It was an all-divisional set of games for the
Hamilton Bulldogs this past week. Unfortunately, despite some strong play,
it wasn’t much of a winning one as the ‘Dogs were only able to come out with a
single win and only three of a possible six points. The week was better
for Montreal’s ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers who won both games, their
first victories of the year. This past week also marked the season debut
of Danny Kristo, the subject of my Final Thought.
|
The Dog |
Although Hamilton only won one game, it was a
big one. Their victory over Abbotsford gave the Heat their first
regulation loss of the year. Prior to the game, the Calgary Flames’
affiliate was the only team to not yet lose a game in regulation.
|
News and |
– There remain a pair of important injuries for
the Bulldogs. Goalie Cedrick Desjardins is likely out another 7-10 days
with a groin injury while Louis Leblanc is out roughly 4-6 weeks with a high
ankle sprain.
– With Alain Berger getting into the Abbotsford
game, this leaves Alexander Avtsin as the lone player to be a healthy scratch in
all six games so far this season.
– Nathan Beaulieu, who is likely among the
Hamilton leaders in ice time (TOI stats aren’t officially kept) and anchors the
powerplay, is the lone Bulldog to play in every game and not yet record a point.
– Lines from the most recent game:
Forwards:
Holland-Bournival-Gallagher
Blunden-Geoffrion-Nattinen
Quailer-Dumont-Palushaj
Berger-Boyce-Stortini
Defence:
Tinordi-Pateryn
Beaulieu-St. Denis
Nash-Ellis
|
Results: |
October 23:
Rochester 3, Hamilton 1
October 26:
Toronto 5, Hamilton 4 (OT)
October 28:
Hamilton 2, Abbotsford 1
|
StatPack: |
The top line was changed around to
an all-rookie trio and it was that line that provided much of the offensive
pressure for the Bulldogs.
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G |
A |
+/- |
SH |
PIMS |
| 2 | Greg Pateryn | 3 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | Antoine Corbin | 2 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Brendon Nash | 1 | 0 | 1 | E | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | Jarred Tinordi | 3 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | Nathan Beaulieu | 3 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 6 | 0 |
| 11 | Alain Berger | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | Zack Stortini | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 4 |
| 13 | Steve Quailer | 3 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 7 | 2 |
| 14 | Michael Blunden | 3 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 5 | 2 |
| 15 | Kyle Hagel | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | Brendan Gallagher | 3 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 17 | 4 |
| 18 | Michael Bournival | 3 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 12 | 4 |
| 23 | Joonas Nattinen | 3 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 4 | 0 |
| 28 | Aaron Palushaj | 3 | 1 | 0 | -2 | 9 | 0 |
| 32 | Frederic St-Denis | 3 | 1 | 0 | +3 | 4 | 2 |
| 37 | Patrick Holland | 3 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 8 | 0 |
| 40 | Gabriel Dumont | 3 | 1 | 0 | E | 6 | 0 |
| 44 | Morgan Ellis | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 3 | 0 |
| 47 | Darryl Boyce | 3 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 4 | 2 |
| 57 | Blake Geoffrion | 3 | 1 | 2 | E | 9 | 2 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 29 | Robert Mayer | 1-0-0 | .966 | 1.00 |
| 39 | Peter Delmas | 0-1-1 | .857 | 3.93 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Aaron Palushaj
(3)
Assists: Boyce/Holland/Quailer (3)
Points: Geoffrion/Holland/Palushaj (4)
+/-: Beaulieu/Nash/Nattinen (+2)
PIMS: Michael Blunden (15)
Shots: Brendan Gallagher (25) (Leads all AHL rookie forwards)
|
Schedule: |
November 2:
Hamilton vs Rochester
November 3: Rochester vs Hamilton
|
The |
It’s amazing what scoring goals can do.
In Wheeling’s home opener, they scored as many goals (7) as they have in the
rest of their other games combined. As a result, the table below isn’t all
zeros this time around.
Here is how the players contracted to Montreal
or Hamilton fared:
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G |
A |
+/- |
SH |
PIMS |
| 13 | Stefan Chaput | 2 | 2 | 1 | -3 | 7 | 0 |
| 17 | Daultan Leveille | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 0 |
| 20 | Joe Stejskal | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 1 | 2 |
| 21 | Ian Schultz | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | Phillipe Lefebvre | 2 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 5 | 0 |
– Chaput is the team leader in shots with 25 on
the season.
|
Schedule: |
November 1:
Toledo vs
Wheeling
November 2: Wheeling vs Evansville
November 3: Wheeling vs Cincinnati
|
Final |
This past week marked the season debut of Danny
Kristo, whose senior season at North Dakota got off to about as lousy a start as
possible. After being suspended two separate times which took him out of
the first two games of the year, he made his season debut on Friday. He
wasn’t rusty, picking up three assists en route to being named first star of the
game. I was anxiously awaiting his first game to see how he’d bounce back
after such a tumultuous start to the year, I wanted to see how he’d respond.
Suffice it to say, he responded about as well as he could. With Kristo,
there seems to be a hesitance among fans when it comes to predicting his future.
It’s certainly understandable too given his decision to stay into his senior
year and his questionable off-ice decisions. This year represents his
chance to fix that. After such a rocky start, it was certainly very
encouraging to see him step into the lineup and play well right off the top.
Let’s just hope that for the rest of the year, we only have to pay attention to
his on ice performances.
If you have any questions/comments, please feel
free to drop me a line at b.larose@habsworld.net.