All Posts by Mitin Patel

The Hamilton Bulldogs got themselves one step closer into getting into the AHL history books in the 75th year anniversary of the league. Down 3-0 in the series, the Bulldogs battled back to force game 7. Nigel Dawes scored off a feed from Aaron Palushaj in the 2nd OT to become only the third team to ever come back from such a deficit. The 5-4 victory leads the Western Conference Finals to a game 7 showdown on Tuesday night in Houston, the winner will play the Binghamton Senators, the affiliate of the Ottawa Senators.

Once again it was too little, too late. The Houston Aeros sustained the third period barrage and held on for a 3-2 win. Lots of similarities can be said between games 1 and 2. Not enough effort in the first two periods, special teams were shutdown, never lead in any part of the game, and the top guns for the ‘Dogs failed to show up on the score sheet. Drew MacIntyre had a mediocre game making just 24 saves not his usual .935 save percentage while Matt Hackett was excellent stopping 27 saves.

The Hamilton Bulldogs will have to face elimination for the first time this post-season after falling 1-0 against the Moose in front of their home crowd. The question is how will they face it? Game 6 did not show any good news for the Bulldogs as they were not prepared for a Manitoba Moose team who were humiliated at home 5-1 in game 5. A short-handed marker by Alexandre Bolduc made a huge difference in this game as it was all that was required to extend the series to a 7th deciding showdown tonight.

The Hamilton Bulldogs let another 2-0 series lead slip as the Manitoba Moose defeated the ‘Dogs in a 5-4 thriller at the MTS Centre. Shutting down the top players on the Moose roster was key in the first two wins for Hamilton, but the big guns for the Moose all came out of their cages on the same night. The top four point getters for the Moose in this year’s playoffs, Marco Rosa, Sergei Shirokov, Jason Jaffray, and Mark Flood picked up a combined 3 goals, and 6 assists in a must win game for Manitoba.

The Hamilton Bulldogs extended their season by at least four games with a 4-1 series clinching win on Sunday night at the Copps Coliseum. The ‘Dogs weren’t playing with urgency in this game and only accumulated nine shots after two periods of play. It took over two periods to get the game’s first goal. The ‘Dogs battled back from behind and luck was also on their side. A late power play for Hamilton allowed Frederic St-Denis to score a goal with just 2:56 remaining in the game.

The Hamilton Bulldogs and the Oklahoma City Barons are now tied at two all after the Barons beat up the Bulldogs 5-2 on Wednesday night at the Cox Convention Center. It is now a best of three series and will require at least two meetings between these two clubs. The ‘Dogs have been beyond perfect in their penalty kill through three games and up until the late seconds of the second period, neutralizing all 16 power plays but unfortunately the game-winning-goal was scored on the man advantage and it was the only power play goal the Barons have scored after four games.

The Hamilton Bulldogs withstood the barrage of shots and held onto a one goal lead through two periods to defeat the Oklahoma City Barons 2-1 on Saturday night at the Copps Coliseum to take a 2-0 lead in the best of seven series. Drew MacIntyre, who earned the first star of the night, made 38 saves including 15 in the final period to seal the win. Nigel Dawes scored the eventful game winning goal early in the second from one of his six shots of the night.    

The Hamilton Bulldogs (39-26-2-7) swept the Abbotsford Heat (34-29-4-6) with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday night in their second of the back-to-back games in two nights at the Copps Coliseum. Nigel Dawes completed his hat trick with an empty netter in the dying seconds of the game. He now has a total of 38 goals and is just one shy of Hamilton’s franchise record. Drew MacIntyre continued his excellent work between the pipes with a 36 save performance.

 The Hamilton Bulldogs (36-25-1-6) were handed a heart breaker in the west coast by giving up a late goal with 45 seconds remaining in the game against the Abbotsford Heat (33-26-4-5). The ‘Dogs couldn’t hold onto the lead twice in this affair while the Heat were playing from behind for most part of the game and only led once with the late game-winning goal by Matt Keith. Drew MacIntyre stood on his head stopping 41 of 44 shots, while the ‘Dogs were held to just 20 shots on goal.

The Hamilton Bulldogs (35-24-1-6) played a disastrous opening period against the last place of the North Division, the Rochester Americans (30-31-3-3), playing catch up for most of the night and eventually falling 6-5 at the Copps Coliseum. Aaron Palushaj and Andrew Conboy stepped up for the depleted ‘Dogs with three points each. Palushaj netted two goals and added an assist while Conboy opened the scoring and picked up two helpers. Drew MacIntyre and Robert Mayer had their share of work with 11 and 12 saves respectively but that didn’t help out to grab two points.

The Hamilton Bulldogs (33-21-4-5) blew a three goal lead in the second period but came out with a sigh of relief with a late overtime goal by captain Alex Henry with only 4 seconds remaining on the clock to defeat the #1 ranked team in the Western Conference the Milwaukee Admirals (34-16-4-7). Nigel Dawes continued to display his scoring ability by scoring the first three goals for the Bulldogs followed by an assist in the game winning goal. Newcomer goaltender for the Bulldogs Drew MacIntyre made 28 saves for his first win in his first start with the ‘Dogs.

Five days ago, the Habs were defeated by the young, inexperienced, and 30th ranked Edmonton Oilers. Couple of days later, the Habs failed to show up at the Heritage Classic, a game which most of the Habs players had circled on their calendar. On this night, in an arena in which they last won when Price was 13 years old and the year the Sedins made their debut in the NHL in 2000, the odds were stacked up on the free falling Canadiens.