OLD FRIENDS COLLIDE AS DIACO LEADS KNIGHTS PAST BULLDOGS
LONDON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs travelled west Friday night, returning to the Budweiser Gardens in London for the first time in almost three years to visit old friends George Diaco, Ryan Humphrey, and Ryan Winterton making his season debut for the Knights against his former team.
The first period began with a solid shift from the Bulldogs first line of Testa, Morrison and Thomas as they were able to test Brochu early. Shortly after, it was the Knights in the offensive zone crowding the Bulldogs net, when Bulldogs rookie Masen Wray was able to successfully tie up Sean McGurn in front of the net, preventing a goal against. In the final five of the period, the Bulldogs seemed trapped in their own end with the Knights making a late push. Matteo Drobac was able to stretch his leg out to make a big net front pad save off the shot from Landon Sim. Shortly after, the Knights opened the scoring with a Jackson Edward shot through the crowd in front and Knights co-captain Sean McGurn tipped it through the five-hole of Drobac to give London a 1-0 lead at 16:58. Despite being down a goal through 20-minutes, Matteo Drobac was giving his team an opportunity to get right back into the game.
London took off right where they ended the opening period and applied heavy pressure in the offensive zone. At 2:59, London to double up their lead with Ben Bujold springing Jacob Julien on a breakaway and Julien making no mistake making a forehand move and lifting it over the blocker of Drobac to make it 2-0 for London. Ryan Winterton, looking to extend the Knights lead wired a shot off the crossbar, and Drobac made a huge cross crease save on Ryan Humphrey, both within seconds of each other, to deny his former teammates of their firsts in new sweaters. With nine minutes remaining in the period, Bulldogs Logan Morrison and Patrick Thomas worked their magic in the offensive zone. Thomas crashed the net and made a beautiful tip off of a Grushnikov shot, which Brochu knocked away but Thomas didn’t stop there, earning the puck back and shooting it past Brochu for a much needed tally to make the game 2-1. With 5:10 remaining in the period, Matteo Drobac earned save of the night, denying Connor Federkow of a wide open net goal, sprawling his paddle across the net to make a spectacular save. Shortly after, former Bulldog George Diaco was sprung for a breakaway with Noah Van Vliet right on his tail, and fired it over the net, but not before drawing a holding call which sent Van Vliet to the box with 2:44 remaining. London wasn’t able to get anything going with the man advantage courtesy of Logan Morrison squeezing the puck against the boards to kill some time, and Jorian Donovan sending it down the ice twice to run out the clock, and the Dogs went to the dressing room down by 1.
George Diaco took a tripping penalty just a mere sixteen seconds into the third, giving the Bulldogs an opportunity to tie the game. Denver Barkey of the Knights however earned the best chance of Hamilton’s powerplay, which was denied by Drobac in spectular fashion once again, giving his team a chance to even up the game. With 11:50 remaining in the game, Ryan Humphrey, out of the left corner connected with George Diaco who ripped it by Drobac for his 18th of the season to regain London’s two goal lead. The Knights went on to add two more late in the final period, including one in the empty net, to seal the game by a score of 5-1.
The Bulldogs are back home tomorrow night, January 7th for their second of three weekend games hosting the Sudbury Wolves at the FirstOntario Centre with the puck dropping at 7:00pm.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2022-23 Holiday Flex packages or single game tickets call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com
