Hamilton Bulldogs - Early Surprises and Disappointments

We're nearly a quarter of the the way through the year, so it’s about that time to see who’s been an early surprise so far this season and who hasn’t performed as well as expected.  Hamilton is off to a so-so start on the year with a 5-6-3 record and have had a few pleasant surprises and unpleasant disappointments.  Let’s start off with the guys that just haven’t shown up quite yet.

First on the docket: Nathan Beaulieu, he was expected to be a key player on this years' roster but has yet to perform as such.  Sure, he’s traveled quite a bit between Montreal and Hamilton, but I don’t think that is an overall great excuse for not being able to perform.  So far this year he has played a total of eight games for the Dogs … and has three points total from his three assists.  After watching him play the end of last season and the start of this year, I’d say he’s not quite at the same level of play.  Maybe it is the fact that he spent quite a bit of time back and forth, and not actually hitting the ice.  I suspect after a few more games and a bit more ice time he will back to where he was before, and he will produce the way that was expected at the start of the season.

Jarred Tinordi was another one that was said to be a core player this year for the Bulldogs; however he didn’t come back to Hamilton until just a few weeks ago as he was in Montreal for the start of the season.  With him back on the Bulldogs he hasn’t looked overly bad, but he has still yet to catch my eye as a key player.  So far he’s played a total of nine games with the Dogs this season, and what does he have to show for it?  Well, he has two penalty minutes and a +/- rating of -5 ... so I wouldn’t say a lot.

I’m going to have to say this next player is one of the bigger let downs so far this season, as he’s been on the team now for four years. He’s got a whack of experience and should be able to perform. Gabriel Dumont has been with the Hamilton Bulldogs since 2010. He has had ice time in two playoff runs, and played well in both, with a total of eleven postseason points.  Last year although the Bulldogs didn’t do all that well through out the regular season, he put in 16 goals but this year he doesn’t seem to be on that path.  After playing 12 games this season with the Bulldogs he has yet to put in anything, and has collected a total of four points. The worst part is that he hasn’t even been getting too many shots on net, as he’s averaging just two shots on net throughout the twelve games.  A pretty rough start for this vet.

Here’s to hoping that these three will figure it out and get back on track as the season progresses. But let’s move to some positives and talk about the surprises the Bulldogs have seen so far.

Louis Leblanc is one of my first surprises after playing some phenomenal hockey in quite a few games recently.  He’s also another one that has been back and forth between Hamilton and Montreal but apparently it hasn’t been affecting him in quite the same way as the defencemen.  Although he has yet to put up any points for himself while in Montreal he has won two games for the Bulldogs with overtime goals, and has become a clutch player in Hamilton.  Currently with five goals, he’s already at the halfway mark to where he was last season.  He has also collected three assists.  In all 11 games that he’s been with Hamilton he has continued to be a key asset for Hamilton and is performing better than I expected.

Finally, one of the biggest surprises and possibly what could have been the best addition to the Bulldogs this season is Sven Andrighetto.  The rookie winger is currently leading the Bulldogs in points, with a total of 11, and is on quite the point streak. In the past few games he has been the key to keeping them from being shutout.  After scoring in the last preseason game and watching him on the ice I figured he would be someone to watch, and I wasn’t wrong.  Andrighetto has played in a total of 14 games this season and found the back of the net seven times, but he’s also been giving out a few helpers, managing to collect four assists.  He’s currently ranked 9th throughout the leagues' rookies in points and sits just outside of the top 40 throughout the entire league (in 41st).  I have no doubt in my mind that he will continue this level of play and end the season with either the most goals or most points for the Dogs.

Leblanc and Andrighetto have become core players for the Bulldogs, and if some of the others figure out what’s going and bring their play up to where it was expected, Hamilton should be able to get back on top of the North Division.

MAYER PICKS UP HIS FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON

The Hamilton Bulldogs managed a second straight in win in over-time after a game-winning goal from Louis Leblanc. It was Leblanc’s second straight game-winning goal and second of the game earning him the first star of the game. 

The first period started with a goal from Nick Tarnasky with his fourth of the season. Tarnasky would have the lone goal of the period leaving the Dogs with a one-point edge at the end of 20 minutes.

Early into the second the Dogs would pull ahead to 2-0 as Leblanc fired in a wrist shot for a short handed goal. It would take around five minutes for the Americans to answer, with a power play goal from Luke Adam. Hamilton wasn’t giving up their two point lead that easily as Magnus Nygren ripped a laser past goaltender Nathan Lieuwen. Nygren’s goal was the third straight power play goal through out the second period. Rochester started their come back with 10 left in the second putting in back-to-back goals and ending the period with a tie.

