THE ROAD TO THE FINALS – THE FIRST STEPS
After a record setting season for the Hamilton Bulldogs, compiling a 51-12-3-2 record and setting new Hamilton records for wins, 51, & points, 107, while capturing the franchise’s first Hamilton Spectator Trophy as the OHL’s best team in the regular season, the Bulldogs opened the 2022 OHL playoffs against the 8th seeded Peterborough Petes. During the regular season the Bulldogs bested their East division rivals over the course of 8 games with a 6-2-0-0 season series record while outscoring the Petes by a 47 to 26 margin.
Game 1 didn’t begin the way the Bulldogs had envisioned with Hamilton forced to kill a trio of Peterborough power-plays, ending the first period of the 2022 OHL playoffs scoreless. The dam broke in the second frame with Arber Xhekaj, Mason McTavish & Brenden Anderson record goals just 5:03 apart and the Bulldogs wouldn’t look back with Logan Morrison recording a pair of goals to give the Bulldogs a 5-2 win and a 1-0 series lead. Marco Costantini, in his first playoff start picked up where he left off in the regular season stopping 20 of 22 shots as the Bulldogs gave themselves the opportunity to hold home ice in Game 2.
Peterborough began Game 2 with the needed desperation, scoring a pair of goals before the first period was half over, leaving the Bulldogs starring at adversity for the first time in the post-season. Giordano Biondi gave the Bulldogs some momentum back at 18:12 jumping on a Petes defensive zone turn over and showing incredible patience to flip the puck over Michael Simpson for his first OHL playoff goal. Feeding off Biondi’s individual effort, the Bulldogs stormed the Petes goal and before the period was out earned a power-play chance that was converted at 19:54 as Nathan Staios’ point shot deflected off Jan Mysak in the slot and landed on the tape of Logan Morrison to tie the game heading to the second period. It was all Bulldogs from that point on as Gavin White gave the Bulldogs the lead in the second period and Logan Morrison potted two more for a hat-trick in a second straight Bulldogs 5-2 victory sending a decidedly combative to the east with Hamilton in full control.
With the series shifting to Peterborough, it was former Petes forward Mason McTavish who got the Bulldogs out to the lead. Firing off a shot that dented both posts and caught the inside of the net giving the star center gave the Bulldogs momentum that was followed up by Marco Costantini making his finest save of the frame, stopping J.R. Avon’s bid for the top corner, securing Hamilton’s 1-0 lead which would turn out to be a key moment. Avery Hayes opened the second period at 1:48 doubling the Bulldogs lead, making Costantini’s handiwork pay off. The Petes got one back in the second but it was followed quickly by McTavish, Winterton & Biondi bubbling Hamilton’s lead to 5-1. Peterborough got the game as close as 5-2 but mid-third period goals from Logan Morrison & Avery Hayes just 33 seconds apart gave the Bulldogs a 7-2 win and a 3-0 stranglehold on a series that had become outright nasty between the two sides.
Entering Game 4 with a chance to earn the franchise’s first playoff sweep, the Bulldogs scored early and often. Mason McTavish opened the scoring for the second straight game, just 1:49 in and was followed by first period goals by George Diaco, Nathan Staios & Arber Xhekaj to give the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead through 20 minutes. Two second period goals from the Petes brought them back into striking distance before Jorian Donovan bubbled the lead back to three at 17:18 as an Arber Xhekaj left point shot hit the end boards, rolling out to Donovan at the right point who stepped into the circle and ripped a wrister past Simpson, recording his 1st OHL playoff goal making it a 5-2. One more late in the second from Peterborough was cancelled out at 11:51 of the third on McTavish’s second of the game with Lawson Sherk hitting the empty net to give the Bulldogs the 7-3 Game 4 victory and 4-game sweep.
After outscoring Peterborough by a 24-9 margin in the first round, the Bulldogs would have to go from what felt like a fist-fight into a cerebral chess match with the Mississauga Steelheads in Round 2.
