The Bulldogs weekend schedule features two games on the road that bookend one at home on Saturday. Friday night the Dogs are on the road to Victoria, they are home to Powell River Saturday, and they are in Nanaimo Sunday afternoon.
The Grizzlies and Bulldogs will meet for the sixth time Friday night, which is the same as the Friday before it when they met in Port Alberni because it will again the most head to head games for the Dogs against any one team – six. This Friday the action will shift back to Victoria, after the Dogs won 4-2 at the Pound last Friday. With the win the Dogs raised their record head to head against the Grizz to three wins, a loss, and a tie in five games. The Bulldogs won?t have too fond of memories from their last game at Bear Mountain Arena, a 3-0 Victoria win, the only time the Bulldogs have been shut out this season.
The Grizzlies were last in action on Wednesday when they topped the Clippers 7-4 at the Frank Crane Arena for their second win in a row. Victoria took a 2-0 lead into the room after the first on goals from Wade Murphy and Madison Dias two minutes apart at the midway point of the opening frame. The Clippers would roar back with two power play goals by the five minute mark of the second to tie the game at 2-2. Victoria would lead 3-2 heading into the third after Dustin Mowrey scored in the final minutes of the period. A wild third period that featured six goals was kicked off when Graeme Mccormick scored on the power play before the period was thirty seconds old to make it 4-2 Grizz. The Clippers would get back within one just two minutes later, but the Grizzlies made it 5-3 on the power play when Dustin Mowrey picked up his second of the game with ten minutes left. Just ten seconds later the Clippers would again pull back within one with a shorthanded marker. Yet again the Grizz were back up by two, with Mowrey completing the hat trick less than a minute later to make it 6-4. Two minutes after that former Clipper Brandon Fagerheim gave Victoria the first three goal lead of the night with a shorthanded goal of his own for the 7-4 final.
Shots favoured the Clippers 36-30 with Ryan Holfeld picking up the win in net. Special teams were all over the board, with the Grizzlies going 3 for 7 on the power play while the Clippers were 2 for 8. Both teams also scored once shorthanded.
With the win, the Grizzlies tied the Clippers for 4th in the Coastal Conference with a record of 15-10-2 and 3, good for 35 points. The Grizzlies trail the third placed Powell River Kings by two points with a game in hand. The Bulldogs sit tied with the Surrey Eagles for the Coastal Conference lead with a record of 20-8-1 and 2, good for 43 points. The Dogs have played one less game than Surrey, who play in Nanaimo Friday night. On the line for the Dogs is their five game winning streak. They haven?t won six in a row since 2005-2006. The Grizzlies have won two in a row.
The Broadcast begins with the pregame show on 93.3 The Peak FM at 7:00 with the puck dropping at 7:15pm. Listen live on 93.3 The Peak or www.933thepeak.com and watch live through the Pay Per View Broadcast through BCHL Web TV
The Powell River Kings will bring a record of 16-10-1 and 4 into play Friday night when they visit the Cowichan Valley Capitals looking for their third straight win after ending November with wins in Burnaby and Langley last weekend. The Dogs and Kings last met Friday November the 13th at the Dog Pound when Mitch MacMillan scored to win the game in double overtime 3-2 as the Dogs came back from a 2-0 second perio deficit on King goals from Steve Axford and Jordan Grant. Mitch MacMillan and Kevin Ross would score two goals in the final two minutes of the second to tie the game up. The third period and first overtime would settle nothing. In double overtime Josh Watson came up on a penalty shot to keep the game going, but the Dogs scored on a scramble on the ensuing face off for their first win against the Kings.
Saturday is the Beaver Creek R/C ?Teddy Bear Toss? where fans are encouraged to bring a stuffed plush of any type to throw on the ice when the Dogs score their first goal. Teddy Bears will also be on sale if you don?t bring one for $8.00, with those proceeds going to the Salvation Army Angel Tree. Next week the Bulldog players will be hand delivering the goods to those young and old at West Coast General Hospital, Echo Village, Fir Park, Kuu-us Crisis Services and the Salvation Army.
Get it all on 93.3 The Peak FM with the pregame show at 6:45 and the play-by-play at 7:00
The weekend ends Sunday afternoon when the Dogs make their second visit of the season to the Frank Crane Arena in Nanaimo. The Clippers enter play Friday with a record of 15-10-1 and 4, good for 35 points and the aforementioned fourth place tie with Victoria.
The AVB won the only earlier meeting at the Frank Crane on October 23rd 2-1 in on a Johnny Rogic double OT winner. These teams most recently met almost a month later, a 4-3 double OT win for the Clippers at the Pound on November 20th. The season series is a close one, with the Dogs holding a record of 2-0-0-2 good for six points. The Clippers are 2-1-0-1 for five points. Before hosting the Dogs on Sunday the Clippers see action on Friday when Surrey is in town. They are idle Saturday night, so expect them to try and jump on the Bulldogs early. With the Clippers winning the last two games on Alberni ice in overtime, I?d expect the Dogs wouldn?t have to look to far for the motivation needed to get up for this one on the end of a weekend.
Game time is 3:00 so that means the broadcast begins with the pregame show on 93.3 The Peak FM at 2:45. Listen live on 93.3 The Peak or www.933thepeak.com
It?s a big weekend for the Dogs with six big points on the line in three big four point games as they take on the top half of the Coastal Conference. The Dogs will have to be at their best if they want to hold onto their first place spot in the standings.
