Hamilton overpower Manitoba

 

Tom Palko (HV)

 

On a night where the Hamilton Bulldogs honoured the long time voice of the team Bill Sturrup and his battle with cancer, strength and perseverance quickly became the theme of the game. The ‘Dogs battled back from 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 scores to eventually beat the Manitoba Moose in their season and home opener in front of 4633 hometown fans, 5-3. As was often the case last year, the Bulldogs got themselves into early penalty problems, as Maxim Lapierre took an early penalty and was soon joined by Jonathan Ferland in the box with the game barely a minute old. With Lapierre’s time winding down, Jesse Schulz took advantage of the defensive triangle collapsing around Bulldogs’ goaltender, Yann Danis, to walk to the top of the circle, and pick off the top left corner. The Moose’s lead was short lived as Kyle Chipchura jumped on a loose puck in the offensive zone and carried it to the front of the net, where Manitoba goalie Julien Ellis made the initial save, only to have Duncan Milroy jump on the rebound, and net his first of the season. Half-way through the period, with the teams playing 4 on 4 hockey, the Moose regained the lead on a defensive breakdown in the Hamilton end, when Brad Moran stepped easily around defenseman Ryan O’Byrne and snapped one home. Hamilton tied the score again on a power play that was a result of the hard work of newly acquired Ajay Baines. Baines took a wide angle to the net, drawing Maxime Fortunus into a tripping penalty, as the Moose defender couldn’t keep up. Less than 15 seconds into the power play, Michael Lambert took advantage of a screened Ellis with a quick shot from the top of the circle and tied the score at two. With half of the second period gone, Hamilton defenseman Mathieu Roy gave the puck to Moose center Rick Rypien deep in the Bulldogs’ corner. Rypien walked out to the net and made no mistake as the Moose took their final lead of the night. Exactly 30 seconds later, Lapierre carried the puck from his own end and deep into Moose territory, where Ferland grabbed the loose puck and converted on a nifty wrap-around to tie the game at threes. Early in the third, with three Bulldogs crashing the net trying to get a handle on the loose puck, Zack Stortini connected and gave Hamilton their first lead of the night, which they never relinquished. With Chipchura in the penalty box, and Ellis on the bench for an extra attacker, Danny Groulx and Mathieu Roy put on a defensive clinic as the pairing gave the Moose nowhere to shoot, eventually forcing the puck into the corner, where Hamilton was able to clear the zone and Lapierre potted the empty net goal with 11 seconds left in the game. Three Stars: 1. HAM – Kyle Chipchura 2. HAM – Zack Stortini 3. MTB – Rick Rypien Notes: Hamilton went 2-9 on the power play and Manitoba went 1-7 (now 1-13 on the season). Manitoba out-shot Hamilton 32-29.