Meeting 8-times during the regular season, the Bulldogs played a tight season series with the Steelheads exiting with a 5-3-0-0 advantage but it was a season series which saw wild momentum swings. After winning the first matchup of the season on October 24th, the Bulldogs dropped 3 straight decisions to the Steelheads up until the end of 2021. Once the calendar turned though Hamilton rattled off 4 straight wins over Mississauga with a combined 12-4 score line.
The Bulldogs entered Game 1 without the services of Avery Hayes who was suspended in Game 4 of the opening round and had to call upon their tremendous depth to replace the 40-goal scorer from the regular season. Picking up where he left off in the Peterborough series, Mason McTavish opened the scoring for the 3rd straight game, leading a charge that was followed by Logan Morrison & Ryan Humphrey to lift the Bulldogs to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first 40 minutes of the series. The Steelheads fought back in the 3rd with Zakary Lavoie cutting into the lead only to have his effort cancelled by McTavish’s second of the game just under 3-minutes later. Even with a late Aiden Prueter marker, the Bulldogs skated away with a 4-2 victory with Marco Costantini outduelling Roman Basran in the opener.
Costantini would be called front and center again in Game 2 with the Bulldogs missing Hayes and now Arber Xhekaj, to a one game suspension, but against a different opponent, with Basran suffering an injury in warmups, Joe Ranger took the pipes for the Steelheads from this point on for the series. Mississauga turned Game 2 into a real chess match between two tremendous coaching staffs with the Bulldogs going ahead by a goal twice through Ryan Humphrey & Mason McTavish only to be countered both times by goals from Aiden Preuter & Luke Misa. With the game in the balance and the Bulldogs on a 5-on-3 to open the 3rd, it was OHL Most Outstanding Defenseman Nathan Staios who played home ice hero, firing a rocket 0:56 in to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead that Costantini would make stand up until Logan Morrison could find the back of the net late in the 3rd to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 series lead heading up the 403.
Though Arber Xhekaj was able to step back in for Game 3 in Mississauga, Jan Mysak, who crashed hard into the boards at the end of Game 2, & Mark Duarte were both deemed unavailable as the series shifted to Paramount Fine Foods Centre. Through a first period that saw the Steelheads storm the gates, Marco Costantini couldn’t be shaken, keeping the game scoreless until the goaltender himself was able to spring George Diaco on a power-play rush that opened the scoring at 5:54 of the 2nd period. The Bulldogs refused to look back with Ryan Winterton adding another in the middle stanza while Logan Morrison hit the empty net giving the Bulldogs a 3-0 win and a 3-0 series lead on the back of 35 Costantini saves for his first OHL playoff shutout.
Pushed to the brink of elimination, the Steelheads resolved not to go quietly into the night in Game 4. Zander Veccia scored just 0:59 seconds in to put the Bulldogs on the backfoot for the first time since Game 2 against Peterborough. Ryan Humphrey tied the game under a minute later but before the first period was out Aiden Preuter’s power-play goal put the Bulldogs at a deficit heading to an intermission for the first time in the 2022 playoffs. Just 1:03 into the second period a magnificent individual effort from Avery Hayes while shorthanded led to Mason McTavish tying the game 2-2. From that goal on, the chess match of the game was on display in its’ fullest with Hamilton and Mississauga countering each other’s opportunities with neither giving an inch and Marco Costantini & Joe Ranger holding their respective doors shut. To overtime for the first time in this playoff run, the Bulldogs looked for a hero and it was Hamilton’s own who stepped up in the moment. After a zone entry from Ryan Winterton started the play to the right point for Gavin White, Arber Xhekaj strode into the offensive zone on the left, taking a perfect pass and wiring it past Ranger sending the Bulldogs to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018.
The road ahead looked rocky with the Bulldogs set for an Eastern Conference Final against a North Bay Battalion team that pushed Ottawa & Kingston aside in just 9 games total and finished second in the East to the Bulldogs. A series that would match the Bulldogs offensive depth against North Bay’s top scoring line in the OHL Playoffs was destined to be a fun one, and didn’t disappoint.
