The Bulldogs opened up their season Tuesday night with an exhibition loss to the Okotoks Oilers.
Chicago native Michael Kowalski opened up the scoring for the Oilers at 9:37 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to Minnesota native Rylan Oster and returning player Allen Sherpa.
Shots on goal in the first period were 11-9 for the Oilers
Niklas Gudmanson scored for the Oilers to make it a 2-0 game at 1:51 of the second period with the assists going to Myles Gauld and former Bulldog Otto Hanson. Gudmanson I knew that name looked familiar so I checked on elite prospects. He played with the Olds Grizzlys for a couple seasons from 2021-23. He spent last season split between the Cowichan Valley Capitals and the Fairbanks Ice Dogs of the NAHL.
Kade Duell made it a 3-0 game for the Oilers just moments later at 2:20 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Brayden Duy and Brett Wilson.
New Jersey native and Colgate University commit Porter Byrd-Leitner got the Bulldogs their first goal of the season at 2:52 of the second frame. The assists on the goal went to Latvian Raivis Strazdins.
Colorado native Ben Rakowski score the Bulldogs second goal at 8:33 of the second period with the assist on the goal going to veteran Aaron Brown. Rakowski played last season with the Bishop Kearny Selects. He also played in a playoff game last season with the Bulldogs.
Shots on goal in the second period were 10-6 for the Oilers
In most of the third period this had to be the sloppiest hockey I have seen especially from guys that are so skilled. And it goes for both teams it looked horrible and was hard to watch. You could tell the skill was all there just looked like a bunch of strangers who couldn’t get anything going. It looked like when you go out and play beer league with a bunch of ex pros and then they hit the 10 beer mark and try to play good but its just not connecting. Passes to the other team, the puck sitting there and no one touches it, instead of back checking a guy bolted for the bench. (I won’t name names on that oneš¤£)
St. Louis native Brayden Duy made it a 4-2 game for the Oilers at 2:29 of the third period. The assists on that goal went to Allen Sherpa and Michael Kowalski.
Otto Hanson scored on the empty net with 33 seconds left in the game. The assist on the goal went to Ryder De Nys.
Shots on goal in the third period were 17-6 for the Oilers. The Oilers outshot the Bulldogs 38-21 in the game.
Olivier Ciarlo made 19 saves on the 21 shots that he faced for the win for the Oilers. Ciarlo spent the last 4 seasons in the QMJHL with time spent in Baie Comeau and Blainville playing 127 games. For the Bulldogs Toronto native Mikkel Christensen made 15 saves on the 18 shots that he faced until being relieved at 8:01 of the second period by Sam Caufield. Caufield made 18 saves on the 19 shots that he faced for the Bulldogs.
Three Stars of the game: 1) Brayden Duy (Oilers) 2) Porter Byrd-Leitner (Bulldogs) 3) Kade Duell (Oilers)
Attendance in Blackfalds was 231
The Bulldogs next game is Wednesday September 11th against the Spruce Grove Saints in Spruce Grove.
Inter Squad Game
The Bulldogs had their Inter squad game on Sunday night. 4 Guys that stood out at the game Nayan Pai, Santeen Golja, Brayden Gourley, and Luc Warner. All the veterans also looked really good too. Brayden Gourley is the younger brother of former Okotoks Oiler Connor Gourley.
Ryan Shaw will be playing for the New Jersey Titans of the NAHL and it appears he is having a good preseason already there. Not sure on Ryan Neumann but Elite Prospects has him playing for SAIT this season. I have also curious about Easton Adrian. Other than those 3 all returning guys that were expected are back.