IceDogs outlast Bulldogs in St. Catharines
After back-toback overtime losses in Hamilton, Billy Burke couldn’t wait to get back to St. Catharines for Game 3 of his club’s OHL conference semifinal against the Bulldogs.
And it’s no wonder why. This is not a slight against the fans in Hamilton, who do their best in the OHL’s largest rink — but the noise at the smaller, more intimate Meridian Centre is next level. Burke, the Niagara IceDogs head coach, knew this. He also knew it could help turn this series around.
“We have great fan support,” he said. “When they get behind us and we get rocking it can be a tough place to play.”
It was, as the Bulldogs found out in a 4-3 loss Monday — the third straight game in this series decided in OT. Kirill Maksimov was the hero this time around.
“We’re still up 2-1,” said Hamilton head coach John Gruden. “You’ve got to think of the positives and opportunity.”
It’s always loud in the Meridian Centre, where the IceDogs average more than 4,800 fans a game and sellout regularly during the playoffs. But on Monday, the noise was deafening — when the Bulldogs took a penalty, when Stephen Dhillon made a big save and, especially, when Maksimov scored the winner 11:27 into the extra frame.
Goals from Ben Jones, Akil Thomas and Elijah Roberts drew massive cheers of “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
While markers from Isaac Nurse and Ryan Moore, who also set up Mackenzie Entwistle’s tying goal with the Hamilton net empty and 45 seconds left in regulation — were met with a collective “Who cares?”
“They give their team a lot of energy,” Gruden said of the crowd. “But it will feel good to come back here and give ourselves a chance to win Game 4.”
The Bulldogs were well aware of what awaited them at the opposite end of the QEW. The IceDogs sent several busloads of fans to Hamilton the first two games of the best-of-seven and, at times, the red shirts managed to drown out the hometown cheers.
“Even in the regular season, they’ve got a wild crowd,” Moore said following his team’s Game 2 win. “They’re loud, the music is loud, everything is loud and it’s hard at times to think, but for us it’s important to just keep our cool and go in there and know we’re the team up 2-0.”
Two of Niagara’s four goals came on the power play, bringing their three-game total to six.
Heading into Game 3, Hamilton was 1-1-1 at the Meridian Centre this campaign and 6-1-1-1 all time. They also had the second-best road record in the league and won both of their Round 1 matchups in Ottawa.
Niagara, meanwhile, was on an eight-game winning streak at home, which included five straight regular-season wins and three against Oshawa in their conference quarter-final.
The Dogs return to St. Catharines for Game 4 Wednesday before the series shifts back to Hamilton Thursday for Game 5.
NOTES: Matt Strome left the game in the second after colliding with Thomas. Gruden said Strome injured his neck and went to the hospital to be assessed. … Kyle Langdon returned to the IceDogs lineup Monday, as did Stoney Creek’s
Johnathon Schaefer. The former had been serving a six-game suspension, while the latter had been sidelined for three weeks with a shoulder injury.