The third period was loaded with action, but stayed scoreless sending the Bulldogs into their second straight over time game.

Hamilton would start the extra time on the man-up for 34 seconds. The Bulldogs had tons of opportunity throughout their short power play but were unable to capitalize. Leblanc found the back of the net just over a minute left to give the Dogs their second straight win on home ice.

Leblanc had yet to put up any points within the first four games, and has managed 5 total points within just the past two games; including two game-winning goals. Leblanc's goal sealed the win 4-3. 

Robert Mayer started in net for the Dogs tonight, making a total of 27 stops to earn himself his first win of the season. Mayer moved to 26^th in the league for save percentage with a .919 percentage.

With the win the Bulldogs are now tied for first place in the Division, with the Marlies, who they take on at home Sunday afternoon in the second Ontario match up of the season. Their next game is on the road, when they take on the Utica Comets in a Saturday night contest. The game is scheduled to start at 7pm. 

Hamilton last saw Utica in their last pre-season game, which was held in Dundas just outside of Hamilton. When the bulldogs managed a shut-out. The Bulldogs are currently riding a two-game win streak where as the comets have yet to win a game this season. The Comets last game ended in a shoot-out as they fell to a 2-1 loss against the Syracuse Crush Friday night.

BULLDOGS END LOSING STREAK WITH OVER-TIME THRILLER

The Hamilton Bulldogs pulled through in over time after another third period come back in a Tuesday night thriller.

Canadians Prospect and third year veteran on the Bulldogs; Louis LeBlanc played what is possibly one of the best games of his career with the Bulldogs, giving two helpers and the game-winning goal just over a minute into the extra time for the Bulldogs to climb out of their losing streak and get their second win of the season.

The IceHogs got off to an early start in the first period, with a goal from Garrett Ross within the first thirty seconds. It wasn’t until late in the first when Nick Tarnasky put one right past Rockford’s goaltender to tie it up at 1. They would end the first period tied at 1.

The second period didn’t see much action on the goal side of things, but a lot of smart plays from both sides of the puck. Rockford would score the only goal to give them the edge going into the third period.

Sven Andrighetto, a rookie on the Bulldogs would open the scoring in the third with an unassisted, short-handed goal to tie things back up. It wouldn’t take long for the IceHogs to answer, as Mark McNeill would put in back-to-back goals with the first being two minutes after Andrighetto’s. After Rockford’s two goals Andrighetto would come back with another to answer McNeill’s second, leaving the Bulldog’s with a deficit of one.

Hamilton pulled goalie Dustin Tokarski and put on the extra man. The IceHogs would shoot at the open net, but the goal would be disallowed, as an offside call would follow. Tokarski was pulled yet again, and Akim Aliu would put in the final goal of the third period with just 18 seconds left on the clock. Aliu’s goal would send the IceHogs and Bulldogs into overtime. Aliu’s goal is his second so far this season that has come at just the right time, to give the Dogs a chance for the win.

Just over a minute into the extra time Leblanc would find the back of the net off the rebound. Collecting Assists for the game-winning goal would be Gabriel Dumont and Magnus Nygren. Leblanc’s goal would give the Bulldogs their second win of the season with a final of 4-3 over Rockford.

The Bulldogs were unable to capitalize on any of their power plays but kept their penalty kill strong, as the IceHogs would only score once on the man-up.

Hamilton Goalie Dustin Tokarski will add another win to his stats, after making a total of 24 saves throughout the night.

The Bulldogs next game will be at Copps Colluium on Friday Night when they host the Rochester Americans in a 7:30pm game start. This is the second of four games this week as they're on the road to play the Utica Comets Saturday, and back home for their second meeting with the Marlies Sunday.

BULLDOGS DROP TO FOURTH AFTER LOSS TO MARLIES

After a trip to Lake Erie, theHamilton Bulldogs were back in Ontario and just about an hour away from home on Sunday afternoon to take on the Baby Leafs. Unlike the Leafs, the Marlies are leading their division, with a record of 4-1, after their 2-1 win over the Bulldogs.

T.J. Brennan of the Marlies put in his eighth goal of the season to start off the scoring at 8:29 in the first. Spencer Abbott and John-Michael Liles would both take the assists. It would be the first of two helpers for Abbott as he would connect with Carter Ashton for the Marlies' second goal of the afternoon in the second period.

