Hamilton Bulldogs sweep Niagara in home-and-home OHL games
Published October 17, 2021 at 5:37 pm
Marco Constantini and rookie Tristan Malboeuf – in his first OHL start – shut out the Niagara Ice Dogs twice on the weekend in a home-and-home series that puts the Hamilton Bulldogs firmly at the top of the Eastern Conference standings with a perfect 4-0 record.
In perfect symmetry, both games ended 4-0 for Hamilton.
The Meridian Centre in St. Catharines played host to the second half of the matchup Saturday night and after a scoreless first Logan Morrison scored on a breakaway very early in the second and his line clicked again 21 seconds later when George Diaco scored his third of the season to give Hamilton a 2-0 lead before the period was two minutes old.
Ryan Humphrey skated out of the penalty box and onto a loose puck to score his third of the young season midway through the third and Diaco, with his second of the night, rounded out the scoring
Malboeuf made 27 saves for his first career win.
Nearly 3,800 fans were on hand Friday night at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton for the first game and this time the Bulldogs struck early with Mark Duarte scoring just 2:24 in.
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Diaco scored late in the first to make it 2-0 for the Bulldogs and Avery Hayes made it 3-0 in the second before Jonathan Melee was taken down on a breakaway 2:11 into the third, resulting in a penalty shot.
Melee gave the home crowd a thrill with a fake leg kick before flipping the puck over Niagara goalie Josh Rosenzeig for his first OHL goal.
Constantini had 36 saves in the victory.
Hamilton and Niagara both return to action Thursday when Hamilton visits North Bay and 2-2 Niagara hosts Barrie.
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