The Bulldogs began their four game in five day road trip Wednesday night in Trail.
They started this game well, taking a 1-0 lead after one when Jackson Garrett potted a rebound on the power play off an Eliot Raibl point shot. Sam Mitchell also picked up an assist on the play 12:55 into the first. The score stayed tied all the way until the late stages of the second when the Smokies tied it up on an odd goal where Jayson Reardon flipped the puck out of the Smokes zone high in the air where it bounced at the Bulldog blue line. It would hop over the stick of the Bulldog defenceman and end up right at the net where Travis St. Denis found the loose puck and roofed it over the glove of Colin Rundell for a 1-1 tie with 1:57 left in the second period. The third period saw the Smokies take their first lead of the game scoring a four on four goal as Paul Mailey swiped a backhand at the net that went through the legs of Rundell with 5:59 gone in the third. Ryan Bulach picked up the only assist on the play. Shortly afterwards things weren?t looking good for the Dogs when they took a bench minor for too many men that saw them erase their own power play chance. The Dogs would atone for the penalty though by scoring on it on a great shorthanded set up by Zack Mazo, sending a cross ice pass to Mitch MacMillan in the slot on an odd man rush where he one-timed it past Marco Raimondo to tie the game at 2-2 8:30 into the third. The score stayed tied until the Smokies got the eventual game winner with 4:17 to play on a beautiful tic-tac-toe three way passing play on the rush as Riley Loyst sent a cross-ice pass to Adam Gummer in the right circle who in turn found Sean Nugent streaking to the net off the back post where he just beat a sliding Colin Rundell to make it 3-2. The Dogs best chance to tie it came with 1:30 left in regulation as Mitch MacMillan set up Evan Witt on a 2 on 1 rush as he was able to deke to the net but he couldn?t beat Raimondo. The Dogs would end up with a power play opportunity off the chance, but they were unable to score the equalizer as the Smoke Eaters held on for the 3-2 win and the Dogs losing streak stretched to 11 games.
Final shots favoured Trail 30-29 with Colin Rundell and Marco Raimondo being the goalies of record. The Dogs were 1 for 5 on the power play while also scoring once shorthanded. The Smoke Eaters were 0 for 5.
After a travel day Thursday, the Dogs took to the ice Friday at the brand new South Okanagan Events Centre to face the Vees. Penticton would take a 1-0 lead on the power play when Travis Ouellette roofed a rebound in front after an initial save by Matthew Wong on a point shot through traffic. Garrett Milan and Zack Josepher picked up the assists on the goal at the 9:18 mark of the first. Later in the first period of play the Dogs went to the penalty box when Mitch MacMillan picked up a five minute major for checking from behind. The Dogs killed the first three minutes of the penalty as the first period ended, but the Vees would make it 2-0 just 25 seconds into period two when Garrett Milan found a rebound in front and jammed it by Matthew Wong. Ryan Viselli and Travis Ouellette picked up the assists on the play. The Dogs would then fall into a 3-0 hole as it was Viselli sent a beautiful cross ice pass to Milan on a 2 on 1 where he scored his second of the night on a nice move to the backhand. Nathan Westover would also pick up an assist on the play 3:50 into the second period. The Vees built the lead to 4-0 in the third period when Milan scored his third of the night, batting a rebound in mid air past Matthew Wong 7:39 into the third. Ryan Viselli and Travis Ouellette picked up the assists. The only bright spot for the Dogs on the night would be breaking Sean Bonar?s shutout bid with 15 seconds left to make the final score 4-1. Kevin Ross would get the goal on a nice 5 on 3 power play set up by Evan Witt and Warren Muir.
Final shots favoured the Vees 30-28 with Matthew Wong and Sean Bonar being the goalies of record. The Dogs were 1 for 4 on the power play while the Vees were 2 for 4.
Saturday saw the Bulldogs visiting the Silverbacks in Salmon Arm. Not that they hadn?t put enough miles on the tires already, a road trip that usually takes an hour at the most from Penticton to Kelowna ended up taking over four hours with the closure of Highway 97 as the Dogs were forced to take a long detour. It didn?t appear to affect them though, as they came out and had one of the best starts in recent memory outshooting the Silverbacks 6-0 early in the game. A controversial play would see the Silverbacks taking a 1-0 lead when they would be awarded a goal off a faceoff on a quick shot that went through Colin Rundell. There would be no goal awarded initially, but play would continue momentarily until the Dogs iced the puck. After a conference with the goal judge and one of his linesman, referee Jim Ingram would award the Silverbacks a goal on the play. Devin Gannon would get credit for the goal, with the only assist going to Brett Knowles at the 12:35 mark of the first as Salmon Arm led 1-0 after one. The Dogs kept up the pace in the second , and they were finally rewarded 5:23 into the period when Zack Mazo ripped a shot high short side on the rush for a 1-1 tie. Assists on the play went to Brett Mohler and Chris Moulson. The Dogs then made it 2-1 later in the period as they killed off a Silverback power play and then got on the board seconds later as Evan Witt found a rebound in front and jammed it past Tony Ierfino. Assists on the play went to Johnny Rogic and Kevin Ross at the 14:43 mark of the second. Mitch MacMillan was the Bulldog that put the initial shot on goal, but he ended up with no assist on the play. Before the period was out the Dogs built the lead to 3-1 when Zack Mazo stepped out from behind the goal and jammed in his own rebound off a wrap around attempt. Assists on the play went to Mitch MacMillan and Chris Moulson with just 51 seconds left in the period as the Dogs led 3-1 after two. The only goal of the third came from the Silverbacks in the late stages of the third, as Keenan Desmet found a rebound just after a power play chance had elapsed and roofed it over Colin Rundell with 2:28 to play in the third. Assists went to Jason Beattie and Ashford McMaster. The Silverbacks would push for the equalizer, but even with a 6 on 4 power play in the final minute they couldn?t find the net as the Dogs held on for the win.
Final shots favoured the Dogs 33-24 with Colin Rundell picking up the win and first star honours. Tony Ierfino took the loss in goal for Salmon Arm. The Dogs were 0 for 8 on the power play while the Silverbacks were 0 for 7.
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