The Wayerhaeuser Arena at the Alberni Valley Multiplex was busy with Alberni Valley Bulldogs’ fans on Friday, Sept. 16 for the team’s home opener against the Nanaimo Clippers.
The Bulldogs lost to the Clippers with a final score of 3-0.
“Certainly isn’t the outcome that we wanted last night,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Kevin Willison. “I thought overall they played a good game. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t sneak one in to build a little confidence.”
Vincent Millette scored the first goal for the Clippers at 3:34 minutes into the second period. Tristan Crozier scored the Clippers’ second goal with an assist from Jamie Collins 10:11 minutes into the third period and Ben Solin scored the game’s final goal at 19:21 minutes.
“I give Nanaimo a lot of credit, they played a greasy road game,” Willison said. “We certainly don’t want teams to think it’s going to be an easy place to play and last night I thought that we made it easy for Nanaimo.”
The Clippers had a total of 34 shots on goal during last night’s game and the Bulldogs had 25.
“I thought that overall it was a good team effort,” Willison said. “Nobody really stood out, nobody really took the bull by the horn and set that pace...hopefully we can certainly do better here tonight with a little more urgency in our game. Obviously it’s about creating scoring opportunities and I don’t think we had enough pucks to the net.”
The ’Dogs won their second home game of the season against the Penticton Vees with a final score of 2-1.
The first goal was scored by Cayden Kraus, Bulldogs forward, at 4:56 minutes into the second period. Jake Witkowski scored the ’Dogs second goal at 11:34 into the second.
“Compared to Friday’s game we played a more disciplined game,” Willison said. “We played within our means and things certainly worked out.”
Willison attributes the win to “playing extremely well as a team.”
He gave props to the Bulldogs’ goalie, Carson Schamerhorn for making some outstanding saves. Schamerhorn made 26 saves during Saturday’s game.
The Bulldogs play two showcase games this weekend--Friday, Sept. 23 against the Chilliwack Chiefs and Saturday, Sept. 24 against the Coquitlam Express.
Both games are in Chilliwack at the Prospera Centre.
The BCHL showcase weekend allows all teams in the league to play in the same town in front of hockey coaches from both American and Canadian University programs, as well as WHL and NHL scouts.
“It is a great opportunity for players in our league to showcase themselves in front of a lot of hockey people,” said Alex Evin, Bulldogs’ associate coach.
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