Bensenville, IL- (September 21, 2004)  Riding the momentum that earned them the Stanley Roper Cup as consolation tournament champs, the Bulldogs opened their new season against the Lions on Monday, with an 8-2 loss.

The Bulldogs welcomed three new players to their squad in addition to the eight returning players. The talent level this season was certainly an upgrade over last, but the ‘Dogs" played poorly due to bad positioning, lack of hustle and lack of communication.

Despite losing Ryne Gerstner & Ted Markos to the NCAA and John Reeg to another league, the Bulldogs still felt confident about the new season. Five players; Jason Darfler, James Senne, Brad Cornis, Kurt Swanson and Frank Lionello rejoined the franchise after playing in the Mexican League this past summer to spark the team.

Unfortunately, the ‘Dogs’ looked flat and out of sync in the opening period. Their puck control was poor, their passes were sloppy and they put up only one shot on net—a goal by Joey V. The ‘Lions’ on the other hand, played their positions well and made crisp passes around the rink. The reward of their effort led to a 3-1, first period lead.

The ‘Bulldogs’ opened the second period with the hope of correcting their earlier mistakes and creating some better shot opportunities. It never happened, in spite of the fact that they had 15 skaters versus 7 for the ‘Lions’. "We should’ve been able to drive easily to the net and make those guys work harder to score" said Frank Lionello. There is no reason for a team to be that shorthanded and skate circles around us." The ‘Lions’ scored three unanswered goals to take a commanding 5-1 lead.

The ‘Dogs’ showed some glimpses of hope. On a perfectly executed attack, defenseman Tony Micheles fed left-winger Kurt Swanson the puck at the center line. Swanson carried the puck over the blue line with center Sal Karim and right-winger Bill Nolan skating their positions alongside. Swanson then served a perfect pass, which glided by Karim, over to Nolan who easily deposited it into the net. "The pass really fooled the other team," said Sal Karim. "It looked as though it was intended for me, so two of the ‘Lions’ defensemen instantly double covered me, while Bill shot it in, without a single defender near him." That narrowed the score to 5-2. However, the Lions scored again to regain the four point advantage, 6-2.

Now staring at an opening game loss, the ‘Dogs’ were determined to attack hard in the third frame. Perhaps a bit too hard, as the Bulldogs racked up eleven penalty minutes in the final period alone. There were three ejections, and a one game suspension to Joey V. for practicing some of his WWE wrestling moves on a ‘Lions; defender, as well as using the opponents head to shine the cross bar. The rest of the team played the majority of the period short-handed, and managed to give up only one goal.

The Bulldogs now start the long season 0-1. Disorganization and poor communication were the main culprits for the loss. Afterwards, Alex Martinez said, "I take full responsibility for not just the loss, but for the lack of organization. Lines should have been set and this was not done. I promise that it will not happen again. I will set lines and post them in the locker room before game time"

The Good:

-The Bulldogs defense stepped up and played solidly throughout the entire game.

The Bad:

-Positioning: The ‘Dogs’ spent too much time and energy chasing the puck instead of playing the zone-namely on offense, where their was little fore-checking and minimal coverage at the point.

-Shots: The Bulldogs took a total of 5 shots for the entire game. A record low for the franchise.

-Penalties: There were six penalties (and one ejection), totaling twenty minutes. You have to admire the Bulldogs aggressiveness on defense, but cooler heads need to prevail.

-# 23 of the Lions, David Kutschner: The little shit’s got some good moves out there, but when it comes time to talk trash and make threats, it’s probably best for him to shut up and hide behind one of his teammates.

-Bulldogs Defense – Brad Cornis, Sam Karim, Jason Darfler, James Senne, Tony Feeney and Tony Micheles. These guys played their hearts out and often found themselves defending odd man rushes on a consistent basis. They broke up many plays and protected their zone very well on power kills. The score could have been much worse, but their efforts kept the Bulldogs within striking distance for better part of the contest.

Next up: Monday, September 27^th at 10:40PM vs. the ‘Nationals’.