The Hamilton Bulldogs set the tone for the conference finals with a blowout Game 1 victory.
In the lead up to the Eastern Conference final, there was much talk and ink spilled — including in The Spectator — about how much parity exists between the Hamilton Bulldogs and Kingston Frontenacs.
So where was it on Wednesday? After going to overtime in five of their last seven matchups against each other, Game 1 of the best-of-seven series was completely lopsided — a 6-2 win in Hamilton’s favour. Frontenacs head coach Jay Varady said the Bulldogs were better than his side “in all aspects.”
“Their competitiveness, their execution,” he added. “They won the special teams game and I think when they had their chances in the first and early in the second they separated.”
Going into the game, the Bulldogs knew they would have to clog the net front if they wanted to put the puck past Jeremy Helvig — a hard-to-beat goalie with a habit of playing well against Hamilton — and that’s how they opened the scoring.
A little less than 10 minutes into the first, Nick Caamano banged in his own rebound from the edge of the crease to give the Bulldogs the first goal of the series and extend his point streak to a league-high 11 games. Later in the frame, the Ancaster native also helped set up Ben Gleason.
Early in the second, Brandon Saigeon tallied twice in 11 seconds — once on the power play and once five-on-five — before Mackenzie Entwistle and Ryan Moore added to the onslaught.
After giving up his sixth goal, Helvig was replaced by Brendan Bonello.
The backup was perfect in his first OHL playoff appearance and Max Jones and Jason Robertson eventually put Kingston on the board.
It felt like this game should have been close. Rewind to January, a week or so after the trade deadline. The Bulldogs and the Frontenacs had both made a series of blockbuster deals and were meeting for the first time since overhauling their rosters. It was an intense, hard-hitting and, most of all, fast matchup.
“It was the fastest game that we’ve been associated with all season, including playoffs,” head coach John Gruden said in a conference call Tuesday.
“It was really good hockey, the pace was outstanding, a lot of plays being made, defence was tight, the goalies were really good.”