HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs entered play on Friday night with an opportunity to clinch the East Division Championship & the Eastern Conference overall with a victory over the Erie Otters.
The Bulldogs got off to a hot start with Logan Morrison earning an opportunity just seconds into the hockey game that Aiden Campbell had to turn aside. Hamilton quickly followed the Morrison chance up with Patrick Thomas capturing the puck in the right corner, spinning his way through a pair of Otters’ stick checks and feeding Mason McTavish. With the puck on his stick, McTavish stepped to the bottom of the right circle and left hand shot ripped the puck over Campbell to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead on the star enters 17th of the year just 53 seconds into the game. The Bulldogs were successful on a pair of penalty kills in the opening frame but Campbell was able to keep the Bulldogs power-play off the board late in the period while Matteo Drobac turned aside all 8 he faced in the opening frame.
With Erie needing points from the Friday night clash the Otters did everything they could to keep the Bulldogs away from the front of Campbell’s net in the second period as the game ticked up the physical intensity. A scary moment saw Patrick Thomas take a blindside hit from Cameron Morton but the Bulldogs’ rookie forward was able to pop quickly back to his feet, while Ryan Humphrey would exit the game for 10-minutes due to a misconduct after contact near the Erie bench. Only 10 shots were registered on goal between the two teams in the second period but the Bulldogs made one of their 6 count. At 14:38, Ryan Winterton stole an Otters out pass near the centre dot, sending Patrick Thomas away on the right on a 2-on-1 with Mason McTavish left. A gorgeous give and go between Thomas and McTavish led to Thomas tapping the puck in at right post for his 5th of the season and second point of night matching lineman McTavish’s output. Despite only 4 shots in the period, Erie forced Drobac into save of the night, splitting across his goal line to deny a goalmouth tap in with his toe keeping the Bulldogs firmly ahead. The Bulldogs took their 2-0 lead to the second intermission, 20 minutes away from the second division crown in franchise history.
The Otters played a desperate third period throwing everything they had in the tank to the Bulldogs net but Matteo Drobac, playing his best game of his OHL career, made a pair of brilliant stops in the frame, a glove save off a right circle shot and an explosive left to right shoulder save off a slot scramble to his right post. With just over 2-minutes to go, rookie defensemen Noah Van Vliet appeared to ice the game with his first goal in the OHL off a left point drive but was quickly overturned when it was ruled that Mason McTavish had cross-checked an Otters defender in front, giving Erie a late 5-on-3 (with the goaltender pulled) and 6-on-4 advantage. Drobac continued to wall off the Hamilton goal while Avery Hayes hit the empty net at 19:28, securing a 3-0 Hamilton victory, giving Matteo Drobac his first OHL shutout and clinching the East Division & home ice advantage through the Eastern Conference for the Bulldogs in the playoffs.
The Hamilton Bulldogs return to the FirstOntario Centre on Sunday, April 3rd for their final meeting of the season with the Peterborough Petes with a 2:00pm matinee start.
You must be logged in to post a comment.