The Hamilton Bulldogs move on to OHL final with a 2-1 Game 5 victory over the Kingston Frontenacs.
The Hamilton Bulldogs are going to the Ontario Hockey League final.
A third-period goal by Connor Walters gave the club a 2-1 win over the Kingston Frontenacs on Thursday night and its first Eastern Conference championship since moving to the city in 2015.
The Bulldogs will play either the Kitchener Rangers or the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the OHL title.
“It feels great, but at the same time we know there’s still work to do,” said Bulldogs’ captain Justin Lemcke, who scored the team’s other marker. “We’re happy, we’re going to enjoy this one, then back to it next week and we’re looking forward to a tough final.”
The Bulldogs held the Fronts to three shots in the opening frame but trailed 1-0 at the intermission on a goal by Jason Robertson. In the second, they continued to get pucks through to the net and it paid off. Halfway through the frame, Lemcke tied it up from the point — which is also where Walters scored from with 7:04 to go in the third.”
“It couldn’t happen to a better guy,” Bulldogs’ coach John Gruden said of the overager.
League vice-president Ted Baker was on hand to present the Bulldogs with their prize — the Bobby Orr Trophy. It was the first time any hardware has been presented on FirstOntario Centre ice since the 2007 Calder Cup championship.
The score that night was also 2-1.
This was initially expected to be a long series between two of the OHL’s most evenly matched teams (five of their six regular-season games were decided by a single goal, including four in overtime, and they went to seven games in the playoffs last spring). But it wasn’t to start.
In the first two games, the Bulldogs outscored the Fronts a combined 13-3 in back-to-back blowouts. They maintained control as the series shifted to Kingston and downed a much-improved Fronts side 3-1 in Game 3.
Then, the momentum shifted. In Game 4, Kingston got its first win of the series in a 5-2 contest in which the Bulldogs — with the exception of goalie Kaden Fulcher — didn’t bother to show up.
“We have 100 per cent confidence in this group that we will be better on Thursday,” Gruden said after the loss. And they were.
While they still struggled to score on the power play (they were 0-for-13 over their last three games), they at least managed to break in past Kingston’s blue line and improved their puck possession. They also blocked a ton of shots and peppered goalie Jeremy Helvig — the best Frontenacs player on the ice, according to Kingston coach Jay Varady — with 38 of their own.
The Bulldogs will have to wait to find out whether they will face the Greyhounds or the Rangers for the title. They’re deadlocked 2-2 in the Western Conference final going into Game 5 on Friday.