Under ‘Dogs’ Roll to Third Straight Win

 

GAME RECAP BULLDOGS Cones Date/Time Rink 4 3 07/16/2006 @ 10:40pm Johnny's Ice House

July 18th, 2006- With the regular season winding down, the ‘Bulldogs’ playoff future depended on their remaining five games. When they looked at the schedule, the game Sunday against the ‘Cones’ proved to be their toughest test. Coming into the contest, the Cones were in second place with 20 points and had defeated the ‘Dogs’ rather handily in their first meeting, 8-2. On Sunday, the undermanned ‘Bulldogs’ shocked the twelve or so fans in attendance by upsetting the ‘Cones’ 4-3.

The ‘Bulldogs’ looked bad early, giving up two fluke goals. “We came out looking complacent, and these guys [Cones] took full advantage of our lack of aggression” said Maher Karim. “If ever there was a wake-up call, this was it. I’ve never seen our club do a 360 faster in my entire career.”

What started out as a rout for the ‘Cones’ changed almost immediately. The ‘Bulldog’ defense put the clamps down for the remainder of the game giving up only one more goal. The offense went on to score four unanswered goals, led by Mike Montague, who registered the Hat-Trick to take a 4-2 lead. The other goal was scored by Eric Carr, unassisted.

With a 4-3 lead going into the third period, both clubs wouldn’t budge. Neither team was ready to lose a game of this magnitude, this late in the season. Although both clubs are almost guaranteed a playoff spot, it is the coveted second seed that they were playing for on this evening. In the end, the ‘Dogs’ held off everything the ‘Cones’ threw at them, including having the extra skater advantage for the last two minutes of play.

“We are on a roll, nookaz!” said Alex Martinez. “We were down early, and like we have done all season, we bounced back to take the lead.  We also held them off late when they found their second wind and rallied.  Although they had a full bench, the ten skaters we had, had more heart than the fifteen they put out on the ice and that was the difference.”

The ‘Bulldogs’ have improved their record by totaling 17 points (8-6-1), placing themselves in third place only three points behind the second place ‘Cones’. Less than three weeks ago, they looked like they were spiraling towards the cellar.