Eagles 5 Dogs 4, rematch tomorrow

Quite the game at the Dog Pound with plenty of momentum swings as another late comeback attempt by the Bulldogs came up short.


The Eagles controlled the play early, but it was the Dogs who found the net first as AP Mitch Crisanti scored his first BCHL goal, one-timing one home from the slot off some nice passing by the Kalashnikov brothers to make it 1-0 seven minutes in. The Dogs built the lead to 2-0 late in the first with the Kalashnikov's hooking up as Arty set up Yan for a quick one-timer through the legs of Hunt after Brandon Halls pinched to keep the puck deep.


The Eagles pushed the pace in the second period and were very dangerous on the transition generating plenty of good chances. Alex Hagen found the net to trim the gap to 2-1 just over six minutes into the period when he converted a Sean McGovern rebound in the paint. The Eagles would have two glorious chances on the rush to tie it shortly afterwards but Matt Larose came up big. However it was another odd-man rush that tied at 2-2 as Robert Lindores drove the net and one-timed a feed from Sean McGovern home. Lindores would have a good chance to give the Eagles the lead later in the period, but Larose came up with the save and was then bowled over by Lindores resulting in a Bulldog power play that they instead converted to lead 3-2 after two as Turner Popoff one-timed a Ryan Lough feed home from the point.


The Eagles tied the game up on a shorthanded 2 on 1 before the third period was five minutes old as Brandon Tanev roofed a cross-ice feed by Trevor Cameron. The score would stay 3-3 until the late stages of the game, with the Dogs coming up with a big 5 on 3 penalty kill after a bench minor for a late line change was followed up by another penalty. One more penalty was too many however, as Tyler Morley finished off a pretty passing play by converting a cross-crease feed to make it 4-3 with 2:33 to play. The Dogs pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, but the Eagles found insurance when Steve Koshey found a loose puck and hit the empty net from his own end to make it 5-3 with 1:08 to play. As has been their trademark, the Dogs didn't quit, making it a one goal game again with the goalie out just 17 seconds later as Ryan Lough drove the net and potted a rebound to make it 5-4 with 51 seconds to play as it was shades of Wednesday night all over again. The Dogs wouldn't be able to pull off a miracle comeback to force OT for the second game in a row this time though as the Eagles held on.


Final shots favoured the Eagles 34-32. The Dogs went 2 for 4 on the power play while the Eagles went 1 for 4, while also scoring once shorthanded.


Quite the game, here's hoping the rematch tomorrow is just as entertaining. With a different ending of course!


Hammer