HOUSTON, Texas – You can’t get any better than this. Houston takes a three games to nothing lead in the Western Conference Finals only to have the Hamilton Bulldogs come back to tie the series to come to tonight’s Game 7. You couldn’t get any closer in this one also. Both teams fought hard, but the last 5 minutes of the game just didn’t go to the Bulldogs way as the Aeros won by the score of 4-3 to advance to the Calder Cup Finals.
The Houston Aeros scored the first two goals nine seconds apart. Center Chad Rau scored with a behind the net helper from Patrick O’Sullivan at 7:03. Casey Wellman wristed a shot from the blue-line to put the Aeros up 2-0. The Bulldogs then took control in the second half of the period. Dustin Boyd notched his fifth of the playoffs from the slot at 9:13 with assists from Mathieu Carle and Drew MacIntyre. Carle then notched his own goal on the man-advantage at 13:21 with the assist going to Nigel Dawes.
In the second, Wellman scored his second on the slap shot from Jean-Michel Daoust and Justin Falk to give the lead back to the Aeros. But right wing Aaron Palushaj one-timed a shot from Boyd on the power play at 9:57 with the second assist going to Dawes to tie up the game at three goals apiece.
But all that was for naught as both team battled hard and were obviously tired in the third. With a minute and thirteen seconds left Houston’s Jon DiSalvatore battle and poked the puck in to give the Aeros the lead. MacIntyre was fuming as he argued that he had possession of the puck and the whistle should have blown. Then with seconds left, the Bulldogs thought they should’ve had a penalty shot as it looked like a hand was used to clear away the puck in the crease. But it wasn’t called.
The Aeros have a short turnaround to start the Calder Cup Finals against the Binghamton Senators who have had over a week off. Houston will at least sleep in their own beds tonight as they have the home-ice advantage with the first of two games starting on Friday night.
FINALS 2011 Calder Cup Finals HOUSTON vs. BINGHAMTON Not yet started Game 1 – Fri May 27 7:35 PM Binghamton at Houston Game 2 – Sat May 28 7:35 PM Binghamton at Houston Game 3 – Wed Jun 1 7:05 PM Houston at Binghamton Game 4 – Fri Jun 3 7:05 PM Houston at Binghamton Game 5 – Sat Jun 4 7:05 PM * Houston at Binghamton Game 6 – Tue Jun 7 7:00 PM * Binghamton at Houston Game 7 – Thu Jun 9 7:00 PM * Binghamton at Houston CONFERENCE FINALS Eastern Conference Finals CHARLOTTE vs. BINGHAMTON Binghamton wins series 4 – 0 Game 1 – Thu May 12 7:05 PM Binghamton 7, CHARLOTTE 4 Game 2 – Fri May 13 7:05 PM Binghamton 3, CHARLOTTE 0 Game 3 – Tue May 17 7:05 PM BINGHAMTON 7, Charlotte 1 Game 4 – Wed May 18 7:05 PM BINGHAMTON 4, Charlotte 3 OT Western Conference Finals HOUSTON vs. HAMILTON Houston wins series 4 – 3 Game 1 – Fri May 13 7:35 PM HOUSTON 2, Hamilton 1 Game 2 – Sun May 15 4:05 PM HOUSTON 3, Hamilton 2 Game 3 – Tue May 17 7:30 PM Houston 3, HAMILTON 2 Game 4 – Wed May 18 7:30 PM HAMILTON 8, Houston 1 Game 5 – Fri May 20 7:30 PM HAMILTON 4, Houston 2 Game 6 – Sun May 22 4:05 PM Hamilton 5, HOUSTON 4 OT2 Game 7 – Tue May 24 7:05 PM HOUSTON 4, Hamilton 3Game 2 – Sun May 15 4:05 PM HOUSTON 3, Hamilton 2 Game 3 – Tue May 17 7:30 PM Houston 3, HAMILTON 2 Game 4 – Wed May 18 7:30 PM HAMILTON 8, Houston 1 Game 5 – Fri May 20 7:30 PM HAMILTON 4, Houston 2 Game 6 – Sun May 22 4:05 PM Hamilton 5, HOUSTON 4 OT2 Game 7 – Tue May 24 7:05 PM Hamilton 3, HOUSTON 3
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contact the writer at matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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