Dogs win 6th straight, rematch Wednesday night

An ugly one on the scoreboard, and an ugly one on the ice at times in the third period in Duncan.

What could go wrong did for the Caps, as the Dogs scored early and often to start this one off as a laugher and end it as a laugher with a 10-2 final. The Dogs were up 1-0 before the game was a minute old, 2-0 before it was seven minutes old, and then 3-0 less than a minute later.

The Caps did a good job to show some resiliency to get on the board to make it 3-1, and they also answered back when the Dogs quickly made it 4-1 as it was still a hockey game at 4-2 Dogs after one.

The score stayed that way until the floodgates opened again in the final 10 minutes of the second when the Dogs struck three times for a 7-2 lead after two.

The Dogs opened the third the way they opened the game, scoring before the period was a minute old on a nice Mark MacMillan drive to the net to make it 8-2. Another one from Tye Lewis made it 9-2 just a couple minutes later.

Then things got a little stupid, a la Slap Shot. Ryan Green and Cole Derickson entered a faceoff in their end with either a plan - or instructions - to jump Sam Mitchell and Warren Muir. The last thing Muir wanted to do was drop his gloves with Derickson after Green grabbed Mitchell off the faceoff, as Muir had just returned from a long injury layoff. Now, unless the league office takes a hard look and realizes the situation and how it began - he'll be suspended for tomorrow for the second fight in the same stoppage.

The linesman did a heck of a job to not let the two-fight scrum erupt into a full out line brawl. Caps D man Jeff Apted had dropped his gloves in the middle of the brough-ha-ha looking for someone, anyone to dance with - but the Dogs were smart and stayed out of the crap - that would be a minimum two game suspension for anyone that would have tangled with him. As the linesman were busy breaking up the two scraps going at once, Apted crossed the centre red line and engaged the Bulldogs bench. Credit to Trent Dorais for being disciplined and not doing anything stupid as Apted got right in his face.

After all the dust settled, there were no penalties called that ended up on the board that saw either team with a bigger man-advantage than they had going into the fight.

This is where I question the officials game management. It was obvious to me, and everyone in the rink that there was some intent and planning with the two fights off the faceoff. And it was obvious to me that there was potential for more CRAP. Mabe putting a team down two men isn't a surefire way to stop anything else from happening - but for my money it's about the only thing I've ever seen work. When a team is significantly outnumbered on the ice, they aren't usually as interested in starting things.

Play resumes, and just one minute later Brendan MacDonald intentionally hits Frank Slubowski as the goaltender is down covering the puck. More mayhem ensues.

Sorry, but in my humble opinion if you are intentionally hitting the goalie - you have no business playing. Hopefully the league agrees. The Dogs might lose another player to suspension out of the second fracas as each team was given two fighting penalties on the same stoppage again.

What angers me is that Frank Riddle didn't even drop his gloves, got jumped while on the ice, and he still gets a five minute major for fighting! Are you kidding me?

Again, hopefully the league takes a look at all the garbage, and they make some decisions that override the calls the referee made that might see some people suspended that shouldn't be.

It's really tough for the officials when a good ole fashion gong show breaks out to get all the calls right. That's why I hope the league takes a look at some video.




Does the league take any action here to stop what might be a big black eye if another circus breaks out here at the Pound tomorrow night?

Here's hoping.





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