Bulldogs blank IceDogs
The Niagara IceDogs suffered their first loss of the young season as they dropped a 4-0 decision to the Hamilton Bulldogs in an Ontario Hockey League game Friday night in Hamilton.
The IceDogs had won their first two games last week over the Barrie Colts and Oshawa Generals.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Mark Duarte and George Diaco.
“Obviously, you never want to fall behind early and we certainly weren’t shot out of a cannon or anything,” IceDogs coach Billy Burke said. “We didn’t exactly have a great start but it shouldn’t have been crippling.
“I just didn’t think it was necessarily our night. Definitely didn’t get any bounces, but we didn’t create any bounces.”
Burke felt the IceDogs needed to get into the dirty areas on the ice more.
“I thought we were (on the) perimeter. We weren’t fighting to get to the net, and you have to give them credit, they’re an old, veteran team and they deserved to win tonight.”
Burke is hopeful there is a lesson to be learned for his young squad.
“It’s a very hard league,” Burke said. “It’s hard to score goals, you will not score a lot of goals being a perimeter player, trying to beat guys at bluelines.
“We certainly have to earn a lot more out there.”
Avery Hayes increased Hamilton’s lead to 3-0 in the second before Jonathan Melee rounded out the scoring in the third.
Josh Rosenzweig made his first start in goal for Niagara this season and made 22 saves.
“He gave us a great chance to win,” Burke said. “I can’t fault him on many of those goals and when we’re not generating the quality of scoring chances they are, you certainly can’t put any blame on your goaltender. Our goaltending has been great all camp and it was no different today. We just have to play a little bit more determined in front of him.”
The IceDogs and Bulldogs meet again Saturday night at the Meridian Centre.
Dear reader. If you liked this story or one of the 3,600 other stories found on our website, please consider hitting the Support Us button on the right-hand side of our home page and making a PayPal contribution to our website. Your support would be much appreciated. If you are a business owner, please consider advertising on our site. Our rates are reasonable and we provide plenty of exposure for your business. Contact bpotrecz@outlook.com for more information.
