The Blackfalds Bulldogs dominated the Sherwood Park Crusaders with an 8-3 victory on Saturday night in Blackfalds. It was easily one of the strongest and most complete performances the Bulldogs have put together this season. The game got physical and chippy throughout, but after a while the frustrated Crusaders appeared to quit on the ice — with the notable exception of their goaltender, who kept battling. On the Sherwood Park bench, their coach provided unintentional entertainment, furiously yelling at his players and waving an iPad around to point out mistakes, his bald head shining under the arena lights in a way that had more than a few fans whispering, “He’s giving serious Howie Mandel vibes.” It was a bitterly cold night, and with holiday parties and holiday events all over town, attendance was down to around 500 fans. Here’s hoping the crowd bounces back bigger for Sunday’s Teddy Bear Toss game!
Danny Hussa opened up the scoring for the Bulldogs with a trickler just sneaking over Scali (I thought the thing would go over the net at first) at 10:11 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to Jared Langdon and Magnus Avotins.
Bowling Green commit Joseph Sinclair tied the game up for the Crusaders at 17:51 of the first period with the assists on the goal going to Mahtomedi, Minnesota native Bode Sampair and Kanata, Ontario native Kent Moor
Shots on goal in the first period were 15-9 for the Bulldogs
Thomas Neu who recently committed to Army scored his 13th goal of the season at 5:47 of the second period to make it a 2-1 game for the Bulldogs. The assists on the goal went to Noah Mertz and Antoine Gauthier.
Nikita Ivashchenko made it a 3-1 game on the Power Play for the Bulldogs at 11:02 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Thomas Neu and Noah Mertz. It was nice to see the Bulldogs get that especially after Neu had just went down and got hacked on a break away that should of been a penalty shot call.
Antoine Gauthier made it a 4-1 game for the Bulldogs burying a rebound at the side of the net on the Power Play getting his first goal of the season since returning from injury at 18:14 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Rohan Guevarra and Alex Bosland.
Shots on goal in the second period were 11-7 for the Bulldogs
Flying down the left hand side of the ice Matthew Croxall gets his 13th goal of the season to make it a 5-1 game for the Bulldogs at 3:09 of the third period. The assists on the goal went to Joey Melo and Noah Mertz. I still can not believe how bad the Crusaders got ripped off in the trade that brought Croxall here🤣🤣Guy is awesome was also named second star of the month for the BCHL last week.
Radoslav Dimitrov scored to make it a 6-1 game at 6:46 of the third period. The assists on the goal went to Antoine Gauthier and Alex Bosland. Still not sure if he meant to pass it out front but either way its a goal.
Former Kelowna Rocket Gabriel O’Brien gave the Crusaders some life and made it 6-2 at 10:33 of the third period with an unassisted goal.
Jared Langdon responds back just 37 seconds later at 11:11 of the third period batting the puck out of the air and in the net to make it a 7-2 game. The assists on the goal went to Nikita Ivashchenko and Radoslav Dimitrov.
Edmonton native Garbriel O’Brien got his second goal of the night for the Crusaders unassisted again to make it a 7-3 game. Time of the goal was 13:37.
Nikita Meshcheryakov makes it an 8-3 Bulldogs game at 18:32 of the third period with the assist on the goal going to Nikita Ivashchenko.
Shots on goal in the third period were 10 each. The Bulldogs outshot the Crusaders in the game 36-26.
Oliver Kiraly made 23 saves on the 26 shots that he faced for the win for the Bulldogs. For the Crusaders Jack Scali made 28 saves on the 36 shots that he faced. Scali played amazing. Even with allowing 8 goals he was still the best player on the ice.
Three Stars of the game 1) Antoine Gauthier 2) Noah Mertz 3) Nikita Ivashchenko
Attendance in Blackfalds was 480
Bulldogs next game is Sunday December 7th against the Brooks Bandits for the Teddy Bear Toss Game.
Gabriel Smith was traded to the Okotoks Oilers. Kind of mind boggling unless he wanted out. At least get something for him which they could and should or at least trade him to a team that isn’t in their division. I kind of thought an OHL team would of just yanked him up before this would of happened.🤔
Brady Whitehead is now playing with the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL. Chance Adams is now playing with the Janesville Jets of the NAHL.
Former Bulldog Oscar Bjork is on the 30 day injured reserve with the Vernon Vipers. LINK. The Vipers also traded former Bulldog Tyler Chiovetti to the Coquitlam Express to play along another former Bulldog Nolan Dupont. The Express are also in first place in the Interior East Division.