Road race may put playoffs for Bulldogs on the road

With less than eight weeks to go in the regular-season, the Hamilton Bulldogs are at the top of their conference and well on their way to securing home ice advantage in the playoffs — at least in theory.

In practice, they’ll likely start their first round series on the road.

The reason for the snafu is a scheduling conflict. The team’s downtown home, FirstOntario Centre, is booked for the Around the Bay Road Race between March 22 and 25, which is the same weekend the OHL playoffs start.

“It’s unfortunate, it really is,” said Bulldogs president Steve Staios. “It’s something that we’ll have to work around and when the playoff dates from the league come out, we’ll try and manage our schedule accordingly in and around it.”

The race, which includes both 5 km and 30 km courses, is always run in late March and has finished inside FirstOntario Centre for more than a decade. But it hasn’t previously overlapped with the team’s playoff schedule.

A year ago, the Bulldogs failed to earn home ice advantage. They missed the post-season entirely the year before that — their first in the OHL.

Staios most recently met with race organizers in September to talk about what could be done in the case of a conflict. The team was given the option to adjust, for instance, the move-in times for vendors, which would have allowed it to remain in the rink an extra day or two. But that came at a cost and Staios didn’t commit. It was too early to know then whether the team would even be in contention.

Now it’s too late to make changes. “I’m sure the Bulldogs are thinking about this and coming up with a Plan B,” said race director Anna Lewis. Staios said he is. Plan C, too. Starting on the road, of course, is one possibility (teams with home ice advantage typically host Games 1 and 2 and, if necessary, Games 5 and 7). So is simply playing home games somewhere else.

“We need a venue to play, so whether it’s in Hamilton or in and around, we’re not quite sure, but certainly we’ll look at all options,” he said.

In any case, the Bulldogs won’t be able to make a decision until the OHL determines its first round schedule (the league circulates a memo at the end of the regular-season to let teams know what dates are available). The onus is then on them to work out a solution with their opponent. The Bulldogs aren’t the first to deal with this issue. Last March, the Erie Otters had home ice advantage in their first round series against Sarnia, but played Game 2 on the road because of a conflict at their rink. They wound up sweeping the Sting and went on to win the OHL championship. Head coach John Gruden said it shouldn’t matter whether the Bulldogs are playing at FirstOntario Centre “or in a backyard somewhere.” They should be good enough to win regardless.

Will Bitten agreed. “We want to finish first, we need that home ice advantage, but if we don’t get it because of that, we won’t make any excuses,” the Bulldogs forward added.

One thing both the team and organizers insist on is the issue is with the venue, not the venue occupants. Staios called the race “an amazing event for the city,” while Lewis wants the best for the Bulldogs. “We want them to make the playoffs, we want them to have home ice advantage, but both of us have longstanding roots in Hamilton,” she said.