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. 

MARAUDERS MOVE TO FOURTH IN CUFLA STANDINGS WITH WIN OVER TORONTO

The Marauders had seven different goal scorers Friday night including Tristan Schram and Lucas Lepore with their first goals of the season. Mitch Iszkula led the Marauders with a six-point performance (3+3). Mark Phillips and Carter Williams both with four point games.

The Marauders would start off the first with back-to-back goals with the first from Kyle Lindsay and followed by Mitch Iszkula, both goals with the assist from Carter Williams. It would take Toronto almost five minutes before finding the back of the net, before the Marauders would have a three-point goal streak. The streak included back-to-back goals from Phillips and another from Iszkula.

The Marauders led by three going into the second quarter, but wouldn’t put anything up on the board until Phillips ripped one at 16:29 to start a five goal streak that would carry into the third. The streak was broken up by Michael Buwalda; the leading scorer for Toronto, who put in four of the five goals for the Blues.

McMaster would play a portion of the fourth on the man down but with strong penalty kills would only give up one goal on the Blue’s power play to Justin Crofts. As for the Marauders, they managed to capitalize twice on the man up scoring on two power play occasions… once from Iszkula and the second from Lucas Lepore.

With Friday Night’s 13-7 win the Marauders move to a 4-6 record and keep their playoff hopes alive. Their next game will be at Alumni Field against the Laurier Golden Hawks on Friday the 18th in a 7 o’clock match up.

MCMASTER HOSTS TORONTO FRIDAY NIGHT

Friday Night the Marauders host Toronto at 7pm for the first of three home games. Toronto is currently just above McMaster in the standings, and with a Mac win, will be tied. The Marauders headed to Toronto back in September when they kicked off their 2013 season.
The last time they played against each other McMaster came out with an 8-5 win, and was led by Carter Williams with three goals and a helper to total four points. Mark Phillips put in three goals. Phillips and Williams are currently both tied for points to lead the Marauders.

As for Toronto Andrew Masson and Michael Buwalda combined have put in 78 percent of the goals for the team this season. Masson put in two against the Marauders while Buwalda put in one.

Buwalda put in three goals in Toronto’s game last week against Western, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Mustangs as they fell to a 9-5 loss.
As for McMaster both Mark Phillips and Mitch Iszkula put in two goals against Brock along with Derrick Hastings who found the back of the net for one. McMaster fell to a 15-5 loss on the road last Sunday.

McMaster is currently 3-6 this season, but continues to keep their playoff hopes alive. The last three games of this season will be played at home. For live game updates follow @McMasterLax on twitter.