BULLDOGS TAKE THE FIRST BITE
Loss in playoff opener can’t minimize value of 67’s learning they can hang with this club
The Hamilton Bulldogs placed eighth among all Canadian Hockey League teams in the final top 10 rankings for 2017-18.
The Ottawa 67’s ranked eighth as well, the colossal difference being that the 67’s were eighth in only the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference standings.
Against all odds, the upstart 67’s gave the high-flying Bulldogs all they could handle Thursday night. But two goals and a threepoint night by 67’s defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer still weren’t enough as the Bulldogs claimed Game 1 of the OHL best-of-seven conference quarter-final 6-3 before a crowd of 3,375 at First Ontario Centre in downtown Hamilton.
Bulldogs Brandon Saigeon and Robbie Thomas, the latter a firstround pick by the St. Louis Blues, each scored a pair of goals and the teams will now take two days off before resuming play Sunday night, again in Hamilton. Then the series shifts to the Arena at TD Place for games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
After losing all five regular-season meetings with the Bulldogs, the 67’s needed a confidence boost going into the series and should draw something from the Game 1 defeat.
Right from the opening drop of the puck, the 67’s had tremendous jump, taking the play to the Bulldogs and holding a wide margin in shots until the latter stages of the first period.
The hard work paid off with the 67’s on the power play with Sam Bitten getting the one-up on his older brother Will of the Bulldogs, backhanding a loose puck from close in past Hamilton goaltender Kaden Fulcher at 13:16.
That lead lasted more than four minutes until Hamilton’s Matthew Strome, a 37-goal scorer in the regular season, answered at 17:45 with 67’s defenceman Merrick Rippon serving a minor.
Staying away from penalties is one of the things the 67’s have to do against a Hamilton power play that was third-best in the OHL, scoring at a 24.6 per cent rate — or, better put, scoring on one of every four power plays.
“We came out and executed our game plan,” 67’s offensive sparkplug Sasha Chmelevski said. “We did a great job to get that first one.”
The Bulldogs regrouped in the first intermission and Benjamin Gleason put the home side up a goal just 1:29 into the middle frame, beating 67’s netminder Olivier Tremblay.
The Bulldogs just kept pouring on the pressure.
“We don’t want to let Ottawa think they’re in it,” Hamilton head coach John Gruden said before the game. “Ottawa has continued to get better and they have outstanding speed.
“But we have done a pretty good job countering their speed, and we do have a little older lineup.”
The Bulldogs certainly slowed Ottawa in the second, holding the 67’s without a shot on goal past the midway point of the middle period.
It took a Hamilton penalty for the 67’s to get their first. Hoefenmayer made it count, with a bomb from the point to square it at 2-2.
Hoefenmayer loves the postseason. The goal is his third in seven playoff games, giving him eight career playoff points.
Five minutes later, Hamilton’s Thomas beat Tremblay from in close on a rebound.
The goal preceded a minor altercation in front of the 67’s bench and came just moments after a Hamilton forward levelled 67’s defenceman Kevin Bahl from behind. Bahl left the game and did not return. His status for Game 2 wasn’t known.
The 67’s didn’t take long to draw even again, with Hoefenmayer jamming the puck past Fulcher at 16:06. But 43 seconds later, Saigeon took a terrific blind pass from Thomas and Tremblay was caught out of position.
Saigeon scored his second of the game at 8:16 into the third on a power play, and the Bulldogs kept Ottawa off the board with Thomas scoring his second into the empty net in the final minute.