The Blackfalds Bulldogs took down the Sherwood Park Crusaders 7-3 in a British Columbia Hockey League game at the Randy Rosen Rink. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead and kept the pressure on, even though Sherwood Park fired more shots overall, and sealed the deal with a strong finish.
As of right now the Crusaders are playing the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in the opening round of the playoffs. Where game 1 will be will be decided after this weekend. Also it is do or die for the Spruce Grove Saints in Brooks tonight as they need all 4 points this weekend (last game is against the Bulldogs) to make the playoffs to get swept by Penticton in the first round. That will be dashed however if Okotoks manages to get even a point.
Nick DiPaolo scored to make it a 1-0 game and the camera was sitting down at the Crusaders net so you could not see the goal on FloTV. Maybe someone got into the liquor a little too early. The assist on the goal went to Thomas Neu at 11:04 of the first period.
Bulldogs made it 2-0 on the Power Play as Dean Toskos put it in the net after a whack load of Bulldogs taking stabs at the puck. The assists on the goal went to Antoine Gauthier and Alex Bosland.
Luke Dahlen made it 3-0 for the Bulldogs after a beautiful pass from Joey Melo at 18:03 of the first period with the other assist going to Luke Norcross.
Shots on goal in the first period were 15-10 for the Crusaders.
The Crusaders goalie changed their goalies to start the second period with Spencer Michnik entering the game.
Crusaders got on the board at 3:19 of the first period when Joel Purdom made it 1-0 on a tip in with the assists going to Jeremy Loranger and Cooper Sharp.
Nick DiPaolo makes it 4-1 with his second goal of the night shooting it from behind the goal line at 6:51 of the second period while on the Power Play. The assists went to Luke Dahlen and Alex Bosland.
Union commit Cooper Sharp scored for the Crusaders at 8:19 of the second making it 4-2 with the assists going to Connor Gengle and former Selkirk Steeler Joel Purdom.
Crusaders then cut the lead to 4-3 when recently acquired Minnesota native Bode Sampair scored his second goal as a Crusader. The assists on the goal went to Jeremy Loranger and John Alex Banks
Nick DiPaplo get the hat trick and makes it 5-3 at 12:17 of the second period while on the Power Play. The assists on the goal went to Thomas Neu and Noah Mertz.
Shots on goal in the second period were 19-5 for the Crusaders
Antoine Gauthier scored into the empty net at 17:26 of the third period to make it a 6-3 game. The helpers went to Thomas Neu and Austin Borggaard.
Empty net makes it 7-3 with the goal going to Liam Hoff with the assist going to Oscar Bjork.
Shots on goal in the third period were 10-9 for the Bulldogs. The Crusaders outshot the Bulldogs in the game 43-25.
Kirill Kapustin made 40 saves on the 43 shots that he faced for the win for the Bulldogs. For the Crusaders James Venne played the first period stopping 7 of the 10 shots that he faced. He was the replaced by Spencer Michnik who made 11 stops on the 13 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Kirill Kapustin 2) Nick DiPaolo 3) Antoine Gauthier
Attendance in Sherwood Park was 876
Bulldogs next game and final game of the 2024/25 campaign is Saturday March 29th in Spruce Grove against the Saints. This is a do or die game for the Saints as the Saints beat the Bandits in overtime last night. The Saints need the 2 points against the Bulldogs and need Okotoks to lose both of their games (Saturday & Sunday) in order to make the playoffs to get swept by the Penticton Vees in the first round.
