The Bradford Minor Atom A Bulldogs opened their Quarterfinal series against the Quinte West Hawks, in OMHA Playdowns, on Saturday afternoon at the BWG Leisure Centre.
Despite the home ice advantage, and a determined effort by the Bulldogs, the team went down to a 1-0 defeat.
The first two periods were scoreless, as both goalies were rock solid, blocking every shot on net.
The scoreless tie continued well in the 3rd period, when the Bulldogs began to rack up the penalties.
Bradford managed to kill off a two minute penalty, with 11:37 left on the clock in the Third, denying Quinte West a powerplay goal – and even coming close to scoring on the Hawks.
They managed to hold off Quinte West when another Bradford player was sent to the penalty box, with only four minutes remaining in the game. But when a second penalty, 30 seconds later, left the Bulldogs down two players – the Hawks had their opportunity to score.
Quinte West’s Rylan Dupre (#7) scored what was to be the lone goal in all three frames, and the game-winner.
The Bulldogs continued to press, pulling their goalie for the extra attacker, but were unable to even up the game – although the Hawks couldn’t get past the swarming Bradford players to score on the empty net.
Quinte West had to settle for a 1-0 win, taking a 1-0 game lead in the series.
Game 2 took place at the Duncan McDonald arena in Trenton on Sunday, Feb. 16. Game 3 will be back in Bradford at the BWG Leisure Centre on Friday, Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Come out and cheer on the Bulldogs.
