Bulldogs suffer two losses at end of regular season, start of playoffs

By: John Adams February 4, 2015 979

Bulldogs suffer two losses at end of regular season, start of playoffs

The Nicol Insurance Kincardine Junior "C" Bulldogs picked the wrong time to hit a slump—the final game of the season and opening game of the playoffs.

Friday night, the 'Dogs hosted the Hanover Barons in what turned into a showdown for third place.
Coming into the game, Kincardine held a two-point lead over the Barons who had been playing decent hockey in the second half of the season and closed the gap between them and the 'Dogs. Kincardine needed a tie or a victory to wrap things up, while the only way the Barons could leapfrog them in the standings was a victory.

The 'Dogs opened the scoring at the 3:26 mark as Shawn Moore finished off some sharp passing from Gerrit Satosek and Jordan Bell. The Barons killed any momentum that goal may have given to Kincardine, though, as they tied the game just over a minute later with Luke Czuczman off for tripping.
The Bulldogs regained the lead at the 18:32 mark with a powerplay marker of their own by Luke Inglis, with Dalton Hnatko and Sam Feagan drawing helpers, so it was off to the second.

Kincardine then made it 3-1 as Wiejak scored at the 2:44 mark of the second frame with Brady Richards and Matt Baker assisting. Hanover stung the 'Dogs on the powerplay as, with Campbell down on the ice and the puck under his pads, the Barons continued to jam away at the puck, knocking it free and into the net at the 11:10 mark. Protests from Campbell and his teammates to the referee fell on deaf ears, and the game continued.

Brycin Morrison restored the two-goal lead with a hard-fought, short-handed goal at the 13:48 mark, but that was followed in short order by an anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better display by the Barons who cut the lead to one again with a short-handed marker of their own, sending the game to the third period with the 'Dogs leading 4-3.

The 'Dogs were flat in the third, and the Barons were hungry, tying the game at the 9:34 mark. Hanover continued to press, storming the crease and winning the races to loose pucks time and time again, and that paid off when they stormed the crease one more time, knocking home the winning goal with a mere 2.5 seconds left in regulation.
While Hanover and Kincardine both finished with the same number of points, Hanover had more wins, claiming third place and dropping the 'Dogs to fourth.

Sunday afternoon, the Bulldogs hosted the Mount Forest Patriots in the opening game of their best-of-seven series, but ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 overtime score.
The opening frame of the contest saw no goals, but then Brady Richards started things off for the 'Dogs when he opened the scoring at the 3:38 mark of the second with Patrick Wiejak drawing the lone assist.
Mount Forest tied the game on the powerplay less than a minute later, but Kincardine continued to play strong, and regained the lead at the 10:16 mark when Shawn Moore was set up by Dalton Hnatko and Mike Smailes to put the 'Dogs up 2-1.
The Pats continued their dominance, and tied the game with their second powerplay goal at the 12:35 mark.
The third period solved nothing, sending the game to overtime which did not go Kincardine’s way at all.

The Patriots came out with a vengeance in overtime, outshooting Kincardine, 15-1, in the extra frame, and scoring the winner at the 13:43 mark to take the opening game in the series.

The Wingham Ironmen claimed first overall in the league standings, and will enjoy a first-round bye. The other match-ups for the first-round see the Barons taking on the Goderich Pirates, and the battle of the birds with Walkerton facing Mitchell.

The 'Dogs will look to right the ship and stop the slump when they head to Mount. Forest for Game 2 tonight (Wednesday). Game 3 sees Kincardine return to home ice this Friday (Feb. 6) at 8:30 p.m. Come on out and howl for the Bulldogs. We’ll see you at the rink.