Brennan is currently leading the league in goals at eight, with a total of 12 points to put him in second overall in total points. Abbott’s two helpers bring him to six points overall landing him in 35th overall.

Hamilton wouldn’t get on the board until early in the third when Mike Blunden would rip one right past former Bulldogs goaltender Drew MacIntyre to cut the lead to one. This would be the closest that the Dogs would get to the Marlies as they fell to a 2-1 loss, for their third straight defeat.

Robert Mayer made a total of 26 saves for the Bulldogs, putting his save percentage at .928, which lands him at 23rd in the league. As for his goals against average he sits at 32nd with a 2.43 GAA. Mayer was named the Dan Lawrie Insurance Premium Player of the game.

The Bulldogs totalled 18 minutes of penalties, while Toronto was a man down for 12 minutes throughout the contest. Both goals from the Marlies came on the powerplay as they went 2/8 with the man advantage; Hamilton was 0/6. Their next game against the Marlies will be on home ice on Sunday October 27th in another Sunday afternoon match up.

Next Game:

The Hamilton Bulldogs and Rockford IceHogs have yet to meet up this season but will do so at Copps on Tuesday night, a 7:30 puck drop. The Bulldogs are currently riding a three game losing streak after two shootout losses and their loss Sunday against the Marlies. As for the IceHogs, they’ve won their past two games, most recently topping Grand Rapids 5-4 in a shootout. Rockford currently leads the Midwest Divison with a 4-2 record, while the Dogs are now sitting in fourth in the North with a 1-1-0-2 record. 

BULLDOGS LOSE SECOND STRAIGHT IN SHOOT OUT

After opening their season 1-1 at Copps Collusium, the Bulldogs hit the road and headed to Cleveland to take on the Lake Erie Monsters. The loss against the Monsters was not only their second straight loss… but also their second straight loss that ended in a shootout.

Brad Malone of the Monsters would open the scoring just after 18 minutes of play, for his third of the season. He put in his fourth of the season in the second period; to score both goals for Lake Erie. Malone’s first goal came on the power play after a tripping call on Greg Pateryn.

Within the first two periods of the game the Bulldogs managed just 9 shots on net with no goals, to go into the third with the Monster’s leading 2-0.

The third period was a huge change for the Bulldogs as they came out strong and managed to out shoot the Monsters 14-4. At 4:51 Nick Tarnasky connected with Gabriel Dumont and Joonas Nattinen for the Bulldogs first goal of the came and start off a third period come back.

Hamilton was able to capitalize on the powerplay for the first time this season as Taranasky put in his second of the game on the power play. The goal came just about 5 minutes after his first. It would be the last goal of the third, to end regulation time tied at 2.

With three goals from Lake Erie during the shoot out the Dogs would fall to a 3-2 loss for their first road game of the 2013 season. The Bulldogs stay in third in the Division under the Marlies and Monsters.

The Bulldogs had a total of 10 minutes on the man down and 17 on the man up. Dustin Tokarski started in net for the Dogs, for his second game of the season. With 24 saves, his save percentage dropped to .934 moving him to 15^th. As for his goals against average, he’s currently ranked twelfth with a 1.92 average.

Tarnasky would be the third star of the game after notching Hamilton’s two goals in the third period.

Shoot out:
Lake Erie – Mike Sgarbossa – Goal
Hamilton – Gabriel Dumont – No Goal

Lake Erie – Mark Olver – No Goal

Hamilton – Maxime Macenauer – No Goal

Lake Erie – Bryan Lerg – Goal

Hamilton – Nick Tarnasky – No Goal

Lake Erie – Joey Hishon – Goal

Stars:
1 – Brad Malone (Lake Erie)

2 – Joey Hishon (Lake Erie)

3 – Nick Tarnasky (Hamilton)

The Bulldogs continue their road trip as they head to Toronto to take on the Marlies on October 20^th. They will be back at home on Tuesday when they host the Rockford IceHogs.

BULLDOGS LOSE IN SHOOT OUT

The Hamilton Bulldogs hosted Grand Rapids in a Saturday night contest for their second home game in less than 24 hours. With a shoot out loss the Bulldogs would earn one point.

Hamilton was led by Veteran Greg Pateryn who would put in his second goal of the season and first of the game to get the dogs on the board.  With Pateryn’s goal Hamilton would lead by one to end the first. Pateryn added in an assist tonight with his helper on Sven Anrighetto’s goal.

