Dogs in First Place in the North

[NWTHabsFan]

With a big come from behind victory against the Manitoba Moose tonight, the Dogs move into first place in the North Division, one point better than the Rochester Amerks who still do have a few games in hand. This is the third game in a week against the Moose that could not be settled in 60 minutes, as it took to Grabovksi's shootout goal to settle things. He was the only scorer, and Halak stopped all five shooters he faced. A big win for the Dogs and for Halak. Milroy and Ferland picked up the goals tonight.

www.hamiltonbulldogs.com/index.php?module=newser&func=display&nid=424

[Gas]

First place is the best place or so I've read. For the first time since April 10th 2004 the Hamilton Bulldogs are first place in the North Divison. They are also 2nd in the Western Conference and 5th in the AHL.

This was the 2nd game in as many nights as the Dogs will be playing 5 games in 6 nights. This will be an interesting test for them. A win Tuesday over Rochester, a win last night over Manitoba, the Marlies at home on Friday and then off to Grand Rapids Saturday and Peoria Sunday. It'll be tough, but they've picked up two wins already and the more I think about it if any pro hockey team played 5 games in 6 nights and walked away with at least three wins....then I think that's pretty successful. We'll see how good this team really can be over the next four days.

Dogs came out flat in the first. Outshot 15-5. Lots of lazy play. I'm sure it had a bit to do with fatigue, but it was terrible to watch. Moose out to a 2-0 lead. Second period was a different story. Dogs outshot the Moose 11-6 and tied the game up at 2. Duncan Milroy (the game's first star) tipped in a point shot and scored him team leading 14th goal.

Then someone or something looked down on the Bulldogs and said "You will tie this game." The Dogs needed a line change badly. Jaroslav Halak (the game's third star) made a save and kicked the puck out to Ryan O'Byrne who fired a hard shot up the middle where Johnny Ferland (the Maxim Lapierre Hardest Working Bulldog award winner) was waiting at centre ice to get a tip on it to avoid the icing call. His tip went right at Wade Flaherty. I have no idea what happened, but it jumped over his shoulder and went into the net.

The third period and overtime solved nothing and we needed the shootout. No goals until our fourth shooter Mikhail Grabovski came down, faked a slapshot, went to the forehand and then to the backhand and scored a Jussi Jokinen shootout goal. The last hope for the Moose was Manitoba captain and one of my all-time favourite Montreal Canadiens Mike Keane. He beat Halak, but it hit the crossbar.

A good come from behind win. A couple of notes...J.P. Cote has some wheels. He broke to the net and the guy I was with thought it was Grabovski. I had no idea he was that fast. Don Lever had a line of Grabovski, Locke and Lemieux out very briefly...average height....5'7"? Maxim Lapierre missed his second game with the flu.

Marlies on Friday.

[duster]

I must admit that the team has exceeded my expectations. Here I thought this year's edition would be weaker than last year's - on defense in particular, and yet here they are in first place at mid-season. I expected Kostitsyn to wake up to a certain extent, but Milroy (who I'd written off), Halak, Grabovski, D'Agostini and O'Byrne among others are pleasant surprises. The addition of Biron was a shrewd move, imo. He's a much better call up option than Traverse or Jancevski.

When was the last time we had the big club and the minor league teams doing so well? A decade, if not more.

Kudos to the scouting staff, the players and the coaches...

[NWTHabsFan]

This team so far this year has been quite stingy on defence, with one of the lowest goals against in the league. The superb play of Halak and Danis in net has a lot to do with that, especially Halak's league leading numbers. Danis has settled down of late and seems to be playing much more consistently. It makes for a really decent tandem on which to count.

I too was worried about the D, but the Habs signed a few key "vets" that seem to have stabilized the D a lot. Jancevski and Biron are really good additions, Big O'Byrne is having a solid rookie campaign, the Oiler addition of either Roy or Hejda has been helpful, and a healthy Cote and Archer make for a pretty good stable of defenders. FA signing Groulx and sophmore Benoit help round out the group to fill in for injuries and callups.

