Warm salute, but Dogs cold on ice
The Hamilton Bulldogs put on a show off the ice Friday, they just couldn’t muster one on it.
The AHL club blew a third period lead, losing 3-1 to the Toronto Marlies in its annual military appreciation game at FirstOntario Centre.
It was the fifth of a dozen meetings between the southern Ontario rivals this year.
"I don’t know what it was," said head coach Sylvain Lefebvre. "Lack of effort, maybe too lackadaisical, maybe too casual . . . "We just didn’t deserve the game. We’re a better team than that, we can play better than that."
The Bulldogs honoured everyone and their brother at the match, including Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and forward Charles Hudon, who was recently named the league’s rookie of the month. It also delivered a touching tribute to Canadian Forces troops and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders reservist shot to death while on honour guard duty at the National War Memorial in Ottawa in October.
The late soldier ’s f ather, sister and five-year-old son, Marcus, were on hand to drop the ceremonial first puck in front of some 7,800 solemn fans.
To the trio’s left, close to two dozen soldiers lined up alongside Hamilton’s starting six, who were clad in special uniforms fashioned after the regiment’s distinctive dress for the event.
To its right, the Argyll pipes and drums marched. There was an unplanned tribute earlier in the evening as well, as Marcus Cirillo watched the team warm up from the Bulldogs bench. A few minutes into the skate, defenceman Nathan Beaulieu handed the boy a stick, while fellow blueliner Joe Finley passed him a puck.
Following the pomp, it took both teams a while to get the mo- tors running. Hamilton had a couple of chances to get on the board with Toronto’s Brandon Kozun in the box about halfway through the first period, but it couldn’t manage
The second period was likewise, slow off the start. In fact, by the 10minute mark, the Bulldogs and Marlies had registered just 23 shots combined and neither team could claim a real scoring chance.
The frame ended just as it began, with the match deadlocked at nil. Hamilton did, however, hold an advantage on the shot clock, outshooting Toronto 19-14.
Sven Andrighetto finally opened the scoring at 4:51 of the third period, slipping what probably should have been a save past Marlies netminder Antoine Bibeau.
Less than six minutes later, though, the game was knotted again, with Connor Brown tipping the puck into the net behind Hamilton goalie Mike Condon.
Kozun got another goal for the Marlies at 15:04 of the third. Then, Troy Bodie put an exclamation mark on the win with an emptynetter in the closing minutes.
Hamilton now moves to 3-1-1 against the Marlies this season and 10-10-2-0 overall. Toronto, which had lost nine of its last 10 going into Friday’s game, now sits at 7-12-2-0.
The matchup was the first of three for the Bulldogs in under 48 hours this weekend. Next up is a rematch against the Marlies at Ricoh Coliseum Saturday — in a rare 5 p.m. start. After that, the Dogs will return home to face the defending Calder Cup champs, the Texas Stars, Sunday at 3 p.m.
For video and more on the game, visit the Spectator’s Bulldogs blog, End To End, at e2e.thespec.com.