Hurricanes move to 2 and 0

The Hamilton Hurricanes hosted the Windsor AKO Fratmen in their 2014 home opener Saturday night. The Hurricanes and Fratmen have quite the history and quite the rivalry that would lead to a penalty filled contest.

AKO was the first to put up points after Kicker Steven Schott kicked a 42-yard field goal in the first quarter. That would be the only successful field goal attempt for the Fratmen, as Schott would only pick up singles for the duration of the game. Hamilton’s Danny Cerino on the other hand was successful on both attempts.

Ending the first quarter tied at three, the game was still up for grabs. Hamilton’s Adam Christopher put the first touchdown of the game on the board and gave the Hurricanes the lead. Hamilton held the lead for the rest of the game, and managed to put in a second touchdown with under a minute to go in the game. The Hurricane’s second touchdown would come from Shawn Ward to make the final score 22-6.

This is just the first time that these two teams will meet in the regular season as Hamilton will head to Windsor in the middle of September. Coach Hayes says that this was AKO’s first game of the season and the Canes still have some things to work on early in the season, but he’s pleased to be 2-0 and proud of the guys for how they played Saturday afternoon.

Hamilton will look to keep their winning streak alive as they head to Twin  Cities this weekend to take on the Predators. 

Hurricanes Blow Through Braves

The Hamilton Hurricanes kicked off their season on a high note in Burlington. Hamilton may have had a slower start but after half time they were in full force and as much as Burlington put up a fight it was no match for the Canes.

Hamilton took the lead early after the Braves gave up a safety, but it wasn’t long before they made it onto the board themselves as well. In the second quarter Burlington took the lead, but it would be the only time the Braves would lead throughout the game as the ended the first half up 19-12.

Head Coach Jay Hayes said, “At halftime we just stressed the importance of knowing our assignments. We made a number of errors in the first half and we were only down 7.”

The second half the Hurricanes came out strong and ready to take back the lead. After forcing the Braves to punt, Jason Ledonne blocked the punt and recovered the ball for the Canes; which would the comeback. That was just the beginning, as the Hurricanes would find the end zone a couple more times, and almost managing to hold the Braves off completely in the third.

After a 70 yard run and a couple of flags the Braves found their way into the end zone to put up some points and end the third 33-26.

The final 15 would see just one more touchdown from the Canes, as they would take home the WIN with a 40-26 final score. Next weekend the Hamilton Hurricanes host Windsor AKO in their home opener. Coach Hayes says that in order to beat AKO next week they will need to limit both the penalties and mistakes. Kick off is scheduled for 4pm at Cardinal Newman high school in Stoney Creek.

Demons Come back to Top Cyclops

The Oshweken Demons edge by to take their home opener over the South Western Cyclops.

The Demons were led by Blue Hill with a nine point night from four goals and five assists, followed by Tom Mentour (5+2), Chris Attwood (4+3), and Wayne Vanevery (7) who all had seven point performances in their 21-19 win.

As for the Cyclops they were led by Ryan Campbell with three goals and a helper. Followed by Patrick McCorory with and Jimmy Purves who both put in three goals.

The SW Cyclopes would open up the scoring with back to back goals, but it wasn’t long before the Demons were on the board. At the end of one the Demons trailed 8-6, and into the second it wasn’t looking too good for the Demons.

The second quarter started with three quick goals from the visitors, as they started to pad their lead. At the end of the half the Demons were starting to get something going but still trailed 13-10.

It was until almost mid way through the third when Vanevery put in three straight, that would start the comeback for the Demons. His three goals would be the first of a four goal streak, which ended with the Demons up by 1. At the end of three it was tied at 15, after a late goal from Mike Burke to tie it back up.

Into the final 15 minutes of the game, the Demons decided it was time to run the show, but the Cyclopes not giving up the fight. Throughout the fourth it was goal for goal, until under five minutes to go when the Demons put in back-to-back goals. After gaining a two point lead, the Cyclopes would only come within one. Montour tossed in his final goal of the game with under a minute left to seal the win for the Demons.

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. 

MAC ENDS REGULAR SEASON WITH LOSS TO GUELPH

The Marauders hosted Guelph in their last regular season game for 2013 Sunday afternoon, but couldn’t keep up as they fell to a 14-8 loss.

Mark Phillips coming off of a career high game Friday night put in another five goals to tie his best Sunday afternoon, putting in his first at 2:20 into the first quarter to get McMaster on the Board with a one point edge. Guelph would answer shortly after with back-to-back goals before Ryan Adams would toss one in to end the first tied at 2.

The second would start with Phillips finding the back of the net once again, giving McMaster the lead; but there would be a case of déjà vu as Guelph put in two more. Phillips sealed his hat trick in an attempt to keep the Marauders within reach. It wouldn’t be long until Guelph’s leading scorer, Ryan Serville would put in back-to-back goals to end the first half and start a goal streak for the Gryphons.

At the end of the first half Guelph led 6-4.

Guelph’s goal streak that was started by Serville wouldn’t be broken up until 19:55 into the third quarter when Phillips would put in his fourth of the night and the lone Marauder goal of the quarter.

Going into the fourth McMaster trailed Guelph by 5.

Guelph’s Jordan Critch would start off the scoring in the fourth, but McMaster would answer four minutes later with a goal from Kyle Lindsay on the man up with his first of the quarter, followed by Phillips to cut the deficit to 4. Guelph wasn’t done as they put in three more before Lindsay’s second of the game, which would be the final goal.

After this weekend Phillips moves to 5^th in goals in the CUFLA standings with a total of 31. Phillips has a total of 32 points with 31 goals and a single helper. This season he has doubled his goals from 2012.

McMaster ends the regular season ranked fourth in the OUA west with a 5 and 7 record. The Marauders will be on the road next weekend to take on Guelph once again. Follow @McMasterLax on twitter for live game updates on the road.

MCMASTER CLINCHES PLAYOFFS WITH WIN FRIDAY NIGHT

Friday Night McMaster won their second straight at home, after topping Laurier 10-9 for the second time this season. Mark Phillips led the Marauders, putting in five goals.

Laurier’s Brandon Petter would score the first of the game at 3:45 to get Laurier on the board. McMaster would answer on the man up with a goal from Kyle Lindsay after connecting with Iszkula. Phillips would put in back to back goals in the first, but with a goal just over 18 minutes in from Laurier, they would end the first tied at 3.

McMaster wouldn’t take the lead back until 15:40 in the second quarter, but they managed to keep the lead for the duration of the game. Phillips put in the last goal of the first half and started off a 4-goal streak for the Marauders.

Keir Thornborow broke up McMaster’s 4-goal streak later in the third; as the lone goal throughout the quarter for Laurier. The Golden Hawks’ attempt to come back in the third wasn’t enough as Phillips put in his fifth of the game for Mac’s 10^th and final goal.

With the win over Laurier, the Marauders clinch their playoff spot. Their last appearance in playoffs were last year, but lost in their first game against Brock. McMaster’s last championship was in 2010 after entering playoffs with a .500 record in the regular season. The Marauders host Guelph Sunday in an afternoon match up at Alumni field for their last regular season game.

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.