All it takes is looking at who the goalies are in this game and you already know goals are going to be very hard to come by and every single one will have to be earned. The Bulldogs beat the Crusaders 6-3 which with both teams offensive skill could of had the score like a basketball game had it not been for the goaltenders. The Bulldogs outshot the Crusaders 42-36 in the game.
The mesh in Sherwood Park is an eye sore. Most of the fans there are from Blackfalds as apparently its parents weekend. It sounds louder in the Crusaders rink when the Bulldogs score than when the Cru did.
Will Christian makes it 1-0 for Sherwood Park 3:44 into the game with the assist on the goal to Lindenwood commit Connor Gengle
Ryan Neumann ties the game up at 1 on a breakaway from a pass from James Johnson at 13:37 of the first period. Neumann has scored in the last 3 games for the Bulldogs. I had seen Neumann before play with Okotoks and Drayton, so I knew he was a good player who could score goals. I was not expecting this kind of production from him though.
Brendan Ross makes it a 2-1 game for the Bulldogs while sitting at the doorstep from Hunter Brown and Dakota MacIntosh at 18:34 of the opening period.
Shots were 15-11 in favor of the Bulldogs in the first period.
Former Melville Millionaire Noah Wills scores for the Crusaders shorthanded at 3:18 of the second period to tie the game up at 2. The Bulldogs sort of played around with the puck a little too cocky and they fumbled.
Penn State commit Kale Dach makes it a 3-2 game for the Crusaders with the assist to Hunter Price and Ethan Merner. The goal was scored at 8:46 of the second period right after the Bulldogs just had multiple chances, which Erik Roest denied everyone.
Jayden Joly tied the game up at 12:44 of the second period after potting in a rebound from a Matheson Mason shot. Mason has been great to watch in the last few games. Has awesome offensive skill could of easily had a few goals against most other goalies.
Shots in the second period were 15-14 for the Bulldogs
Luke Dahlen gave the Bulldogs the lead at 3:19 of the third period with the assists going to Alexander Dimitriadis and Tanner Willick.
Alexander Dimitriadis makes it a 5-3 Bulldogs game at 11:45 of the final frame when he sneaks one past Roest on his backhand with the assist on the goal going to Luke Dahlen.
A player on the Crusaders got his 4th penalty of the game. Every period the guy has been in the box. The announcers are pointing it out on TV. Even when he played for the Drumheller Dragons as good of a player as he is, he has helped the Bulldogs win more hockey games almost than any player who has ever wore a Bulldogs jersey.
Then Hunter Brown scored on the empty net with a pass from Alexander Dimitriadis to make it a 6-3 game. He could of been funny and pulled a Ridly Greig and fired a slapper into the empty net.
Shots on goal in the third period were 13-10 for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs outshot the Crusaders in the game 42-36.
Wilson Maxfield made 33 saves on the 36 shots that he faced for the win for the Bulldogs. For the Crusaders Erik Roest made 36 saves on the 41 shots that he faced for the Crusaders.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Wilson Maxfield 2) Alexander Dimitriadis 3) Matheson Mason
Attendance in Sherwood Park was 322 and I can tell you that listening to the game and talking to people from Blackfalds that were going to the game in a group it was a majority Bulldogs fans in the building. What again is going on in Sherwood Park? For the record too in the AJHL for family day today every game’s attendance was over double that of Sherwood Park’s.
Bulldogs next game is February 23rd in Brooks against the Brooks Bandits. The Bulldogs next home game is not until March 8th when the Sherwood Park Crusaders come to town.
Before the Bulldogs game I tuned in and watched a bit of David Brandes and the Coquitlam Express play the Powell River. You can spot Brandes in an instant out there too. It was Autism Night. No loud music or whistle or lights. The Express lost the game 5-1.
Tyler Wallace has been named the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week for the second straight week! LINK. Niagara freshman forward Tyler Wallace earned the Atlantic Hockey Association’s Rookie of the Week title for his three-point performance, including a goal and two assists in the team’s victory over Army. Wallace, from Calgary, AB, leads his team in points this season, tallying nine goals and 13 assists, and ranks 40th nationally in faceoff wins, with 286. This marks Wallace’s second consecutive week receiving the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week honor.
