HabsWorld.net -- 

The Hamilton Bulldogs managed to pull it off,
disposing of the favoured Chicago Wolves in 5 games, and have worked their way
to their 2nd Calder Cup final in 5 years.  As always, we’ll break down the
numbers, as well as take a closer look at the Hershey Bears, the defending AHL
champions.  Finally, we’ll examine why Jim Balsillie should think twice
about putting an NHL team in Hamilton, in the Recap.

The Dog
Pound

If it wasn’t for Kyle Chipchura’s empty netter
in Game 5, all 5 games in the Chicago series would’ve been within a goal.

Scores:

Game-by-game,  Games 3-5 vs Chicago.

May 23 1 2 3 Tot PP SOG
Chicago 1 0 0 1 1/6 36
Hamilton 0 2 0 2 1/10 25

Attendance:  3,317
3 Stars:  1) Price – HAM  2) Locke – HAM  3) Brathwaite –
CHI

May 25 1 2 3 Tot PP SOG
Chicago 0 1 0 1 1/4 14
Hamilton 0 0 0 0 0/8 37

Attendance:  6,257
3 Stars:  1) Brathwaite – CHI  2) Ferland – HAM  3)
Dimitrakos –
CHI

May 26 1 2 3 Tot PP SOG
Chicago 0 1 0 1 0/6 33
Hamilton 1 1 1 3 0/7 24

Attendance:  3,607
3 Stars:  1) Price – HAM  2) Groulx – HAM  3) Popovic –
CHI

Weekly
Stats:

It was a balanced attack, as no Bulldog had
more than a goal and two points the whole week.

SKATERS
# Player GP G A +/- SH PIMS
2 Ryan O’Byrne 3 0 0 E 2 2
4 Dan Jancevski 3 0 0 E 5 4
7 Eric Manlow 3 0 0 +1 4 2
10 Cory Urquhart 3 0 0 E 1 0
16 Andre Benoit 3 0 0 E 4 2
17 Kyle Chipchura 3 1 0 +1 7 2
19 Duncan Milroy 3 0 2 +2 8 2
20 Zack Stortini 3 1 0 +1 2 2
21 Jonathan Ferland 3 0 1 -1 6 6
22 Matt D’Agostini 3 0 1 +2 3 0
25 Michael Lambert 3 0 0 E 4 0
26 Maxim Lapierre 3 0 1 +1 8 0
27 Danny Groulx 3 1 1 +2 5 2
31 Mikhail Grabovski 3 1 0 +2 4 2
32 Ajay Baines 3 0 0 E 4 2
34 Mathieu Biron 3 0 0 +1 10 4
55 Andrew Archer 3 0 1 +2 3 5
84 Corey Locke 3 1 1 E 6 4

GOALIES
# Player MINS SF SVS GA
29 Carey Price 179 83 80 3

Playoff Leaders: 

Goals:  Locke (8)
Assists:  Milroy (9)
Points:  Locke (16)
+/-:  Chipchura (+9)
PIMS:  Lapierre (29)

Schedule:

June 1st: 
Hamilton vs Hershey
June 2nd:  Hamilton vs Hershey

Inside
the Numbers

Attendance:  The Hershey Bears have
the highest attendance in the playoffs, averaging 7,146 per game.  The
Bulldogs are 10th in that regard, at 3,104.

Carey Price:  Last week, we noted he faced the same number of shots
the past 2 weeks.  This week, we can say that he made the same number of
saves in the past 2 weeks.

Maxim Lapierre:  Goalless drought continues, now 9 games and
counting.

A Closer
Look

Here, we’ll look at the various playoff leaders
for the 20-time Calder Cup finalists, the Hershey Bears.

Hershey
Bears Leaders
Goals Assists Points PIMS +/-
Barney (8) Fleischmann (13) Barney (17)
Brennan (30)*		 Steckel (+8)
Hendricks (8) Barney (9) Fleischmann
(17)		 Giroux (23) Wilson (+8)
Wilson/Green (7) Wilson (8) Wilson (15) Hedlund (20) Laing/Wedderburn (+6)

Frederic Cassivi: 12-2 record, 2.27 GAA, .916
SV%, 1 SO

* Suspended
for the remainder of the playoffs after being involved in an incident with a
spectator in Manchester.

Final
Thought

If Jim Balsillie’s dream is to put an NHL
franchise (looking to be Nashville now) into another Canadian market, he should
really be paying attention to the attendance the Bulldogs have been drawing in
the postseason.  Here’s a team heading for the championship series and not
only is the fact that they’re drawing less than they were in the regular season
bad enough, when you factor in that they averaged less than 5,000 a game during
the season, it’s even more embarrassing.  When the Dogs made their run a
few years ago, it wasn’t unheard of to see 10,000+ a game during the playoffs. 
This year, they’ve only surpassed 5,000 once, and only passed the 10,000 mark on
the final home game of the season, Fan Appreciation Night (also Carey Price’s
debut).  Personally, I see Balsillie’s idea of adding a 3rd Ontario team as
nothing but a surefire loss of money, which likely won’t stop him anyways. 
Even with this, the chances of that team heading to Hamilton for the 2008-09
season, are looking more and more like a pipedream the way the city is
supporting the Bulldogs.