Dogs lose opener
Grand Rapids takes advantage of turnovers, sloppy defensive play
Garry McKay
The Hamilton Spectator
Apr 18, 2009
History is not on the Hamilton Bulldogs’ side now.
The Dogs dropped a 4-3 decision to the Grand Rapids Griffins last night at Copps Coliseum in the opening game of their best-of-seven American Hockey League North Division semifinal.
In 10 previous playoff series in their history the Dogs are 2-8 when they dropped the first game. The last time they won a playoff round after dropping the opening game was in 2003 against Manitoba.
With their win, the Griffins also took back the home-ice advantage that the Dogs had worked so hard to earn in the final weeks of the regular season.
More than history the Dogs should really be worried about how the Griffins were able to take advantage of Hamilton turnovers and sloppy defensive play.
The two teams came out of the first period tied 2-2 after a 20 minutes that surprisingly featured only so-so goaltending and more that a few defensive mistakes
In fact, both Grand Rapids goals were the result of the Bulldogs turning the puck over in their own zone.
Darren McCarty gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 5:01 when Mattia Ritola’s shot from above the right faceoff circle deflected off him past a started Marc Denis into the Hamilton net. The Dogs got that back at 5:59 on a perfectly executed three-on-two, which ended with Kyle Chipchura feeding the puck across the front of the net to T.J. Wyman at the back door.
Joakim Andersson jumped on a rebound and slammed it past Denis at 6:50 to put the Griffins back in front.
Shawn Belle did likewise when he raced in and blasted a loose puck past Jimmy Howard to tie it at 9:47.
After a scoreless second period, Justin Abdelkader took advantage of a sloppy defensive play by the usually trustworthy Kyle Chipchura, to give Grand Rapids the lead for good just 19 seconds into the third.
He cut across the front of the net, unchecked, and banged in a pass from Ville Leino.
Milton’s Darren Haydar gave the visitors some insurance on a great tip-in at 13:06, and they needed it. In fact, it turned out to be the winner when David Desharnais got the Bulldogs back to one down at 18:08.
The two teams meet again tonight at Copps and then the series switches to Grand Rapids next week for games three, four, and five, if necessary.
Bulldogs vs. Griffins
next Sunday.
Game 2
Tonight, Copps Coliseum, 7 p.m.
Cable 14, Talk820
Games 3, 4 and 5 will be in Grand Rapids on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with the series returning to Hamilton — if necessary