Special teams now pretty special
A month ago, when his penalty kill was the second worst in the Ontario Hockey League and his power play not much better, Hamilton Bulldogs head coach John Gruden insisted he alone was to blame.
Since then, his numbers on special teams have skyrocketed — and he’s giving others the credit.
Assistants Ron Wilson and Vince Laise “have done a really good job of doing video and taking pride” in their respective areas — the PK and the PP. “We talk about what we’re going to do, but they present it and they’re the ones running it.”
“Ronnie and Vince deserve a lot of the credit, then ultimately the players by executing,” he added.
Since kicking off the second half of the OHL season in late December, Hamilton’s special teams statistics have improved dramatically. Ten games in, the club has allowed just two power play goals and scored nine, each on 37 tries. It’s also racked up a 7-3 record.
Before the midway mark, it was a different story. After 34 outings, the penalty kill was operating at 76 per cent and on the hook for more than a goal per game — bad news for a team with 11 one-goal losses. Its power play, meanwhile, wasn’t compensating. With just 21 goals on 135 attempts (or 15.6 per cent) the Bulldogs were also in the bottom quarter of the 20-team league with the man advantage.
“I think things got worse before they got better,” said forward Matt Luff, a regular on the power play and penalty kill. “I think we just had to look at ourselves. If you’re on the PK, you’ve got to be the guy that shuts them down, and if you’re on the PP, you’ve got to be the guy that wants to score. Everybody is buying into the spot they get and it’s working right now and I think it’s going to take us far at the end of the day.”
It could — if he and his mates can keep it up. In their past 10 matches, the Bulldogs’ power play has been running at 24.3 per cent and its penalty kill at 94.6 per cent. To put that in context, the league’s best, the Windsor Spitfires, are operating at 90.6 per cent.
The numbers are also better overall. Over the past month, Hamilton’s penalty kill has climbed five spots to 14th in the league and more than 3½ percentage points. Its 14th place PK, meanwhile, is up nearly two percentage points to 17.6 per cent.
On Saturday, special teams were a crucial factor in a 2-0 win over the visiting Kingston Frontenacs. Not only did the Bulldogs score with the man advantage — on a rising point shot by Ben Gleason — they also held the Fronts scoreless on three power play chances, blocking shots, forcing turnovers and burning the clock.
It was the eighth straight game in which they didn’t sacrifice a single power play goal.
“You can win hockey games off of special teams,” said Luff, who rounded out the scoring against Kingston.
“And I think we’re doing a good job of it right now.”
Another key element in the win was goaltending — and Kaden Fulcher was perfect. He turned aside 26 shots on route to the second shutout of his OHL career.
“Goaltending is always your top PK-er and our goaltending has been good,” noted Gruden. “Knock on wood.”
With Saturday’s win, the Bulldogs gained sole possession of fourth place in the Eastern Conference — two points up on the fifth-place Fronts.
And, while they face off twice more this campaign, Hamilton has already won the season series between the teams with three wins and a shootout loss.
The Bulldogs don’t play at home again until Feb. 3 when the Barrie Colts come to town. Between now and then they head out on their longest road trip of the season with stops in Saginaw, Flint and Windsor. NOTES: Connor Walters was scratched from the Bulldogs lineup for a second straight game. The 19-year-old defenceman is recovering from a concussion. Stephen Templeton didn’t play either — the Waterdown-born blueliner was serving an automatic suspension for fighting . ... Between Friday’s win over Barrie and Saturday’s shutout against Kingston, the Bulldogs racked up five fighting major penalties, with Niki Petti, Jack Hanley, Michael Cramarossa, Luff and Templeton all dropping the gloves. … These two matchups were also arguably the club’s two most physical since moving to Hamilton at the start of last season. “They’re coming together as a group and you can see they care about each other,” bench boss Gruden said when asked about the trend. “We’re becoming a hockey team and ultimately a family too and that allows us to win more games. I think they care about it.”