Scott Radley: Bulldogs grind out a gutsy win to stay alive at Mem Cup
SAINT JOHN - Many nights this season, the Hamilton Bulldogs have come away with a win thanks primarily to an abundance of skill. Yeah they work hard and do the little things right, but they're simply so good that most teams haven't been able to keep up.
But on Friday night, with the season on the line, it was all blood and guts and grit and heart - and yes, some skill, too - that earned them a heart-stopping 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings. And with it, a berth in Monday's Memorial Cup semifinal.
It was a great effort," says head coach Jay McKee.
He might be underselling it.
Considering the circumstances, the opponent and what was on the line, this was arguably the team's most clutch performance. Including that impressive Game 7 win in the OHL championship eight days before.
Hamilton didn't have to just win this one. Thanks to the tournament's scoring system it had to win in regulation time. Even a win in overtime wouldn't have been enough to remain alive. That added a thick layer of pressure to an already pressure-packed situation.
Even so, earlier in the day McKee had said the unusual circumstances weren't going to spur any big changes. No opening things up to score more or turning things into a neutral-zone-trap-fest.
It was wise strategy.
Turns out all the Bulldogs needed to do was be the Bulldogs. Not the ones that looked so wobbly on Monday or even the undisciplined group that shot themselves in the foot on Thursday by spending too much time in the penalty box. Rather, the ones that steamrolled the Ontario Hockey League this season. That team is poised, quick on the puck, crisp with its passes, hard on the backcheck and solid in net.
That's the team that showed up. With an extra dose of heart. As the Oil Kings pressed and pressed and the Bulldogs held on and held on, this was all about guts. Ryan Winterton admits the last period or so wasn't particularly comfortable. But ...
I thought we handled it well," he says.
Of course, it helps that they got enough moments of skill - Mason McTavish's third-period snipe to give the Bulldogs a two-goal lead was nothing short of ridiculous - to complement the gritty effort.
And there's the reality that none of this matters if goalie Marco Costantini wasn't remarkable. He was. Many of his 40 saves were the kind that drew amazed reactions from the crowd. Just absurd stops he had no business making.
(That's) one of the best games I've seen Cosi play," McKee says. And I've seen him play a lot of good games."
So now the Bulldogs will play either Shawinigan or Saint John on Monday evening (6 p.m. Hamilton time on TSN) in the semifinal. Those two face each other on Saturday.
If the former wins or even take the game to overtime, it'll be Saint John. If the latter wins in regulation time, it'll be Shawinigan.
You won't get anyone from Hamilton expressing a preference. No sense giving some team extra motivation. Besides, you could make a case they'd be content with either.
When they faced Saint John on Monday, they played their worst game in a long, long time and still only lost by a goal plus an empty netter. They would surely feel that a second chance would bring a far better showing.
As for Shawinigan, the Bulldogs were considerably better 5-on-5 but hurt themselves with penalties that bit them when the Cataractes' lethal powerplay struck three times leading to all three of their goals. Clean that up and they'd have reason to believe the ending could be different.
Either way, they're playing another game. That's the important thing.
The bad news - yes, there's a little of that - is that they may have to do it without OHL defenceman of the year Nathan Staios. He was drilled from behind into the boards on a play the refs somehow didn't see as a penalty (the officiating at times has been, shall we say, sporadic), stayed down for a long time and didn't return. If he can't go in the playoff, it would be a massive loss.
If that's not a hit from behind, I need to understand what is," McKee says. I'm looking at the tape. It was directly from behind."
However, having once again proved their mental toughness by coming up with a clutch performance on a night when a loss would've meant the end of a rather magical season, another obstacle is simply another challenge to overcome.
Good thing they can deal with those. Because every game from here on in carries that threat of things being over.
That said, the same applies for the guys on the other side. And if the real Bulldogs have now shown up at the Memorial Cup, this could get really interesting.
Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com