First off, my thanks to the "BIG DOG" Les Dorion for the photo you see above. Les has jumped on board in supporting this, like he supports everything else, and he's already sent me a good collection of pictures to share with everyone on this blog. I'm not sure if photo credit goes to Les for this picture, all I know is that he sent it to me. I'm guessing it's his shot though. If I'm not mistaken, that is a picture of the pregame ceremonies before the first Bulldogs game at the DAWG POUND back in September of 2002. Hopefully someone will add a comment and correct me if I'm wrong on that one.
Tonight's game is game number two of an eight game home stand for the Dogs. There will surely be some cheers for former Bulldog Jordan Macintyre, now suited up in the #6 sweater for the Salsa.
Numbers- The Bulldogs have won six straight head to head match-ups this season vs Victoria for a 6-1 record, after losing the first head to head contest at The Save on Foods Memorial Centre on September 10th. The Bulldogs have outscored the Salsa 20 to 2 in the three games this season in the pound.
The Peak pregame show is live on 93.3 The Peak FM with Ace and myself at 6:45 tonight, the puck drop live from the DAWG POUND is 7:00. Our "feature interview" tonight in the second intermission show is our good friend "JB" from the Chilliwack Chiefs; as he'll give us a heads up on the mainland division with the Langley Hornets visiting the Bulldogs tomorrow, and the Burnaby Express at the pound next Thursday.
As always, we invite you to get interactive with us during the broadcast. Send an email to the pressbox:
bulldogs@islandradio.bc.ca
Outside of The Peak's listening area, catch the action on the BCHL's fanzone
www.bchl.bc.ca
I will be adding some post game comments tonight, I hope that you will stop by and do so as well.
See you at the rink, and GO DOGS GO.
Hammer
5 comments:
great idea of doing a blog. good luck to the dogs tonight, come out and play more typical bulldog hockey and make it lucky #13 in a row tonight boys. and thanks hammer for all the work you do to keep all the parents,families and fans informed.
p.s. happy new year to everyone!
Thanks for the comments and for stopping by the blog Dano. Sorry I had problems in emailing the blog link to you. Struggle struggle.
Lucky 13 is right, I suppose. After that quick goal it was a rather lifeless game - although the Bulldogs defence showed poise under pressure when playing inside the AV blueline. I'm a little surprised at the lack of shots by the Salsa...Sure hope the boys get some spark against Langley or I'm thinking the streak's gonna end for sure. Where's the goal production in the last little while? The Dogs are just getting by, not dominating really like a month ago.
Yeah I realize who's missing from the roster these days but still, the team seems a little out of sync...
On the other hand, we've been spoiled this season. What? Just one loss at home this year so far? I think that the bar has been set fairly high in AV this season and maybe winning game after game takes off some edge...
Or as someone said at the game tonight, "It's almost like they're on autopilot"
One great sign was Joe Scali taking the pre-game warmup. He should be back real soon and won't that be great? Hopefully Melrose and Smeltzer are back soon too - it's been awhile...
Anyways, good blog Hammer, I'm gonna post the link on the BCHL message board - since it appears that hasn't happened yet.
Go Bulldogs Go!
yah lucky indeed tonight. Stephan Pattison was the interview for the first intermission tonight, and when we first starting talking, I said "wow it's been a while since we last did this, how long has it been?" He replies "long time, we played Cowichan that night and lost. The only home loss. So being en ex goalie, going for number 13, that bothered me off the bat, haha. A wins a win, many people said it tonight- how spoiled we all are that winning 2-1, while out shooting the opposition 37-13. The shots against stat is very impressive. Give credit to the Dogs and maybe question the effort of the Salsa to create offense?
Like you said LRT, where's the offense. You then answered your question by talking about who was out of the line up. This team wins games getting it done as a team no doubt, but with Scali and Melrose alone out that 35 goals and 73 points by my count, sitting on the sidelines. Take that away from any team and it factors in the numbers. Look at the goals numbers of Ruel, Kremyr, Estey, Timberlake, for example the last 10 games or so, or from when Melrose and Scali were both out.
Lucky 13th. Bulldogs first goal was lucky for one side and unlucky for the other. I wondered aloud on the broadcast if that would be a record, or close to a record, for the fastest goal or Dogs goal to start a game at home. I'll have to throw that one at the ice. Looked to me on that play Estey put a shot on goal that rebounded off the boards to Jordan MacIntyre, who might'be tried to go off the net to himself. Instead, it hit the outside of the net, and went right to Herman who showed nice patience and put it home. The Salsa goal to tie it at one was also lucky for one team and unlucky for the other, as the shot took a weird bounce and went off the end boards or the corner, and was fired in by Girard as Stewart was turned the opposite direction trying to find the puck off the caroming.
Langley is going to be a toughie tomorrow for #14. I'll post on that tomorrow. Thanks again to those leaving comments, and thanks to BIG DOG for all the pictures he's sent me so far. Send those pictures people!
Hammer
Alberni fans continue to show up in droves
BY SHARIE EPP Times Colonist sports staff
PORT ALBERNI - Except for Bernie and his drum, yipping and barking fans, and the triple locomotive train whistle, it was actually pretty quiet at Weyerhaeuser Arena on Friday night.
Not.
Most teams need the jaws of life to pull a victory out of the Dog House in the Alberni Valley, and the Victoria Salsa came closer than most, losing 2-1 in front of a near sell-out crowd. In it's fourth season in Port Alberni, junior A hockey is a community sport.
"There are a lot of passionate people in this town. [Hockey] is something that people could just throw their hearts into," said Michelle Firberg, whose boyfriend Tyler Ruel has been with the Bulldogs since the beginning.
"This is like a water cooler thing. Everyone knows who won the last game."
At player introductions, the Bulldogs charged onto the ice through a big inflatable doghouse*, while furry Bulldog mascot Bernie banged on his drum in accompaniment. On Friday, they kept right on going, when a Salsa defenceman couldn't control the puck at the side of Keyvan Hunt's net. Brad Herman scored just 26 seconds into the game. His goal set off a cacophony of barking and howling, along with several blasts of the train horn, which arrived at the rink three years ago, along with play-by-play broadcaster
Evan "The Hammer" Hammond.
When Hammond left his former job with the OCN Blizzard in The Pas, Man., his appreciative fans cut the whistle off a train and presented it to him as a going away present. "It's very much a show-me crowd," Hammond said. "Show me action, hitting, scoring, and fighting, and it'll go crazy."
The 1,500-seat arena, which has more than 1,200 season ticket holders (and 200 on the waiting list), was fairly quiet for the rest of the period. The Bulldogs have only lost one game at home and just seven overall this
season en route to a BCHL-leading 33-7-1-0, and they had their stifling defence fully engaged. At times, each guy seemed to have six arms and three sticks, and the Salsa (now 15-16-3-6) only managed three shots on goal.
Accustomed to lopsided home victories, the crowd didn't really get buzzing until Pierre Girard tied the game on one of those off-the-boards-off-the net kind of power-play efforts. Although the Salsa were outshot 37-13 in the
game, they kept pace with the Bulldogs, and didn't give up the winning goal until Devin Timberlake scored a on power play at 12:16 of the third period.
Nice to see some out of town media mentioning the mutts!
*can't stand that stupid doghouse. I can only imagine the ribbing the dogs players get from the opposition bench about that butt-ugly birthday party rental thing.
:p
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