The Bulldogs have won their second game of the season. It took them until Christmas to win that many last season. It was against Brooks also.
Flo TV had no Bulldogs stream, or at least one I could find. Listened to the Brooks guys who did a good job I am just so use to listening to Stinson it seems weird listening to anybody else call the games.
Brooks makes it 1-0 with a Power Play goal from 17 year old Russian Import and Providence College commit Alexei Zhukov got his first BCHL goal at 4:17 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to former Steinbach Piston Connor Paronuzzi and Riga, Latvia native Dmitrijs Dilevka.
Nikita Ivashchenko tied the game up on the Power Play for the Bulldogs at 6:52 of the first period after a beautiful set up from Captain Joey Melo. The other assist on the goal went to Noah Mertz.
After a bunch of give aways and, I mean a lot the Bandits scored to regain the lead. Veteran Liam Fitzpatrick gave the Bandits a 2-1 lead at 15:48 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to former Dauphin King Matthew Thomas and Montreal, Quebec native Kamyl Chemrouk. The refs went upstairs on the goal claiming it was a high stick. But even with my terrible eye sight I could tell that was a clean goal.
Newly acquired Gabriel Smith who played last season with the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL scored when he dumped the puck in on net at 19:26 of the first period. I originally thought it was tipped from either a Bulldog or a Bandit infront of the net. Either way it was a clean goal and assists went to Joey Melo and Luke Dahlen.
Shots on goal in the first period were 11-10 for the Bulldogs.
Austin Borggaard made it a 3-2 game at 8:33 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Thomas Neu and former Wenatchee Wild Radoslav Dimitrov.
Shots on goal in the second period of play were tied at 9 apiece.
Bulldogs got a 5 on 3 Power Play and on that PP Luke Dahlen scored and made it a 4-2 game at 16:17 of the third period. The helpers on the goal went to Joey Melo and Thomas Neu.
Thomas Neu scores after a Bandit fanned on a shot or a clearing attempt by a when he picked up a fumbled puck and blasted it into the empty net with 54 seconds remaining in the game.
Shots on goal in the third period were 11-12 for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs outshot the Bandits 31 to 29 in the game.
Carson Mertz stopped 27 of the 29 shots that he faced for the win for the Bulldogs. For the Bandits Zach Zahara made 26 saves on the 30 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Carson Mertz 2) Liam Fitzpatrick 3) Joey Melo I would of added new comer Gabriel Smith in there which I noticed the Bulldogs did on their end. These stars are from the BCHL website.
Attendance in Brooks was 1320
Bulldogs next game is Saturday September 27th at 6pm in Blackfalds for their home opener against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Juan Copeland does not appear to be on the roster anymore. I made reference to him not playing after the first couple shifts the other day. Wondering if it isn’t a reoccurring injury. That sucks as he barely played last year also. Tyler Chiovetti & Oscar Bjork both got assists with the Vernon Vipers in their debuts Friday night. Both recorded an assist in a 4-3 Vipers loss to the Trail Smoke Eaters.
