The Blackfalds Bulldogs edged out the Sherwood Park Crusaders 3-2 in a tense overtime thriller last night at the Eagle Builders Centre, snapping a gritty back-and-forth battle that kept fans on edge until the final seconds. Sherwood Park’s Filip Vavro stood tall in net, turning aside a barrage of shots—especially on the power play, where the Bulldogs racked up plenty of prime opportunities but couldn’t fully capitalize early. The Crusaders struck twice shorthanded, cashing in on Blackfalds’ lapses that left their goalie exposed and high and dry, showcasing Sherwood Park’s opportunistic edge even when down a man. Blackfalds battled back to force the extra frame and ultimately found the dagger to claim the win, a result that underscores their strong position in the standings. These two teams clash again tonight in Sherwood Park at 2:00 PM MST—the Crusaders’ third game in under three days—adding extra fatigue and intensity to what could preview a first-round playoff matchup if the season wrapped up today.
Shots on goal in a scoreless first period were 12-7 for the Bulldogs
Holy Cross commit Bode Sampair stripped a Bulldog of the puck while short handed and sneaks one in to make it a 1-0 game at 3:11 of the second period.
Former Ottawa 67 and Kanata, Ontario native Ryan White makes it a 2-0 Crusaders game while they were shorthanded again on what was the worst backchecking ever attempted by the Bulldogs in a game. No effort on their part do stop the Crusaders what so ever. It was like they wanted to be down 2-0. The lone assist on the goal went to Bode Sampair.
Danny Hussa gets the Bulldogs on the board at 16:58 of the second period beating Vavro up close with a nifty little deke. The assists on the goal went to Braydan Smith and Evan Stastny.
Shots on goal in a second period were 15-13 for the Bulldogs
Antoine Gauthier ties the game up for the Bulldogs at 13:06 of the third period witha one time blast that Vavro had absolutely no chance to get over to in time to stop. The assists on the goal went to Nikita Mescheryakov and Nicholas DiPaolo.
Shots on goal in the third period were 14-10 for the Bulldogs
Krisjanis Sarts scored the overtime winner for the Bulldogs with only 44 seconds remaining in the overtime period. The assists on the goal went to Thomas Neu and Nicholas DiPaolo.
Shots on goal in the overtime period were 7-4 for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs outshot the Crusaders 48-34 in the game
For the Bulldogs Carson Mertz stopped 26 of the 28 shots that he faced. He can honestly blame both goals on his team mates screw ups. For the Crusaders Southpaw Slovakian Filip Vavro was like a brick wall stopping 45 of the 48 shots fired on him in the game.
Three stars of the game were 1) Filip Vavro 2) Krisjanis Sarts 3) Danny Hussa- The Bulldogs and BCHL announced the stars a tad different and have Vavro at third. I am a homer badly too but there is no way in real life that guy was not first star of the game.
Attendance in Blackfalds was 748
Bulldogs next game is Sunday at 2pm March 1st in Sherwood Park against the Crusaders. The Crusaders will be playing their 3rd game in less than 3 days. That is kind of getting the shitty end of the scheduling stick. Oh well not the Bulldogs problem🤣
