Nationals vs Hounds Game Recap

The Hamilton Nationals and Charlotte Hounds had quite the dogfight tonight, falling 14-11. Although the Nationals were unable to clinch the No. 2 seed, Charlotte did, however, clinch its first ever playoff berth.

Kevin Crowley’s five-point performance wasn’t enough to keep the Hounds at bay, as Charlotte’s Matt Danowski notched six goals and seven points. Crowley put in four points in the first half, three of which came in the first quarter. He started off the Nationals with a two-point goal, which was the second of his career. Crowley extended his team record point streak to 28 games.

Rookie Garrett Thul followed Crowley with another two-point goal for the Nationals. Thul was coming off a career best five-goal, six-point effort on July 27th. Also in the first, Kevin Cunningham and Joe Walters would score for the Nationals. Walters extended his point streak to 25 games.

Martin Cahill would score the lone goal for the Nationals in the second, which would be the fourth two-point goal of the contest and the third for Hamilton. Danowski would keep the Hounds and Nationals tied at the end of the first half with two goals in the second quarter.

Stephen Keogh and Cunningham connected for a Nationals’ goal to give Hamilton a 10-9 lead to start the third quarter. Cunningham’s assist set a new team record for consecutive games with an assist, as he reached nine games. The record was originally set by current teammate Joe Walters. Although the Nationals opened the scoring, the Hounds responded with three straight goals to give them a 12-10 lead heading into the fourth and final quarter. 

Jake Tripucka (three goals) continued the Hounds’ goal-scoring streak in the fourth with his second goal of the game before Crowley would break the streak and cut the Hounds lead to two points. Ryan Young put in his third of the game to end the fourth and give the Hounds a 14-11 win over Hamilton. 

The Nationals (9-4) will conclude the regular season on Saturday, August 10th when they face off against the No. 1 seeded Denver Outlaws at 3:00 p.m. For tickets, call the Nationals ticket office at 905-525-NATS (6287).

CFL - WEEK ONE !

The CFL kicked off it's regular season this week,with some great match ups including the defending champions taking on their rivals. Opening week not only saw the defending champions take on their rivals but also some other close knit games ... and one tough start to a season.

The Argonauts and the Ti-Cats met up in the Toronto Friday night. After Hamilton went 2-0 with their pre-season match ups,  some fans were looking at a win for the season opener, but the Argo's had other plans for them. Toronto Argonauts, the defending champions of the grey cup put the first points on the board with a Touchdown from Jason Barnes. Hamilton then coming back to pull ahead and end the first quarter 21-8. The Tiger cats kept their lead up until late in the fourth when the Argo's pulled ahead to take the game 39-34. For a season opener with two rivals it was a thriller and nail biter. Their next match up this season will not take place until October fourth, once again in Hamilton before heading to Guelph to play the Ti-Cats at their temporary home on the 14th.

The Alouettes headed to Winnipeg to take on the Blue Bombers in week one CFL action. Another pretty close knit match nearing the end of the game. Montreal put up 14 points before the Blue Bombers' Justin Palardy put in a 35 yarder. They would end the half 23-13 in favour of the Alouettes. Winnipeg dominated the third quarter putting in three touchdowns and a field goal to take the lead over Montreal heading into the final quarter. Although the Blue Bombers managed to take control of the third, they were unable to maintain their control, and didn't put up any points in the final quarter. Buck Pierce throwing an interception with under 20 seconds left, to end the game with a 38-33 loss for the Blue Bombers. Pierce had 3 interceptions through out the night, one leading to a touchdown, one to a field goal, and the last to end the game.

The BC Lions and Calgary Stampeders had quite the contest. The Stampeders came out strong and dominated the first half, allowing just six points in the first half. The touchdown from the Lions didn't come until almost midway through the second when Travis Lulay threw a 53 yard pass to Emmanuel Arceneaux. The first half ended with Calgary up by 25. Not to fret because the Lions would start their comeback early in the second half. The Lions held Calgary to just 7 points in the third and 6 in the fourth. The Lions found their roar in the second half but it wasn't enough to stop the stampeders from taking home the 44-32 Win.

The Edmonton Eskimos were shut down by the Rough riders being held to just one point in the first half. The Eskimo's defence managed to hold back the roughriders to just two touchdowns in the first quarter, not putting up any points themselves. Their lone point would come later into the second, just before Saskatchewn's Renauld Williams would get a pick 6 for 19 yards. The Eskimo's didn't see much more in the second half with just 5 points in the third and 12 in the fourth. Saskatchewan would take the win 39-18. With a tough home opener loss to the Roughriders, Edmonton will have to make it up next week when they take on the Tiger-Cats in their temporary home at the University of Guelph.

Next weeks match ups: 

Winnipeg at Montreal 

Lions vs Argonauts

Calgary at Saskatchewan

Tiger-cats vs Eskimos

keep posted for predictions for week two.