Friday saw the Bulldogs visit the Grizzlies at the Bear Mountain Arena for the final meeting between the clubs this season. The Grizzlies would draw first blood when the Bulldogs got caught on a line change by a perfect pass from Jonathan Milhouse from his own zone to Justin Courtnall at centre ice behind the Bulldogs defence.
In on the breakaway , Courtnall would put a smooth move on May going to the backhand before sliding it through the five hole for a 1-0 Grizzlies lead 7:16 into the first. The Bulldogs would tie it three minutes later when Marcello Ranallo brought the puck over the Grizzlies blue line and found Evan Witt behind the defence with a perfect pass. Witt would get a shot up and over the glove arm of Matthew Wong as the game was tied at 1-1 10:31 into the first. The score stayed 1-1 with the Grizzlies on the power play early in the second when Harrison May made a huge save coming across his crease to get a pad on a wide open net chance for Keenan Desmet. The Grizzlies would take the lead shortly afterwards though when Brad Reid put a cross-slot pass onto the tape of Jordan Zalba who had no problems hitting the open net for a 2-1 Victoria lead 10:50 into period two. Tyler Matheson also picked up an assist on the play. Just 1:04 later the Grizzlies struck again to lead 3-1 as Justin Courtnall dished off to Cam Reid in the right circle, who ripped a shot high past May at the 11:54 mark. Patrick Sails got the second assist. The Grizzlies lead would be 4-1 with 1:51 left in the period when Keenan Desmet found Jonathan Milhouse on the left wing boards in the Dogs zone. Milhouse would then throw a perfect cross ice pass onto the tape of a streaking Ashford McMaster coming off the right point, and he made no mistake in one-timing it into the open side before Harrison May could get over. The Grizzlies built the lead to 5-1 early in the third on a goal similar to the 3-1 goal as Jonathan Milhouse found Mike Hammond off the left post with a pass. Hammond would then send a feed cross-crease to Jordan Heywood who jammed it into the open side coming down from the right point. The goal came 3:26 into the third. That would do it for Harrison May?s night as two whistles later Braeden Johnson entered the game to tend the Bulldog net. The Dogs would go to a power play moments later, and with another penalty on the way to Victoria Chris Moulson brought the puck over the Grizzlies blue line and out waited Matthew Wong before dragging the puck around the goaltender and tapping it into the open net to trim the gap to 5-2 6:06 into the third. Lee Patzer picked up the only assist on the play. Penalties back and forth took most of the flow out of the game for the remainder, but it did result in several goals. First it was Daniel Moriarty making it 5-3 with 7:05 remaining as he walked out of the right corner and tucked it around the far side of Matthew Wong. Evan Witt and Marcello Ranallo picked up the assists on the power play goal. Minutes later the Grizzlies fired back with a power play goal of their own as Jordan Heywood scored his second of the game as he picked up a pass in the right circle and roofed it short side on Braeden Johnson. Jonathan Milhouse and Shaun Stuart picked up the assists as it was 6-3 Grizzlies with 4:45 left for the eventual final score. The end of the game was uneventful on the scoreboard but the linesmen got a workout as they were called on to break up several scraps as the Dogs appeared to be frustrated with how the night went. Final shots favoured Victoria 36-16 with Matthew Wong being for the most part untested in getting the win in the Victoria net. Harrison May took the loss giving up 5 goals before giving way to Braeden Johnson in the third. The Bulldogs went 2 for 7 on the power play while the Grizzlies were 2 for 6.
The Bulldogs returned home Saturday night to host the Westside Warriors, and this game started with a bang as Josh Pineiro made it 1-0 just 3:18 into the game as his power play point shot hit something and changed direction before going through the legs of Stephen Caple. Chris Moulson and Mark Morikawa picked up the assists on the play. Lee Patzer should?ve received an assist on the play as he was the man who got the puck back to Pineiro. The lead was short-lived as just 35 seconds later Westside evened the game at 1-1 as Justin Schultz set up Trevor Bailey in the slot at the 3:53 mark. The Bulldogs would again go ahead 1:50 later as Daniel Moriarty attempted a pass to the slot from below the goal line that was initially blocked. The puck came right back to him, and he was successful in his second pass attempt as he found Jordan Principalli in the slot driving the net from the blue line. Principalli would one-time it far side past Caple for a 2-1 Bulldog lead at the 5:43 mark of the first. The score would stay 2-1 all the way until the last five minutes of the second when the game would change. First the Warriors would tie the game at 2-2 when Trevor Bailey walked out of the right hand corner and put a perfect shot under the bar short side on Harrison May for a 2-2 tie with 3:40 to go in the period. Clinton Pettapiece and Brad Plumton picked up the assists on the power play goal. Just seconds later, Adam Baldassarre would be given a five minute major for boarding on a hit at centre ice. When all the dust settled, the teams played four aside for two minutes before the Warriors went to a three minute power play for the remainder of the major. With just 35 seconds left in the period the Warriors scored the eventual game winner as Harrison May stopped a Clinton Pettapiece wrap around but he couldn?t get a hold of the rebound as an un-marked David Arduin chipped it up and over for a 3-2 Warriors lead. Daman Milsom also picked up an assist on the goal. The score stayed 3-2 in the third period as the Bulldogs failed to connect on a 5 on 3 power play chance with thirteen minutes to go in the game. Minutes later, the Warriors took a two goal lead as they found the net on the power play with pretty passing seeing the puck move from right point to left point across the blue line then back cross-ice to the back door for the one-timer by Pierre Girard. Cory Pritz and Justin Schultz picked up the assists at 13:51 as it was 4-2 Westside. The Bulldogs would have another great chance to make a game of it as with 2:41 to play they went to another two man advantage as Stephen Caple played the puck over the glass. The Bulldog coaching staff would go for broke, pulling Harrison May for an extra attacker to make it a 6 on 3 advantage. They still wouldn?t be able to find the net behind Caple though, as the Warriors killed it off. The final salt in the wound came in the form of an empty net goal as Clinton Pettapiece exited the penalty box and picked up the clearing attempt and tapped it into the open goal for the 5-2 final. Shots favoured W
