Hot team, but no sizzle on power play
With at least a point in eight of their nine games this season — and wins in their last three — the Hamilton Bulldogs are among the hottest teams in the Ontario Hockey League right now. But what’s really incredible? They might’ve even been hotter if their power play wasn’t ice cold.
In the wake of Sunday’s comefrom-behind win in North Bay, the Bulldogs have scored on just four of 39 power play opportunities — or 10.3 per cent — while also sacrificing a pair of short-handed goals.
That’s worse than all but one team in the OHL — the last-place London Knights, who are at 10 per cent.
“We’ve got to get better,” said head coach John Gruden. “We’ve got to continue to push ourselves to get better; and it’s a good sign that we’re winning games with our power play not being very good right now, but we have to get better.”
The reason why this is important — aside from the fact that the Bulldogs haven’t done much scoring of any kind this season — is that even a single power play goal can make a big difference in close contests, which seem to be the team’s new M.O.
Of their first nine games, seven have been decided by a single goal, including two shootout losses and one in overtime. Score one more power play goal in even two of those outings and the Bulldogs would be at the top of the Eastern Conference — rather than three spots back in fourth. So what’s the problem? According to Gruden, it’s a lack of execution and being “too cute.” More specifically, he said, the puck isn’t being moved quickly enough — it has to be passed three or four times, with pace, before seams will start to open up.
“It seems like we’re just standing still and kind of forcing things,” he added.
Ben Gleason agreed: “Execution is definitely on the poor side right now,” adding “we need to connect our passes.”
He also suggested the team needs to continue working on its attack angles, opening up for one-
timers and making quick backdoor plays, as well as start communicating better along the wall.
“We know we’re at the bottom of the list right now, but we’re working our way up. That’s how we started last year,” added the longtime power-play quarterback.
Interestingly, Gleason, 19, wasn’t the only one of his teammates to mention this. The truth is, though, this is easily the worst start for the power-play unit in the team’s threeyear history in Hamilton.
Twelve months ago, the Bulldogs were 6-for-39 or 15.4 per cent with the extra man in their first nine games. That landed them in the bottom half of the league, but it was still significantly better than their current rate. A year before that, right after they had relocated from Belleville and had the youngest roster in the OHL, they were 9-for-40 to start the campaign, or 22.5 per cent.
Regardless of the numbers, no one appears to be panicking. Centre Connor Roberts called the trend “definitely not terrible,” although he admitted the team does have work to do on its break-ins.
And winger Will Bitten, when asked why the team is having trouble finishing on the power play, said: “I don’t know. I guess we don’t need to. We’re winning games, right? So that’s all that matters.” NOTES: Connor McMichael will represent Canada at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in B.C. next month. The Bulldogs rookie will join president and general manager Steve Staios at the tournament — he was named to the program’s management group by Hockey Canada back in May. Two local players — Millgrove’s Mitchell Brewer and Hamilton’s Jamieson Rees — also made the cut, along with Staios’s son, Nathan.