out of the pound with the 5-1 win. Final shots actually favoured the Dogs in this one 42-39, but it was the quality of chances given up that was a problem- 2 breakaways ended up in the back of the net, and a couple of 2 on 1 rushes ended up in the back of the net. If the Dogs were guilty of anything it was pushing too hard on the offensive side of the puck and not getting back hard enough or staying in good enough position to not give the Grizzlies chances the other way. The Grizzlies were exactly as advertised and expected coming in, at least in my opinion. They were fast skating, and killers in transition from defence to offence. Matthew Wong was very good in goal again. Special teams were also a difference in this one, with the Dogs going 0 for 4 on the power play while also giving up the eventual game winner shorthanded. The Grizzlies were 1 for 4 on the power play.
The Dogs next opponent was the Clippers in Nanaimo on Friday night. The game couldn?t have started any better for the Dogs, or so it appeared, as they went to three straight power plays in the opening minutes with the Clippers taking three straight penalties- two bench minors for too many men, and then a minor penalty. The first power play threatened but the second two got progressively worse. If anything they lost momentum on the third power play, as they were unable to even gain the Nanaimo zone for the most part as the Clippers came out with the momentum in the end as opposed to the Dogs. That was built shortly afterwards as the Clippers would go up 1-0 at the 11:46 mark as AJ Gale was set up right on the top of the crease where he one-timed it under the bar past Harrison May. Russell Goodman and Matt Irwin picked up the assists. A broken play off a face off would see the Clippers score a crucial late period goal to go up 2-0 after one as Russell Goodman was allowed to walk right to the net where he put a beauty backhand shot short-side for a 2-0 lead with 54 seconds to play in the period. AJ Gale and Eric Filiou picked up the assists. The Clippers built the lead to 3-0 off of another face off in the Dogs zone 5:13 into the second where Tyler Pistone put the draw onto the tape of Bryden McGhee who sent it back to the top of the point for Matt Irwin who put a point shot off of something in the slot and in. The Dogs would battle hard to get on the board with a beautiful power play marker at the 7:44 mark as Josh Pineiro took a pass from the right corner from Daniel Moriarty. From the right point Pineiro found Lee Patzer on the backdoor where he would slide it into the open side for a 3-1 game. The Dogs wouldn?t be able to further build on the momentum as they would then get in penalty trouble, taking two straight penalties. The Dogs would kill off the back to back minors, but before they could get out of their zone it was a 4-1 game as Bryden McGhee scored on a short side snapper high blocker side on May with 7:16 left in the period with Justin Favreau and Tim Holloway getting the assists. Harrison May would make a circus pad-stack stop to keep it 4-1, but another late period goal came off a 2 on 1 rush with 2:07 remaining as Russell Goodman sent AJ Gale up ice. Gale would send a perfect pass from the left circle to a streaking Eric Filiou up the right side and he would make no mistake going high glove side for a 5-1 Clippers lead after two. The Dogs would come out flying in the third and they got on the board before the ice was even dry as Daniel Moriarty threw the puck out front to Evan Michalchuk, who put a shot on net. Marcello Ra
