Big Weekend Coming up, roadtrip audio highlights podcasted!

Hello and thanks for stopping by. Working like a dog (no pun intended) to get ready for this weeks games. Home- Burnaby Thursday, Victoria Friday. Road- Nanaimo Sunday afternoon.

Also working hard on the blog. Play-by-Play highlights from the 93.3 The Peak FM broadcasts from the roadie.

Game winner, insurance marker, big penalty kill, and smothering finish, in Prince George

4th goal was indeed poked in by Kremyr. My apologies for Krem to getting it wrong, and apologies to Harry for announcing the error. Had a good laugh on the bus after the game about that one. Even concurring with everyone in the pressbox- Gary, the PG newspaper reporter, the PA guy, we all missed it and thought it was Harry. Thanks again to Gary for the assistance over the weekend in getting official scoring announcements, penalties, and being a second pair of eyes up there for me.

Bulldogs goals from Quesnel

CLICK both of those titles to listen.

Hammer

Roadie Pics!

Hello and thanks for stopping by the blog. Must be short here, as I can hardly keep my eyes open. Got back in the Valley at 9am or so today on the bus with the boys. Left the hotel yesterday at noon for the game in Quesnel. Quite the journey. Pictures!


The Cariboo Memorial Complex in Williams Lake
Anyone who has listened to Bulldogs broadcasts might have heard me talk about the uniqueness of the broacast location in Williams Lake. It's the only broadcast booth that's not centre ice or around there. Take a look at the picture below. Right hand side, follow the stairs up to the room on the right with the lights on . That's the vantage point.
View out of the pressbox facing the corner of the rink I took the above picture from. As you can see, a long ways away from the Williams Lake net for periods 1 and 3.
Quite the view of the Bulldogs net for the same amount of time though, as you can seeDogs trainer Preston Charles takes advantage of the nice weather up north to do some skate sharpening in the sunshine. Funny thing I noticed after......he's parked in the "vets only" parking. While it's veterans of a different kind mentioned of course, I still got a chuckle. Preston is a rookie! Doing a heck of a job though. The players gave him a round of applause for his efforts on his first multiday roadtrip. No picnic, the life of a trainer, never stop working.

Looking out my hotel window Sunday "we have to get on that thing AGAIN already!!??
The Quesnel Twin Rinks aka "the vault"

Cool Rick Hansen carving outside the rink in Quesnel
Every rink is unique. Williams Lake has a end-corner broadcast booth. Quesnel has a front end of an old truck for their goal-judge booth behind the home netPicture from the stands facing where I took the two following pictures from
End looking right at the stands

End looking left (sorry about glass glare, couldn't avoid it) looking at benches and broadcast booth middle. Like Williams Lake, only seating on one side in Quesnel

Thats it. I'm off to bed with the morning show coming tomorrow. More to come in following days, HUGE week for Bulldogs coming up.

Thanks for stopping by!
Hammer

Dogs get first win, pictures from the road

Big win for the Dogs tonight, a hard fought 4-2 win over the 2007 Royal Bank Cup hosts, the Prince George Spruce Kings. Couple of pictures before I get to bed here and do it all over again tomorrow. Pictures- biggest pair of skis I've ever seen, outside and inside the Prince George Coliseum, Steve Walker in the SMALLEST penalty box in the BCHL, and maybe anywhere, and last but not least, the final score.

Getting ready for the first big roadie, couple pics from games 2 and 3.

Great to hear that Dog Pound crowd and horn again after wayyyyy to long of a time going without it. Stephan Pattison breaks the silence.... CLICK to listen to the highlight from the 93.3 The Peak FM Bulldogs broadcast.


Pop quiz- how many points did the Bulldogs have after the first three games of last year?

Answer- 1. The same amount they have this year. And were people hitting the panic button last year too? Absolutley. And we all know how good last season was. At least the regular season. Does this mean that this season will go like last season? Of course not! It's a long season though, so no panic button for me. The team is winless in three. Three one goal losses.

Negatives? They are giving up too many goals. They aren't getting stellar netminding. They didn't hold a lead in Powell River. They didn't have a good start in Duncan. They had penalty problems in the second at home again the Caps.

