Dogs host Silverbacks, THINK PINK, Midget and Bantam Bulldogs Update..

Monster posting. Game day. Many things on the go.

#1 The Alberni Valley Bulldogs look to break their first two game losing streak of the season as they host the Salmon Arm Silverbacks tonight at the Dog Pound.

The Silverbacks are sizzlin', winners of five in a row after a 3-2 win over the Clippers last night at the Frank Crane Arena.

The Dogs no doubt will feel that they didn't bring their A game into the Sunwave Centre last Saturday, a 3-1 Salmon Arm win.

At the same time, I'd expect Salmon Arm thinks the EXACT same thing - that they didn't bring their A game.

Maybe that's harder to think when you WIN, but with both teams getting just 22 shots on goal it just wasn't anywhere near the kind of game I was expecting.

Watch for Mark Zengerle tonight Bulldog fans. This guy is an absolute treat to watch. A magician with the puck, he makes everyone around him better with his deft skill at distributing it, finding people that you didn't even know were there. Short of making it sit down, speak, or stay - this guy makes the puck do what he wants.

Catch the pregame show on THE PEAK at 6:45, with the play-by-play to follow at 7:00pm!

And of course listen live on our website at www.933thepeak.com or watch the game live through BCHL Web TV

October is breast cancer awareness month and your Alberni Valley Bulldogs are joining the cause! October 25^th the Dogs are putting on pink jersey’s to help raise breast cancer awareness and you can show your support by wearing pink in the rink.

Here's how you can get involved:

- Purchase a pink Bulldogs Tshirt for $10 and wear it to the game on the 25th

- Have dinner at Boston Pizza on Friday Oct 16th - Bulldogs players will be guest servers that evening and all tips help support the cause

- The Bulldogs will take over Timmy's on Tuesday October 20th! Look for players in the Drive Thru and at the front counter at Tim Hortons from 7am to 9am that morning - all coffee sales in that 2 hour period will be donated to Breast Cancer.

- The Peak will be selling Re-usable pink shopping bags at the game on the 25th. Come to the game and purchase a pink shopping bag for $5 - only 100 bags available. Bags contain special goodies and your chance to win a crisp $100 bill from 93.3 The Peak. Each bag will contain a puck for the puck toss and your shot at winning Matt Hatch's pink jersey courtesy of the Peak! Thanks to Buy Low foods, JAL Designs, Jowsey's FurniturE, multi-max, Em Salon and Spa, Hospitality Inn, Shoppers Drug Mart Clinic Pharmacy, Klubhouse for kids, Uniglobe Travel, The Arli Pub, Lamoureux Home Team, Safe & Sound Computers, LA Marine, Boutique Belle Amie and Dorothy Clarkstone Notary Public.

Look for Pink Jersey’s around town, make a donation and enter for your chance to win game worn pink jerseys on October 25th! Participating sponsors are JAL Designs, Thunderbird Insurance, Safeway, the Alberni Valley Times, Northport Bookkeeping, the Best Western Barclay Hotel, Walmart, Serendipity Hair Studio, Jay's Lace it up, Alberni Echo Toyota and Alberni Chrysler.

Jersey's will be drawn at the end of the game on Sunday the 25th - contestants must be present to win.

Don't forget, the game on the 25th is at 230pm vs. The Penticton Vees and its family day - ticket packs for two adults and two children are just $25.

BANTAM BULLDOGS BRING BACK BLING

The Bantam A Bulldogs competed in the Ridge Meadows Fall Icebreaker Tournament on Thanksgiving weekend. They won five straight games of hard fought hockey to reach the final.

In the round robin Alberni Valley was in a pool with Cloverdale Colts AA, Burnaby Winter Club, Saanich Braves B, and Pursuit of Excellence 2. The Bullodgs opened against Cloverdale, taking an early lead on the first of two goals by Marino Somerville and never looking back, Alberni dominated play throughout, allowing Cloverdale goals only when shorthanded. Also scoring in the 7-2 win were Logan Savard, Sam Visona, Connor Gagnon, Liam McLeod and Austin Smith. Vison was named game MVP.

Saturday evening the Bulldogs controlled the game again as they out shot Saanich 57 to 11. The score was 3-0 for Alberni by the end of the first period on goals by Chase Gaudreault, McLeod and Savard. Saanich substituted their goalie for the last two periods. Wilson and Somerville found holes in the third period, but solid tending by the new Saanich net minder kept the score from being even higher than the 5-2 result. McLeod was recognized as MVP.

Alberni faced tougher competition for the remainder of the tournament. At 9 AM Sunday morning they faced off with Burnaby Winter Club. The play went end to end throughout the game, with BWCs dump and chase style keeping the Bulldogs pinned in their own end much of the time. Visona got the first goal for Alberni late in the first period. Burnaby tied it up on a power play late in the second. Before the period ended, Dawson Marlatt jumped up from the blue line to make it 2-1. There was no scoring in the third period, but Bryce DiRocco had to be sharp in goal to keep it that way. He earned the game MVP for his efforts.

Twelve hours later Alberni was up against Pursuit of Excellence, a private hockey school team from Kelowna. Midway through the first period Savard shot from the left circle and scored the opening goal past the goalie’s blocker. The Bulldogs went up 2-0 as the second period started. Smith broke past the defence to score. The two goal lead held up until the third period but Pursuit lived up their name and scored twice to end regulation time in a tie. This set the scene for a shootout. Casey Davidson allowed only one goal from the Pursuit shooters, while Tyler Wilhelm and Visona scored two to win the game for Alberni. Smith was named MVP.

