YOUNG FANS RAISE THE ROOF
NEARLY 12,000 KIDS crammed into FirstOntario Centre on Wednesday for the annual Hamilton Bulldogs School Day game. Here, the pint-sized fans erupt in ear-splitting joy as the Bulldogs get a goal in the first period against the Niagara IceDogs. Hamilton eventually won 3-2. Game coverage
Fifteen minutes after scoring the overtime winner, Matthew Strome’s ears were still ringing — the only drawback of giving more than 11,000 kids something to scream for.
“Every time we made a hit, got a shot, blocked a puck, the fans were cheering,” said the Hamilton Bulldogs forward. Yet, with the first and final goals, it was his performance Wednesday that sparked the most ear-splitting shouts.
“I think that really motivated our team,” he added. “That really helped us.”
Students from 60 local schools flocked to FirstOntario Centre to see the OHL major junior team come from behind to beat the Niagara IceDogs in the biannual shriekfest better known as the School Day Game.
The 3-2 win, which snapped a two-game skid, was the first for Hamilton in four trips to OT.
Strome, 17, opened the scoring late in the first when he lifted a pass from Will Bitten over a lunging Stephen Dhillon. Niagara bit back, though, with Ryan Mantha and Stoney Creek’s Johnathon Schaefer both beating Cole Ceci with screened shots from the point. With the clock ticking down in the third, it looked like Schaefer’s goal — his first in the OHL — would do it. Then, with less than five minutes to play in regulation, the Bulldogs surged.
“We were a little desperate,” said Strome. “We were down one and we needed to win.”
The tying goal came from Marian Studenic — a hard, sharp-angled shot over Dhillon’s left shoulder. The Bulldogs, which went into the game with the second-to-worst penalty kill numbers in the league, then survived a late delay of game call before Bitten set up Strome again — this time with Hamilton on a 4-on-3 advantage in OT.
Goalie Ceci, who earned his second win, said he felt his team’s overtime troubles — “the curse,” as he put it — were about to end going into the extra frame. “And there was no better day than today to end it with this many fans here. It was awesome.”
Strome, meanwhile, hinted that he and his teammates had a bit more motivation in OT this time around.
At practice earlier in the week they played 10 minutes of 3-on-3, with the losing team forced to bag skate.
“I think that really helped us,” he said. “We were playing competitive in practice and I think that just translated to the game.”
The win — Hamilton’s third in three tries against Niagara — was also good news for a team that, so far, has struggled at home. Going into the game, the Bulldogs had lost all but three of their eight previous bouts at First Ontario Centre.
The QEW rivals face each other three more times before the season is done.
The Bulldogs have a short turnaround before heading north for games against Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie this weekend. They’re not home again until Nov. 25. NOTES: Zack Jackson returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing eight games with a shoulder injury. Niki Petti (elbow), Matt Luff (shoulder) and Reilly Webb (shoulder) are still out, while Ondrej Kachyna was a healthy scratch ... Neither Akil Thomas nor William Lochead dressed for Niagara. The former is serving a two-game suspension for fighting, and the latter a sixgame suspension for elbowing.