Into the second Grand Rapids Gustav Nyquist would put in his first of the night to tie the game at one.  Not long after Bulldog’s Rookie Andrighetto would put in his first of the season after connecting with Pateryn and Holland. The Griffins scored once more to end the second, to take the lead for the first time in the contest.

Into the third the Griffins would put in their final goal of regulation time at six minutes in. Hamilton wouldn’t answer until pulling Mayer from the net and putting in Akim Aliu. With just 10 seconds left in regulation Aliu found the back of the net to tie the game at three. Andrighetto and Martin St.Pierre would earn the assists. Hamilton and the Griffins headed into the 5-minute sudden death over time period… but at the end of 5 would still be tied up.

Through out the first Hamilton had a total of seven penalties, which all had a strong penalty kill but in the second and third with seven more, the Griffins were able to capitalize. Two of the three goals from Grand Rapids came on power plays.  Hamilton’s penalties totaled 23 minutes.

Mayer played a strong game making a total of 38 saves on 42 shots compared to Griffin’s Petr Mrazek who made 21 on Hamilton’s 24 shots. After tonight’s game Mayer’s sits in 18^th for save percentages with a .927 SV%.

Shoot Out:

Hamilton:

St.Pierre: Post
Andrighetto: Missed Net

Aliu: Post

Nystrom: Save
Holland: Save

Grand Rapids:
Ouellet: Lost control of puck

Emmerton: Save

Nyquist: Goal

Aimquist: Goal

Players of the Game:
1. Gustav Nyquist – Grand Rapids
2. Robert Mayer – Hamilton
3. Jeff Hoggan – Grand Rapids

The final score would be 4-3 for Grand Rapids. The Bulldogs now move to a 1-1 record. With the loss the Bulldogs drop to third in the Division, just one point under the Lake Erie Monsters. Hamilton’s next game will be on Friday the 18^th at Lake Erie for their first of two road games as they head to Toronto on the 20^th. The Bulldogs will be back at Copps Collusium in Hamilton on the 22^nd when they host Rockford. 

BULLDOGS WIN HOME OPENER

RECAP:

The Hamilton Bulldogs hosted the St. Johns Ice Capps in their home opener Friday night. With two short-handed goals the Bulldogs would open their season on a high note.

Returning Bulldogs, Greg Pateryn and Mike Blunden connected as Pateryn ripped one past Eddie Pasquale to score the first goal of the season and put Hamilton on the board. It would take about five minutes before the Ice Capps could answer with a goal of their own.

Blunden would put one of his own in early on in the second period for the Bulldogs to pull ahead. The lead wouldn’t last for long, as Ben Chairot would find the back of the net to tie things up at two. The rest of the second period would be scoreless.

Patrick Holland, another returning Bulldog came up the left side to score a goal short handed, giving the Bulldogs the lead. The goal would come just over five minutes into the third and from then on the Dogs were able to hold off St. Johns and take the win. This may be the first game-winning goal this season for Holland but last season he had a total of three game winners on home ice.

With a total of 12 power plays through out the contest (6 a piece) Hamilton was unable to capitalize on any of their power plays and managed to kill five of their six penalties.

After just one game Goalie Dustin Tokarski sits in the 14^th spot in the AHL leaderboards after making a total of 33 saves. Tokarski currently has a .943 save percentage. At the end of last season he sat in 13^th with .909 save percentage, with a total of 1085 saves in 48 games for the Dogs.

Hamilton and the Ice Capps won’t meet up again this season until the middle of December at home. Mike Blunden would be the first star of the game after giving the helper to Pateryn before putting in a goal of his own. The Bulldogs will play again at Copps Collusium in Hamilton on Saturday night when they host the Grand Rapids Griffins In a 7pm match up.

NEXT GAME PREVEW

The Bulldogs host the Grand Rapid Griffins in their second game of the season, and second game on home ice. The Griffins are coming off a loss, after the Marlies topped them 3-4 in extra time earlier on this week, while the Bulldogs fresh off a win from Friday night’s game. Last season the Dogs and Griffins met up a total of 4 times, with the Dogs winning just once at the beginning of the season.
Last season the Bulldogs ended with an under .500 record and ranked last in the Division… after last nights win they sit in the number two spot just under the Marlies who are currently 2-0.  As for the Grand Rapids they currently hold a 1-1 record.  Griffin’s Gustav Nyquist is currently in the leaderboards in the 11^th spot with three points after putting in a goal and three assists in their past two games.