BULLDOGS HIT THE HOLIDAYS WITH 3-1 WIN IN OTTAWA
OTTAWA, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs finished the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule on Saturday afternoon meeting the OHL leading Ottawa 67’s in a matinee at TD Place. The game also marked the Teddy Toss for the fans in Ottawa.
The first period opened with an entertaining back and forth with the Bulldogs & 67’s trading opportunities up and down the ice. Through the work of Matteo Drobac & Max Donoso, the game remained scoreless until the 6:15 mark when Luca Pinelli batted the puck around back of the Hamilton net to Chris Barlas in the right corner who found Brad Gardiner in front of Drobac and squeezed a shot through his pads to call on the Bears in Ottawa and give the 67’s a 1-0 lead. After falling behind a goal, the Bulldogs put on a strong press continuously hemming the 67’s into their own zone eventually earning a power-play after Lucas Moore was taken down due to a knee-on-knee. Despite the pressure to Donoso’s goal, the 67’s managed a great shorthanded opportunity with Chris Barlas taking a pass on a 2-on-1 to the left of Matteo Drobac where the Bulldogs goaltender split across his crease, jamming his pad to the post to deny the chance in spectacular fashion and assuring the Bulldogs would stay close on the scoreboard, down just a goal through 20 minutes.
Drobac’s massive save paid off early in the middle frame, with the game in a 2-minute 4 on 4, Jorian Donovan stripped an Ottawa defender in neutral ice and worked the puck up the right side with Logan Morrison sprinting left in a 2-on-1. Donovan found Morrison across the slot with the captain going skate to stick and beating a sprawled Donoso to tie the game 1-1 on his 18th of the season at 2:48. With the goal, Morrison extended his OHL leading point streak to 19-games. Just 1:33 later, Patrick Thomas worked his way down the right-wing side, drawing a pair of Ottawa defenders as he entered the right circle, dropping the puck back to the tape of Cole Brown. Striding to the bottom of the circle Brown fired a shot over Donoso’s shoulder to give the Bulldogs 2-1 lead at 4:21 on his 6th of the season. From that point on in the middle frame the goaltenders took over once again with each team killing off a 4-minute double minor for high-sticking and sending the game to the third period with the Bulldogs holding a 2-1 lead over the top team in the OHL.
After a scrum at the final horn of the second period, the Bulldogs ended up shorthanded with both Ryan Humphrey and Avery Hayes getting nabbed for roughing minors but with the 67’s opening the final frame on the power-play it was Hamilton’s captain who lifted his team again. After Noah Nelson stole a puck at the right point and worked his way up the left side on a break, he slowed at the top of the left circle to allow Logan Morrison to make it a 2-on-0. Nelson faked to his forehand at the front of Donoso’s goal, turning the puck right to Morrison who faked forehand and tucked the puck backhand for his 2nd of the game and 19th of the season shorthanded at 1:28 of the final frame putting the Bulldogs up 3-1. The 67’s would get a last chance with a late power-play with 2:30 to go as Matteo Drobac was given a 2-minute roughing penalty. On the penalty-kill, Cameron Tolnai had the puck on his forehand at the bottom of the slot with Drobac pushing to the top of his blue paint to make a spectacular sprawling save, highlighting his 24 on the afternoon, backstopping the Bulldogs to a 3-1 victory over the OHL leading Ottawa 67’s.
The Hamilton Bulldogs head to the holiday break, with their schedule resuming on Wednesday, December 28th, hosting the Niagara IceDogs at FirstOntario Centre with a 7:00pm puck drop.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs Holiday Flex packages call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com.