With 4 wins the Bulldogs finished first in their pool and calimed home ice for the early morning semi-fianl against Abbotsford. The two teams were closely matched and the game went end to end for ten minutes before Dawson Marlatt scored from the slot. As the period ended Jas Sidhu picked up a rebound in front and shovelled it under the goalie. Abbotsford got one back in the middle of the second period and then tied it up in the middle of the third, setting up an anxious end game for the Alberni team and spectators. The Bulldogs turned up the pressure btu were turned away repeatedly by the Abbotsford defence. With only 39 seconds left Somerville scooped up a rebound and flipped the puck over the sprawling goalie to make it 3-2. Spectators held their breath as the remaining seconds ticked off the clock and gave Alberni a berth into the final. Somerville received the MVP.

The final turned out to be a rematch against Burnaby Winter Club who upset the undefeated Seattle Sno-Kings in the other semi-final. This time Alberni used their own dump and chase to carry the play in the Burnaby zone, but found it hard to get quality shots past the defence. With five minutes to go in the opening period good puck control by the Bulldogs set up Gagnon to score glove side from the left circle. Smith and Nathan Read assisted. Burnaby got it back two minutes later. Alberni came back right away, again showing great puck control. Visona drove from the outside to score with assists from Corey Beecroft and Smith. BWC tied it again with a short handed goal as the second period ended. Alberni continued to control the puck most of the time but were unable to get into the net until Wilson broke away for a shorthanded goal in the middle of the third period. Then Burnaby got through and tied the game again with five minutes left. With the gold medal on the line both teams gave it everything they had but neither could break the 3-3 tie. The overtime period was scoreless, so once again the game balanced on a shootout. This time Burnaby edged out the Bulldogs who came home with silver.

The close contest made for exciting hockey. As Assistant Coach Rob Gaudreault commented after the final, “Six games in three days has made us a much better team.” The experience will pay off as they move into the regular season.

The Bantams have an exhibition game against Oceanside at 7:30 PM Friday October 16 against Oceanside and their last Tiering game against Powell River at 2:45 PM both at Weyerhauser Arena.

MIDGET REPS TAKE MERRITT GOLD

The Midget Rep Bulldogs swept their games at the Merritt Icebreaker Tournament on Thanksgiving weekend. On Friday evening they took advantage of tickets to cheer on the Alberni Valley Junior A Bulldogs as they defeated Merritt Centennials 9-3 and perhaps this was a motivating factor.

The Midgets played the Vancouver Thunderbirds on Saturday afternoon, scoring in the first minute and completely shutting down their opposition in a 10-0 win. Brady Janzen was on fire with 6 goals. Andre Savard had 2 and Dylan Haugen and Colby Lim got singles. Jeff Dagg and Garson McCulloch each had 3 assists. Assists were also credited to Jesse York, Keenan McConnell, Luciano Somerville, Justin Sketsch and Bryan Read. Read was chosen as the MVP in this game.

Saturday evening Alberni took on Prince George and once again controlled the game which ended 6-12 in favour of the Bulldogs. McCulloch had 2 goals and singles went to McConnell, Sketsch, Taylor Smith and Colby Lim. Lim was named game MVP.

The final round robin game was on Sunday Afternoon against Sooke. The Bulldogs started slow and allowed Sooke to go up 2-0 early in the first period. Then Sooke started to get into penalty trouble. McCulloch scored Alberni’s first goal on a power play 13 minutes in to end the period down 1-2. The Bulldogs took over in the second period with goals from Brett Williscroft, Dagg (2) and Somerville, to go up 5-2. In the third period it was Lim, Haugen, McCulloch again, Dustin Diemert, and Dagg completing his hat trick to earn the MVP.

Sooke racked up 41 minutes in penalties and 5 of the 10 Alberni goals were scored with the man advantage.

As winners of their pools the Bulldogs and Williams Lake met in the final on Monday afternoon. This was a contest between two strong teams and Williams Lake scored first. Sketsch evened it up with an assist from Read at 14:09 of the first period. The game remained tied at 1-1 until the end of the second period. With a minute left Savard scored assisted by his line mates Dagg and McCulloch. Momentum shifted for the third period as Diemert scored to make it 3-1. Janzen and Smith assisted. Sketsch was named MVP in the final.

This tournament was a bit of a homecoming for Coach Brent Demerais who played Junior A hockey for the Merritt Centennials when he was not much older than the players he coaches today. Now he will be able to add the Merritt Icebreaker trophy to the growing collection of hardware already on display at the Multiplex.

Midget Bulldogs with Merritt Tournament Trophies; l-r Back, Coach Bryce Abbott, Colby Lim, Taylor Smith, Luciano Somerville, Ryan White, Jeff Dagg, Carson McCulloch, Josh Versteeg, Head Coach Brent Demerais.

Middle, Dustin Diemert, Brett Williscroft, Keenan McConnell, Jesse York, Dylan Haugen, Justin Sketsch,

Front, Mike Kraneveldt, Bryan Read, Gianni Crema, Brady Janzen.

Way to go Dogs!

Hammer