Positives? They aren't getting blown out. They have been in everygame. They have shown high offensive abilities. They've scored on the PP and have had a couple of big kills on the PK.

Bottom line? It's early! The team has competed hard. Biggest positive for me is the NEVER SAY DIE attitude that this team seems to have already shown. It was one of the things about previous editions of the Bulldogs that made me proudest to call their games. Never ever quit. And while coaches, players, trainers, colour guys, owners, etc, etc, etc, change it seems that that familiar Bulldogg-ed determination hasn't changed one bit. But again, it's early, of course. Down 5-4 in Powell River in the third period, they came back and tied it 5-5. Down 6-5 they came back and tied it 6-6. In Duncan last Friday they were down 3-0 just FOUR minutes in. They fought to make it 3-1. Then down 4-1. Back to 4-2 and then 4-3. Then 5-3 a minute later. Still no quit, they fought back 5-4 then tied it 5-5. Saturday at home against the Caps again, they were down 5-2 heading into the third. Fought to make it 5-3 and 5-4, and I'd hazard a guess that 99% of the fans in the pound Saturday night just plain believed that the equalizer was just a matter of time. With some luck it should've been there, the guys sure worked for it and in my mind deserved it, they just couldn't get it.

Bottom bottom line- I'll start being negative and ripping the team if they stop fighting and clawing when they are up or down or things look bad. If they keep doing that, in the end they'll win their fare share of games.

Friday- Prince George against the RBC host Spruce Kings 6:45pregame, 7:00 puck drop.
Saturday-Williams Lake again the T-Wolves 7:15pregame, 7:30 puck drop.
Sunday- in Quesnel pregame 2:45pregame 3:00 puck drop.

Drop me a line during the games or here at the blog about anything, hopefully I'll have some internet connections in the pressboxes. Do they have the internet way up there? Kidding, Northern friends. Pressbox/Blogmail

Thanks for stopping by, for the comments/rantings/rippings what-have-you

Hammer

Couple pictures as promised- in Duncan, pics by me. At home, thanks to Sarah for the shots.

A couple pics from the road, pep rally+meet the team coming up Sunday

Time again for another hockey season. Here's "the boys on the bus" for the first roadie Saturday morning to Powell River.
Ronnie will get us there safe. This is Ron Sandberg aka "Bulldog Bussy" or "Doggie Driver"
New Kings unis. Pretty solid if you ask me. New/old "P" logo and St. Louis Blue style jerseys. Will be intereresting to see a road sweater.This one is an interesting one. Checking into the hotel I saw Jordan Kremyr with some extra "baggage" we could say. I said "hold on, I gotta get a picture of the hockey player with the pink gift bag" Turns out Krems had a good excuse- it was his moms birthday and his parents were arriving in Powell River later in the day. Good on ya Krems to remember mom even on opening day. Even got a goal for her!

The Bulldogs will be having a pep rally/meet the team/ etc this Sunday afternoon. More details to come after the details are sorted out.

Thanks for stopping by the blog
Hammer

06/07 underway Friday! goodbye Chilliwack, working without a colour guy, Smeltzer back to Dogs, Coach Whistle 9:30am on 93.3 The Peak FM Friday.

Longest title ever? haha




Hello and thanks for stopping by! It's the eve of the 06/07 BCHL kick off, time to get away from the beach and into the rink. Ahhh, gotta love hockey season! Bigger attacking/defending zones, smaller neutral zones, a NHL-style rule emphasis, and some new teams in new places and some old teams in new places that are old. Did that make sense? The Langley Hornets are no more, reborn as the Westside Warriors. The Chilliwack Chiefs are no more, replaced by the WHL's Bruins. Bruins coach is former Dogs bench boss Jim Hiller, Bruins athletic therapist/equipment manager is former Dogs trainer Matty Auerbach. So theres a little Bulldog flavour in the Wack now. The Chiefs live on as they move to Langley to play out of the Hornets old rink retaining the Chiefs name. Gone are the days of two conferences and three divisions. Gone are the days of ANY teams not making the playoffs. The Island division is gonzo, with the coast and island merge to form....the coast conference. All BCHL teams make the playoffs this year, could be the year of the upset for sure.