[chief6]

I'm not going to lie, at the end of the first period, I was ready to leave. The team played like absolute garbage, and the poor play continued early in the second period.

Line changes were sloppy, shifts were too long, nearly 120 games into his tenure as head coach Don Lever still doesn't have these guys employing a breakout plan of any kind (that I can see), and the power play is still the worst thing I've seen on ice since... well I can't remember, but at least as bad as Trent McCleary taking a puck in the throat.

Anyway, that all changed in three shifts. Frankie Lemieux marched a line out there, and I don't even remember the other forwards he was with, but Lemieux had a monster shift. The poor guy's been hurt most of the first half, but expect to read his name often in the second half. Anyway, he worked both sides of the ice and kept a very strong forecheck for the whole shift. He went off and Jonathan Ferland's line came out, and they had an equally strong shift. Back to Lemieux, and the Dogs ended up with a power play. The momentum of the game turned dramatically at that point in the Dogs' favour.

Mik Grabovsky, Andrei Kostitsyn and Duncan Milroy need to simplify their game. They're getting the job done, but the thing that doesn't show up in the scoresheet is the number of times they turn the puck over making bad passes, not looking before making otherwise good passes, or trying to force passes. That said, the team defense is typically very strong, and these errant passes haven't hurt too much yet.

Some notes about the defense:
-- J-P Cote is a nice insurance policy. Watching this guy play, there is no need for the Habs to overspend on any of their free agent defensemen after this season. I'm not saying this guy is going to step in and replace any of Andrei Markov, Sheldon Souray or Craig Rivet, and I'm not saying he won't need some time to adjust. But he is ready for the NHL, and will be ready for prime time minutes within two years.
-- Dan Jancevski, I'd like to say that I don't think he has the speed to be an NHL defenseman. I thought that about him two years ago when he played in Hamilton, and he's done nothing this year to make me believe otherwise. Even still, he is probably the smartest player on the ice in any given situation. Provided he wouldn't have to clear waivers, the Habs could get away with having Jancevski on the ice for six-to-eight minutes in any given game as an emergency call-up. He does lead the Dogs with a plus-16 rating heading into last night's game.
-- [Insert superlatives here] regarding Ryan O'Byrne.

One last thing. After Milroy was named first star, he skated across the ice and gave his stick to a kid in the crowd. I don't know who the kid was, I don't know why Milroy gave his stick to the kid, but it was a damn classy move by a damn classy guy. I would be very happy and very proud if the Habs could find a way to keep this guy in Hamilton for a long time if he can't catch on in the NHL.

[NWTHabsFan]

Chief, good points!

Cote's injury at the start of the season could not have come at the worst time. He looked good in his call up last season and with Bouillon's surgery, he was first in line. Then Dandy's injury, and suddenly Traverse and Niinimaa were added.

I agree about Dan Jan's speed. It is his achilles' heel, as he is a good team guy from what I can see and read and he plays a good simple game back there. A good leadership move for the Dogs, if not a stretch of depth a la Biron.

I am really glad to see Milroy show some of that Kootenay Ice Memorial Cup spark. This is a guy that has struggled in his first two seasons with the organization, but he has been recognized for his community work (he even won the AHL award for this). From some of the interviews during Dogs games with Timmins and some of the Habs brass, it is being noticed too. I hope he can keep this up all season. I did hear a CHAM 820 interview with him recently and he has really hit the gym to get into his best shape of his career. Anyway, hope the best for young Duncan.

[franko]

I like Coté when I saw him play here against the Sens and figure that he'll be a keeper. Glad to know he isn't letting me down like others *cough*Locke*cough*

[NWTHabsFan]

Doggies lost 3-2 to the Baby Leafs, and now are back in second. I never like losing to a team in that jersey!!