Hamilton Bulldogs one win from putting away Peterborough in OHL first-round series
Published April 27, 2022 at 10:17 pm
It was point night for Avery Hayes and Mason McTavish as the Hamilton Bulldogs took care of business in their first road test of the playoffs on Wednesday.
Hayes notched five points, and McTavish tallied four against his former team during the Bulldogs’ 7-2 win against the host Peterborough Petes in Game 3 of their Ontario Hockey League conference quarterfinal series. The victory puts No. 1-seeded Hamilton up 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. Their first opportunity to close out the Petes will be on Thursday.
While a sweep is not in the bag, it’s also something that the 2018 Bulldogs did not complete during their run to the OHL championship. The ’18 team advanced in five games during each of the first three rounds, and beat the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in a six-game OHL fiinal.
Wednesady, most of the damage was done after Hamilton drew penalties through its puck-possession game. The Bulldogs scored their first four goals with a player advantage and finished 5-for-6 on the power play, where Hayes and McTavish each scored two goals. Whitby native and Seattle Kraken draftee Ryan Winterton also got his first goal of the playoffs.
Centre Logan Morrison scored his OHL playoffs-leading sixth goal and depth winger Giordano Biondi scored for the second game in a row. Defenceman Nathan Staios earned two assists and goalie Marco Costastini saved 22-of-24 shots, while helping the Bulldogs blank the 0-for-4 Petes power play.
Cayuga native Sam Alfano scored his first OHL playoff goal for Peterborough, and Tucker Robertson also scored.
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Game 5, if necessary, would be at FirstOntario Centre at 7 p.m. Saturday.
As the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, Hamilton would play the lowest remaining seed in the next round of the playoffs.
At this writing, the No. 4-seeded Barrie Colts lead the fifth-seeded Mississauga Steelheads 2-1 in their series.
The Kingston Frontenacs lead the Oshawa Generals 2-1 in the 3 vs. 6 matchup. The Bulldogs have played Kingston twice in the playoffs, in 2017 and ’18.
The No. 2-seeded North Bay Battalion finished a four-game sweep of the Ottawa 67’s with a 3-2 win on Wednesday. North Bay’s last three wins were all by one goal.
Costantini, Staios, finialists for OHL awards
Earlier Wednesday, Staios and Costantini were announced as the Eastern Conference nominees for league awards.
Staios, the 20-year-old Oakville native, is up for the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the defenceman of the year. In the regular season, Staios set a franchise defenceman scoring record with 66 points across 59 games.
The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds’ Ryan O’Rourke is the Western Conference nominee.
Costantini is up for the Jim Rutherford Trophy as the OHL’s top goalie. The 19-year-old Hamiltonian won the goalie triple crown by finishing first in goals-against average (2.32), save percentage (.917) and shutouts (6), which were all team records. The Bulldogs have also, counting the start of the Peterborough series, won his last 20 starts.
The London Knights’ Brett Brochu is the Western Conference nominee.
Hamilton led the OHL in wins (51), points (107), goals (296) and fewest goals against (174) during the regular season. But head coach Jay McKee is not up for the Matt Leyden Trophy as coach of the year.
Mississauga’s Jame Richmond is the Eastern nominee, with Flint’s Ted Dent representing the Western Conference.
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