Mystery deepens as Bulldogs struggle
The Hamilton Bulldogs are supposed to be one of the best teams in the Ontario Hockey League.
So, why aren’t they playing like it? “It’s tough to say,” said Justin Lemcke.
“I don’t know,” added John Gruden.
Believe it or not, the captain and the coach aren’t dodging. Over the past few weeks the club has oscillated between terrific and terrible and there really is no simple reason why.
Since the start of February, the Bulldogs are a disappointing 4-6 and have just a single win against teams in the top half of the league standings. They’re still on top of the eastern conference, but their lead has evaporated to four points as a result.
“I think one of the things is it has to do with the opponents a bit, because it’s been a tough schedule,” explained Gruden. “At the end of the day we all need to look in the mirror and figure out what’s more important, personal stats or team stats. I think that has something to do with it.” Lemcke agreed.
“It’s just getting everybody on board and willing to go every night and play a role,” he says. “Not everyone is going to be a top guy when we have so many good players, myself included, so it’s about playing hard and doing what you’re asked to do.”
The latest letdown was a 4-3 loss to Owen Sound on Monday in a game the Bulldogs initially controlled. Then, early in the second period, they got sloppy and took some bad penalties. The Attack pounced.
It isn’t the first time discipline has been an issue for the club — one exacerbated by a slumping penalty kill. In their 10 games this month, the Bulldogs have given up 15 power play goals on 39 chances for a kill rate of 61.5 per cent. That’s alarmingly low.
“I think we need to get our confidence back in our kill,” Lemcke said. “Our coaches do a great job in laying out a plan to follow and we haven’t done a good job executing it.”
Gruden, meanwhile, took responsibility for his players’ lack of discipline.
“We keep mentioning it and it keeps happening, so that’s on me and we’ll have to figure out a way to make it better.”
Jonah Gadjovich and Kevin Hancock each had two goals for the Attack, which tallied three times on the power play and once short-handed. Matt Strome, Isaac Nurse and Arthur Kaliyev all scored for the Bulldogs.
Mackenzie Entwistle registered a pair of assists for Hamilton.
“They were better than we were and we got beat. We still had a chance but, again, it wasn’t good enough,” Gruden added.
The loss was the second of the weekend for the Bulldogs and an improvement over their first.
On Friday, they suffered their most lopsided loss ever at the hands of the CHL’s top ranked Greyhounds — a 10-0 blowout in Sault Ste. Marie.
After a game like that you would think the Bulldogs would come out flying the following night in Sudbury, but that wasn’t the case.
Although they managed to win 8-4, the Bulldogs didn’t pull away from the Wolves until midway through the third period when they scored three goals in a fiveminute span with Darian Pilon in the box for fighting.
To that point, it was one-goal game that could have gone either way — even though it shouldn’t have been.
Unlike the Greyhounds, who have six regulation losses all season, the Wolves are struggling.
They’re the last place team in the OHL and going into the tilt had one win in their last nine games.
“All in all we had a tough weekend and we’re going to have to hit the reset button,” Gruden said. “We’re just going to have to be getter.” NOTES: An ankle injury sidelined Will Bitten for Monday’s game against the Attack, while Owen Burnell was out with a concussion. Navrin Mutter and Jake Murray were healthy scratches.