HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Bulldogs were back on home ice Friday night before heading to Kingston on the weekend, coming a win over Mississauga on Tuesday the Bulldogs entered Friday riding a 6-game win streak and looking to bump it to 7, facing off against the Barrie Colts for the 4th time this season.
The first period the Bulldogs took control from the drop of the puck and opened the scoring 23 seconds in. Logan Morrison won the face off back to Gavin White who saw Avery Hayes wide open backdoor to give him his 24th of the season. Hayes shoots, he scores! at 3:26 Morrison won the neutral zone draw and Ryan Humphrey made the play poking the puck past a Barrie defender to set Hayes for his 25th of the season and second of the game. The Morrison, Hayes, Humphrey line lit up the first period for the Bulldogs and was a force to be reckoned with no answer to slow them down. At the end of 20 minutes the Bulldogs held the 2-0 lead with Marco Costantini shutting down every shot Barrie sent his way, including a massive pad stop on Beau Jelsma at the side of the net and Hayes leading the way with his pair.
Starting with the man advantage for 51 seconds the Bulldogs continued to carry the play in the second frame with both Costantini & Guzda keeping things quiet. A scary moment in the second period for the Bulldogs saw Morrison and Nathan Staios collide at the top of the Colts zone with both tracking a loose puck, both went down the tunnel with Morrison returning after just a couple minutes but Staios only returning to the bench briefly. With Morrison back in the middle of his line, Hayes returned the earlier favour finding his center coming out of the tunnel to send him to the slot to shoot it passed Mack Guzda at 7:35 to score is 17th of the season with Jorian Donovan picking up the second helper. After 40 minutes of play the Bulldogs lead with a trio of goals from the pair of the night, Morrison and Hayes and Costantini holding down the fort.
With 20 minutes left to seal the deal the Bulldogs needed a strong final frame to continue the win streak and came out strong. With 15 minutes left a third Bulldogs player was forced down the tunnel, Cole Brown got a stick to the face from Zach Wigle that the officials took a second look to give the Dogs a 4-minute man advantage. Brandt Clarke stole the puck in the neutral zone to take a chance at Costantni but Gavin White had other plans, going end to end for the backcheck stop. Hayes once again stepped up with the game back at even strength to get his 26th of the season and 3rd of the game with Lucas Moore starting the play and the cross-ice pass of his linemate Morrison at 9:51 to give the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead. With 7:45 left of the game Costantini shut Ian Lemieux down, laying out at his goal post for another spectacular stop. A returning Cole Brown got himself in front of the net to tip the wicked shot of Lucas Moore to get his 8th of the season and give Braeden O’Keefe the secondary helper, his second OHL point, at 14:48. With the man advantage and 2 minutes left of the game Nathan Allensen broke Costantini’s shutout to put the Colts on the board but that is as close as the Colts would get. After 60 minutes of play the Bulldogs finish with a 5-1 win to add to their win streak bumping it up to 7 games and head to Kingston with momentum on their side.
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