Want to take a moment to say goodbye to any Chilliwack BCHL fans reading this that are leaving their BCHL roots behind to follow the WHL's Bruins. Some good fans in the 'Wack for sure, too bad to lose them and too bad for the BCHL to be out of that city. Some good history there for sure. Krisfromthewack- I know you are a true hockey fan and I know you'll still try to follow the BCHL. I must say this though- the BCHL is losing one of it's very best music men. The Dub and the Bruins are getting a good one.

"3cp15" posted a comment to my Tuesday September 5th post and asked this question

"What do you expect going into this year without a color man? Is there pros and cons?

Great question. I can't go too far around town and around the rink without the topic coming up. Here's my take on it all- It will be a challenge for sure, working without Ace. Ace did SO MUCH work putting together stats, keeping together stats, thinking up trivia questions, and so much more. Setting up the pressbox, working on setting up interviews and finding guests, and waking me up when it was time to catch the bus or get breakfast or the pregame meal, lol. It was great to have Ace, and great to have a color man period, to bounce a question off of or to provide a differing opinion or prospective.

In the end, I'm looking forward to the challenge. It will be more work for me in many areas, on and off the air. Statistical compilation, (although Ace is still assiting me in arming me with so much of this hard-earned information, thanks Ace) booth setup, interviews, and on and on. More often than not over my career I have had a color guy. So I'm used to it. A couple times last year I was without Ace and in the past I worked alone sometimes. Believe it or not some WHL/OHL ECHL AHL UHL CHL you name it broadcasters are just a play-by-play guy. So, who knows if in the future I will have to work alone at some point of my career.

It was a great run having Ace, in the end I wish him the best with his coaching venture and I look foward to the challenge and the experience. Thanks again for the question on this topic "3cp15"

Moving along....Got word today from the Bulldogs that d-man Isaac Smeltzer will be returning to the club after trying out in the QMJHL. Issac joined the Bulldogs midseason last year after playing parts of the previous seasons with the WHL's Regina Pats and Tri-City Americans, if I remember correctly. Good to hear Isaac is coming back, he'll be a valuable part of this years Bulldog team.

While some BCHL clubs get their seasons going tomorrow, The Dogs don't take to the ice until Saturday night in Powell River. Tomorrow morning (Friday) I will be joined by Bulldogs coach Dave Whistle on the morning show for our first in studio interview. I'm looking foward to talking some hockey and doing a little preview on the season and getting to know Dave better. 9:30 Friday morning on 93.3 The Peak FM.

Saturday is the first regular season game and first broadcast of the new season. Our pregame show gets underway at 7:15, the play-by-play is 7:30. Saturday nights second intermission feature guest is Cowichan Valley Capitals Coach/GM Scott Robinson, talking about the "new" BCHL, the happenings in Caps land, and thoughts on the Dogs/Caps home and home next weekend. Send an email to the PRESS BOX, I would love to hear from you.

GET SIGNED UP to the BCHL fanzone CLICK HERE to catch the internet broadcasts of all Bulldog games and all BCHL games. The best part of it- archiving. Catch what you missed at a later time. Great to hear the league is offering this service this regular season after doing it in the playoffs last year. I'll give a little pat on the back to us here at CJAV as our Bulldogs broadcasts of 04-05 were archived and were a huge hit.

Man, everytime I try to post shorter, there happens to be 8 things on the go.......

Thanks for dropping by the blog. Looking forward to your comments and seeing you at the rink!

Hammer

ITS TIME AGAIN! 06/07 season starts Saturday!

Hello, and thanks for stopping by the blog. Well, MUCH has happened since my last post. I guess I'll go along in chronological order of the events. I'd like to promise one thing right now before I do that- I will increase the frequency of my postings while decreasing the length of them, now that the season has begun. I've always said that I'm open to suggestions/complaints etc regarding the blog. I never really had a set idea when I started this thing. Just kinda sat down one Sunday night and tried it out and hit the ground running. I'm doing it for the Bulldogs fans/families/players and BCHL fans and families. Not that it's really geared to BCHL fans too much, but I'm going to try to improve that a bit too.

Here I go writing to much again, LOL. Too make a long story short- I've gotten several emails and in person comments "man Hammer, you write to long on there" So as I said off the top- I'm going to increase how often I post, while decreasing the length of them. Or at least I'm going to try.

SUGGESTIONS? OFFERS TO HELP? PICTURES TO SHARE? COMPLAINTS? IDEAS?

Let me know! Click HERE to email me.
Alright, back to regularly scheduled programming. One more thing before I recap what happened since my last post- Thanks to THE BIG DOG for the picture. Found it and hadn't posted it yet. Of course, Stewie is Brian Stewart, last years Dogs starting goalie. While Stewie is gone, I think there's a message there. Become a star for this team, work your butt off, and you really could be mayor of Port Alberni, haha. Or at least pretty darn close.

What happened since my last post? WELL, Team 93.3 The Peak FM, coached by yours truly, won the Black vs White media challenge game vs Team Alberni Valley Times. Can't even remember the details now....11-7 I think was the final score, I think. What I do know is that the radio station has won three years in a row now. I'm pretty proud of my 3-1 overall record behind the bench. All the credit to the guys though. Thanks gents!

Bulldogs exhibition. The Dogs finished the pre season with a 1-2-1 record. The win came at the Frank Crane Arena, 5-0 over the Clippers. The two losses came to the Clippers 6-2 at the pound, and The Powell River Kings, 6-3 at Lake Cowichan Saturday. The tie came vs the Cowichan Valley Capitals 6-6 at the Dog Pound. I didn't make it to the out of town games, just the two at the Pound.

Everyone asks "How does the team look?" I always say "I'll tell you in January" Honestly, how can one really tell this time of year? Until the action really starts, whos knows. In case you weren't tired of hearing "the NEW NHL" about 9, 756, 456 times last year, get used to hearing "The NEW BCHL" plenty. I'll try my best to not over use it but it really will be a new game this season. With the rule emphasis coming down from Hockey Canada from the top all the way to the bottom, the game is sure changing. It will be interesting to see how the BCHL referees adjust, and interesting to see how the players adjust. A couple things are certain, in my opinion. Games will be long. Games will be without alot of pace. Plenty of games, if not most, will be won on a power play or a penalty kill. At least for the first big part of the season. If you are planning to be a 5 on 5 team- sorry, I gotta say it- WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?. That just puts alot of faith in your players and officials, in my opinion. Starting with game one of the season, you'd better be able to convert on the powerplay. And you'd better be able to kill penalties. Of course if you want to win hockey games, you'd better have good special teams. However, since everyone makes the playoffs this year anyway, teams have a LONG time to figure this all out. Alright there I go long winded again but it's a huge issue. Done with that one.

Avi Walker. See ya Avi, we hardly knew ye. The dogs are again searching for a trainer/athletic therapist after they lost Avi Walker to the professional ranks. I know it's really tough for the team to find someone so close to the season starting. Here's hoping there's someone out there. If you know anyone, spread the word and tell them to CLICK THIS LINK
Best of luck to Avi in the pro ranks.

Lastly, the Bulldogs announced a trade yesterday, sending Chris Demoe to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in exchange for 1987 born Sawyer Eichel, and 1988 born Jeff Manryk. Eichel played last season with the Spruce Grove Saints in the AJ collecting 2 goals and 8 assists with 231 penalty minutes in 59 games. Manryk spent the last two years with the Thunder Bay Kings Major Midgets. Just want to take a moment to wish Chris all the best. He is a great guy and good team player, and he put a couple good years into the team and community. All the best in Fort Mac, we'll miss ya. So is the name of the game though - friends and teammates and fan favorites move on. At the same time, welcome to Sawyer and Jeff. You two are joining a great organization in an awesome city with some of the best fans in the game, anywhere. Welcome to the pound!

ALRIGHT. That's about it. From this point on the postings will be more frequent, and less long winded. PROMISE :)

Don't forget- the 06/07 season starts SATURDAY for the Dogs in Powell River. The pregame show begins at 7:15 and the play-by-play is at 7:30 on 93.3 The Peak FM. For listeners in the valley- tune in and enjoy. For those outside the valley, get over to the new BCHL website quick, and get yourself signed up for the BCHL Fanzone It's a great service and worth the money to catch every BCHL game game 1 to the end of the playoffs.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, get commenting, and don't ever be afraid to email!

Hammer